A Trip Around the Sun in Quarantine

Today is my birthday and for the first time ever I can’t make any plans.

Unexpected, never would have guessed it but grateful. Beyond grateful.

So how do you celebrate your birthday when you’ve been in quarantine for three weeks?

Have a Zoom call with people I love.

Spend half the day cleaning and disinfecting. I’m a germaphobe. It makes sense right now.

Take long walks. 2 to 3 hours. I start at sunrise.

Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Have an in-home concert. Live music is one of my most cherished love languages. I put a few of my fave NPR Tiny Desk Concerts on repeat and play them from the TV.  Lineup includes Snoh Aalegra, Tank & the Bangas, Robert Glasper, Common & Bilal at The White House, Christian Scott, Big KRIT, H.E.R., Raphael Saadiq, Tobe Nwigwe, Thundercat, and Anthony Hamilton

Make a new recipe. Stuffed salmon is the chef’s (my) choice.

Do hair and makeup. Get dressed. Any other socially-distanced day this is unlikely.

Test out a new camera and lighting kit for my online course delivery. Can’t wait to release new content for clients and colleagues.

Gaze at the most beautiful bouquet of yellow tulips. Breathtaking with every glance.

Search online for organic, non-gmo, heirloom seeds. Obviously time to start growing our own food.

Script a new series of my podcast Affirmations of Excellence. So excited to share more episodes and introduce the guests who will join me soon.

Brainstorm with think tank on ways to build financial pipeline for black female entrepreneurs.

Finish reading “Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine” – a birthday gift from 2019 that I started on a flight to Finland but never completed.

Channel the ancestors in appreciation for the resilience to survive crisis. Imagining what they experienced at worst. I’ll never know the half.

Journal. Major and minor reflections. All are worthy of space.

Call Mom and Dad, and render tearful thoughts of gratitude to each of them.

Pray. To God. Not to make any requests. Only to offer thanks.

Another trip around the sun…

 

AE

Because of 4 a.m. – The Excellence of Kobe Bryant

Excellence is the result of a prosperous, well-lived and fulfilled life. The excellence that we can truly achieve is up against a real enemy called mediocrity.

Mediocrity and the comfort it gives us is what keeps us from being excellent. Sometimes the painful tension of a struggle comes along to teach us how to tackle hardships with hope and burn mediocrity with motivation. It’s impossible to live a life of excellence without struggle. We often look at successful people and overestimate their talent because we forget about their obsession with excellence which inspires their willingness to outwork anyone else, outshine any appearance of mediocrity and overcome any struggle they face.

As I reflect on the life and legacy of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, excellence has to the best word to describe him. Kobe is considered to be one of the greatest athletes in the world — not just because of his talent but because of his excellent mindset and work ethic. When the horrific news broke that Kobe and his 13 year old daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash along with seven others, I was heartbroken and  immediately felt a sense of disbelief. Kobe, to me, was kind of like a big brother. Not personally. But I was in middle school when he made his announcement to skip college and enter the NBA at the age of 18, and he became one of the overachieving superheroes in pop culture whose hard work, intelligence and humility I found fascinating. He reminded me so much of the guys I grew up with that lived and breathed basketball. Later I would admire his obsession with excellence – a relatable quality that he was often misunderstood and disliked for.

My favorite off-the-court memory of Kobe was when he was on stage accepting the Icon Award at the ESPYs in 2016. Around this time, I’d started the routine of waking up around 4 a.m. to workout and get ahead of my day. The year prior I had experienced a series of major struggles, and I was determined to rediscover Aerial and redefine my purpose. As a fan, I admired how competitive and disciplined Kobe was. It reminded me of myself in some ways. So once I became relentless about my new pursuits and serious about repositioning my purpose, I started going to the gym at 4 a.m. in the morning. I began to see the results not only in my fitness and appearance but everything else became clearer and more precise especially in how I affirmed myself and invested in my relationship with God.

So when Kobe retired and received the Icon Award in 2016 at the ESPYs he addressed his fellow athletes in a speech that still sticks with me to this day:

“We’re not on this stage just because of talent or ability. We’re up here because of 4 a.m. We’re up here because of two-a-days or five-a-days. We’re up here because we had a dream and let nothing stand in our way. If anything tried to bring us down, we used it to make us stronger. We were never satisfied, never finished. We will never be retired.”

Credit: Showtime/THR

Toward the end of the speech, Kobe quoted one of his high school teachers by saying, “Rest at the end, not in the middle.” Kobe Bryant obviously lived that quote, and will now get his rest. He didn’t become one of the greatest athletes in the world simply because of talent. He was great because he was willing to put in the work every single day.

4 a.m.

Seven times a week.

No matter the struggle.

It’d be foolish to think that God allows us to go through life with absolutely no hardships and difficulties. No matter how strong you think you, there will be something that disrupts your peace, shifts your circumstances, limits your livelihood, pauses your progress and tests your character. A struggle or a series of momentary struggles are guaranteed.

It doesn’t have to be life or death, or detrimental to success but the highs and lows will come, and most times the lows will be a struggle – a struggle to get ahead and move to the next level, to fix what went wrong, to get over a bad decision or a disappointment, to make ends meet or break into the right space, to mend broken relationships and pursue the right ones, to establish boundaries, to reach a comfortable position in life, to love yourself and to be fair to yourself, to stay healthy or recover from illness, to let go of resentment or guilt, to overcome hurt and loss, and to heal from anger, sadness and pain – the struggle no matter how it looks is real.

In the world we live in, results are usually tied to performance. Nowadays unfortunately, good enough is enough. Half-done, half-hearted, shoddy, non-committal, just to get by, low effort, low interest, low standard, low energy, unbothered, average attempt, smoke and mirrors, for attention and not for advancement, a failure to go all in and play full out, doing the bare minimum, less than what is required, lack and slack – all fight against the temporary privilege to push through a struggle in order to get better.

I can imagine that 4 a.m. workouts everyday year after year would do nothing but breed excellence, and for many of us, Kobe was nothing short of excellence.

So what’s your 4 a.m.?

What struggle have you overcome recently and how did you learn to see the beauty in it? When it comes to pursuing excellence, what discomforts are required to achieve your personal best and strengthen your character?

Struggles might hinder you but they don’t define you. They will discipline you but do not have to distract you. If we considered a struggle to be a temporary privilege, we’d admit that a struggle isn’t always bad. It isn’t. It can groom us for excellence and bring us remarkable rewards.

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This blog post is an excerpt from my podcast Affirmations of Excellence, Episode 4: Struggles. The podcast is an offering of personal devotionals to fuel your week with excellence using personal stories and reflections, clear action steps, and guided affirmations.

Listen, rate, subscribe and share!

More Than Music – Akon

His name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam but the world knows him plainly as Akon. He’s an American-Senegalese based singer and producer introduced to us through pop culture by way of some pretty huge hits, yet little has been said about his impact as an entrepreneur. If anyone is wondering why Akon somewhat disappeared from the public eye, at least on the U.S. music scene that is, it’s because he’s been building businesses and investing smartly.

With an estimated net worth of over $80 million, there’s honestly no way to keep up with his many business ventures. He’s gone from music to real estate and tech, to agriculture and energy – yes, energy.

In 2014, he launched Akon Lighting Africa in effort to provide energy throughout his home continent.  The company provides environment-friendly and cost-effective solutions to address concerns in more than two-thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa that are without electricity, and to reach more than 85 percent of those living in rural areas lacking access.

With a billon dollar credit line from a Chinese partner, Akon is leading a movement to illuminate Africa with more than 100,000 solar street lamps installed across 480 communities in 15 countries, along with 1,200 solar micro-grids and 5,500 jobs created.

This year, his company will begin developing utility scale renewable energy projects throughout U.S. and constructing renewable energy solutions for rural and low income housing communities.

Meanwhile, he’s launched his own cryptocurrency called Akoin and will use the currency to support the Akon’s Lighting Africa Initiative and position it to be the de facto currency in a Senegalese city he’s constructing on 2,000 acres of land gifted to him by the President of Senegal – a futuristic city he describes as “a real Wakanda.”

Never moving too far away from music, he has also purchased 50 percent stake in a music download service based in Senegal called Musik Bi that features over 200 internationally recognized artists. 

So if you’re wondering what happened to Akon, you’re out of the loop and have some catching up to do.

His unique perspective as an African born in American is cradled in a heart for his homeland – a perspective grounded in the belief that the only way to build the continent of Africa is with less charity and more revenue-generating businesses that create opportunities for local people.

This bag collector is not only coming up with market-driven solutions that impact the globe, he’s proving that he’s more than music.

 

This post is the part of The Bag Collector series – a spotlight posts that feature serial entrepreneurs of color each recognized for their ability to diversify in business, wealth and investments. These individuals exemplify what it means to be creative and unapologetic in pursuit of entrepreneurial excellence, and ultimately collect the “bag” then use it to make greater community impact.

The Million-Dollar Mother – Mary Ellen Pleasant

In a time where women were seen as less than men, and black people weren’t seen as human, you’d think it would be remotely impossible to be a successful black businesswoman.

Her story is complicated but abolitionist, financier, real estate magnate and Gold Rush entrepreneur Mary Ellen Pleasant was a free black woman who dedicated her life to equality for African Americans shattering racial and gender barriers.

Born into slavery, Mary Ellen was the illegitimate daughter of the son of then-Virginia governor and a Haitian voodoo priestess. She was sold from Georgia to New Orleans, then later bought and freed as an indentured servant in Rhode Island. She eventually made Philadelphia home, married an abolitionist and became a conductor of the Underground Railroad in Canada. ⁠

Around 1848, Mary and her husband heard about the Gold Rush and saw it as an opportunity to move west to California. She came to San Francisco fleeing prosecution under the Fugitive Slave Act while continuing her work leading people from slavery to freedom and finding them employment. Arriving in San Francisco with a considerable sum of money left to her by her first husband, Mary Ellen invested it wisely. She established several businesses included laundries, dairies and restaurants — all of which became quite lucrative in a city filled with gold miners, politicians and businessmen.

By 1875, she had earned a great deal of money from her businesses and investments and used it to help establish the Bank of California. Mary Ellen continued the fight for civil rights and challenged Jim Crow laws ⁠in suing the North Beach Railroad Co. for not letting African Americans ride streetcars in San Francisco.

Today the Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial Park in San Francisco lives on the property that once occupied a 30-room Italianate mansion she owned on Octavia Street.

Searching her history you may find so much more about this woman. Mary Ellen was relentless and sometimes controversial yet she died known as “the Mother of Civil Rights in California.”

She amassed a fortune worth over $30 million and used much of that fortune to challenge the white supremacist status quo marking her million-dollar legacy in civil rights and black entrepreneurship.

This post is the part of The Bag Collector series – a spotlight posts that feature serial entrepreneurs of color each recognized for their ability to diversify in business, wealth and investments. These individuals exemplify what it means to be creative and unapologetic in pursuit of entrepreneurial excellence, and ultimately collect the “bag” then use it to make greater community impact.

A Martyr for the People – Thomas Moss

Kroger and Publix, Wal-Mart and Target, every successful business has its competition. There’s inspired competition – the kind that motivates you, challenges you, and makes you chase after success. And then there’s competition that only wants to see you lose and drive you out of business. The story of Thomas Moss is one that undeniably captures the trauma of competition that black entrepreneurs faced while working to acquire wealth post-slavery.

In 1889, Thomas Moss and 11 prominent black investors, opened The People’s Grocery. The store was located just outside Memphis in a neighborhood called the “Curve.” News of this black owned business spread quickly and black people in the community began to feel empowered. 

Moss was motivated to attain wealth and invest into his community. A postman by day, he used earnings delivering mail to invest in his start-up idea of a community grocery store. He delivered mail by day and ran People’s Grocery by night. And, as family man in the community, his popularity lent great success to his entrepreneurial pursuits. 

With this cooperative venture for the store, a unique structure of its kind in those days, he ran along corporate lines and made his store the 5th largest wholesale grocery market in the country. Moss was an instant success. His store brought capital to the black community while also instilling a sense of pride. 

Sadly, his social nor economic status was able to save him from the racial hostility of the South. Across from Moss’ store was another store owned by a white man, and many white people in the community were not pleased. Many felt as if they shouldn’t compete for the black dollar and the People’s Grocery quickly became an enemy of their white competitors. Moss was confident. He ignored the animosity and persisted to thrive in business. He knew the blacks in the community loved him and would support his grocery store.

In March 1892, a series of racially charged fights broke out outside of the store. Two of Moss’ workers went outside to ease the tension. Moss along with his two workers were arrested and later dragged out of jail by an angry mob of 75 white men. They all were publicly lynched while in police custody. ⁠

Moss was asked if he had any last words and he stated, “Tell my people to go west. There is no justice here.” This lynching became known as the Lynchings at the Curve. ⁠Ida B. Wells, a famed anti-lynching journalist and a dear friend to Moss, was set to show through media that lynching had become a tool of economic terrorism and disenfranchisement and became a vocal champion to broadcast the lynchings as they spread especially among black male business owners.

Many black entrepreneurs lynched across the South were people who dared to be their own boss or were perceived as having too much ambition, property or talent. Moss’ lynching, like many others, was framed as an organized act of extralegal violence and a punishment for becoming an economic competitor to whites.

The success and sacrifice of Thomas Moss has major takeaways for us today. The idea that discrimination is alive and well is true but the promise that opportunities are endless for those who fearlessly pursue entrepreneurship is even greater.

For that, we have martyrs like Thomas Moss to thank.

 

This post is the part of The Bag Collector series – a spotlight posts that feature serial entrepreneurs of color each recognized for their ability to diversify in business, wealth and investments. These individuals exemplify what it means to be creative and unapologetic in pursuit of entrepreneurial excellence, and ultimately collect the “bag” then use it to make greater community impact. 

She’s The One – Nichelle McCall Browne

Less than 1 percent of black women founders get VC funding.

Nichelle McCall Browne, CEO of Bold Startups, is one of 1 percent. She raised $1/2 million within a year as a non-technical founder of her own software company.

She’s been helping entrepreneurs boldly launch and grow businesses since 2007 and has managed two business accelerators, where entrepreneurs have made collectively over $3.6M in revenue within a few years.

Here’s her story:

How did you get started on your journey to entrepreneurship?

My entrepreneurial journey started with me being unemployed in 2010. I had just completed my master’s degree and was recruited for a position back home, when at the last minute the organization went another direction. So I found myself unemployed. At that moment, I decided to never leave my financial future in the hands of someone else. That was when I started working on my first consulting business.

What is your definition of a serial entrepreneur?

I define a serial entrepreneur as someone who frequently sees new opportunities or challenges and starts new businesses to address them.

How many business ventures have you been involved (as owner, investor, partner, etc) and what has been your process for managing them all?

I have started four businesses of my own in consulting, tech, real estate investment and startup coaching. I have also managed two business accelerators helping individuals launch and grow their businesses. Our entrepreneurs collectively have made over $3.6 million in a few years.

When starting my business ventures, I usually focus on launching one at a time, so I can learn what works and what can be tweaked. Once it’s steady, I hand it over to others to manage so I can focus on the next business.

In general, what would you say has been your biggest challenge as an entrepreneur?

My biggest challenge was definitely starting a tech company as a non-technical founder. I had an idea for leveraging software to help students navigate the college application process, but I did not have a background in coding. Fortunately, I ended up finding advisors who taught me how to build an investment-ready business, find the right paying customer, and create revenue-generation milestones. This led me to raising $½ million in a year and I have used these principles in my businesses since.

How satisfied are you with your success thus far? What area of business do you want to tackle next?

I’m content with the progress that has been made thus far and excited for what’s next.

Right now, I’m focused on growing my Money Milestones program that teaches consultants and service-based businesses to build six-figure businesses, so they can be full-time and financially-free. The entrepreneurs I’ve served have seen great success so far, so I’m putting more systems and teams in place to scale my reach. As the business grows, I’ll use more of the profits to continue to invest in businesses, missions, and real estate.

Share a quick example of a time you collected the “bag” and circulated it throughout a segment of your community to give back and make greater impact.

I once had a nonprofit client I was working with to raise money for a new multipurpose complex. I ended up donating half of the money from my contract back to the nonprofit as I truly believed in the mission.

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs who fear they may be doing “too much” at once?

When your business services are aligned and you have a team to help with management, it’s easier to focus on successfully growing them.

In this situation, you will not always have to create something from scratch, but rather leverage what you already created in order to multiply revenue.

Website: https://www.nichellemccall.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nichelle-n-mccall/

 

This post is the part of The Bag Collector series – a spotlight posts that feature serial entrepreneurs of color each recognized for their ability to diversify in business, wealth and investments. These individuals exemplify what it means to be creative and unapologetic in pursuit of entrepreneurial excellence, and ultimately collect the “bag” then use it to make greater community impact. 

The Magical Annie Malone – Madame C.J. Walker’s First Mentor

Many have heard of hair/beauty pioneer Madame CJ Walker, but not many people know about the woman she credits a great deal of her knowledge to; a woman that influenced her path of success—Annie Malone.

Before Shea Moisture, Miss Jessie’s or The Mane Choice, Poro Beauty Products was one of the first haircare and beauty lines developed in the 1890s for black women. Recognized as an African American business woman, inventor, and philanthropist, Annie created products not only for straightening black hair, but she wanted to ensure that her product would not damage it in the process.

Her school Poro College was the first educational institution in the United States dedicated to the study and teaching of black cosmetology. By 1926, the college employed 175 people, and franchised outlets in North and South America, Africa, and the Philippines employing some 75,000 women.

Annie developed a network of franchised agent-operators who operated salons under Malone’s guidelines using Poro products while also becoming the first to patent a hot comb.

A star student she helped and became rather fond of was Madame C.J. Walker. Although much of Annie’s success has been overshadowed by her, it is a known fact that Madame C.J. Walker got her start by selling Annie’s hair care products.

One of the first African American millionaires to be a serial entrepreneur, Annie owned her hair care college and company, a secretarial school, a hotel, and a number a real estate properties (she even owned a whole entire city block in Chicago). She became one of the wealthiest women in the world accumulating a worth $14 million during the 1920s.

However, despite her wealth, Malone lived conservatively and gave away much of her fortune to help other African Americans. Malone donated large sums to countless charities including giving thousands of dollars to HBCUs counting record-breaking gifts in large amounts to Howard University and Tuskegee Institute.

Throughout the years, Annie perfected her craft, continued building her brand, and created many opportunities for other black entrepreneurs.  Her manufactured line of beauty products for black women created a unique distribution system that helped tens of thousands of black women become entrepreneurial while gaining self-respect and economic independence, and birthed the legendary career of our beloved Madame C.J. Walker.

This post is the part of The Bag Collector series – a spotlight posts that feature serial entrepreneurs of color each recognized for their ability to diversify in business, wealth and investments. These individuals exemplify what it means to be creative and unapologetic in pursuit of entrepreneurial excellence, and ultimately collect the “bag” then use it to make greater community impact. 

 

Introducing My New Blog Series: The Bag Collector

This year, I celebrate 15 years of entrepreneurship, and after starting several ventures with a few more planned to launch soon, I want to share the stories of entrepreneurs of color who’ve done the same thing in the most impactful and profound ways.

The Bag Collector is a spotlight series that features 15 serial entrepreneurs of color each recognized for their ability to diversify in business, wealth and investments. These individuals exemplify what it means to be creative and unapologetic in pursuit of entrepreneurial excellence, and ultimately collect the “bag” then use it to make greater community impact and establish a cultural legacy.

I will be featuring present-day game changers alongside a few unsung giants in black history whose shoulders the rest of us stand upon.

You are going to love their stories, and I’ll even share mine with you too.

Subscribe to my blog here to get notifications when each post goes live, and share, please share this awesome profiles with your network.

More to come…

How Inmate Cyntoia Brown Became a Scholar

At this time of year, most college students have completed final exams and term papers in anticipation of a nice winter break. As I read the senior capstone paper of one student, I am profoundly impressed by her scholarly work. The paper’s empirical research, theoretical context, and succinct flow – all elements are brilliantly done. I am soon reminded though that the chance to come home from college at the end of a semester or the hope of entering the world of work after obtaining a degree does not belong to her.

I’m reading a paper by Cyntoia Brown – an inmate in the Tennessee State Prison for Women whose case has been the center of attention lately reemerging from a news story and leading to the social media outcry insisting her freedom. She’s serving life in prison after being tried as an adult for killing her 43 year-old abuser at the age of 16.

Amid the demands for sexual predators to be called out and the persistent push for systemic change, Cyntoia’s 2004 case as a teen sentenced to 60 years has reappeared in news feeds and caught the eye of celebs like Rihanna, Lebron James and Kim Kardashian West. With a history of being trafficked into sex slavery, many are questioning why Cyntoia wasn’t seen as the victim in this case.

Despite her circumstances, Cyntoia has dedicated her time in prison to scholarly inquiry and intellectual rigor as a student in the Lipscomb University Initiative for Education (LIFE) program – one of only a handful of programs in the U.S. to offer a college degree to prison inmates. She was selected by the Tennessee Department of Correction to be admitted as a student at Lipscomb University, a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, and took courses from the university curriculum alongside fellow inmates and other traditional students onsite at the prison. A rich, life-changing educational experience, it led her to earn an associate’s degree in 2015.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

In May 2019, she will complete her bachelor’s degree.

Cyntoia has been studying literature on domestic minor sex trafficking and researching the correlation between societal perceptions of trafficked and exploited teens, and the effectiveness of eradication efforts. Her research explores the maturity factor of minors having the competence to distinguish consent from sexual abuse. She combats the notion that minors welcome exploitation by voluntarily prostituting themselves and challenges the social phenomena of shunning and shaming exploited teenagers.

In her capstone paper, she proposes a grassroots community based approach that reshapes the cultural norms surrounding the teen sex epidemic. She names it The GLITTER Project (Grassroots, Learning Initiative on Teen Trafficking, Exploitation and Rape) – an online awareness campaign with blogs, narratives, hashtags and photos aimed at fostering dialogue among community members through education and empowerment.

More often than not, young women struggle with histories of substance abuse, rape, violence, childhood trauma, domestic violence, mental illness, and poverty. Often times, these traumas span back generations in families, as they do with Cyntoia. However, she has gained the self-esteem to invest in her own education and the confidence to transcend the systemic ills that have haunted her.

Cyntoia now embodies the qualities of a scholar.

Her intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, communication skills, thought leadership and commitment to community all reveal the academic professionalism of any high-achieving student.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Though Cyntoia will graduate with a bachelor’s degree, she will not enter the real world and the job market like most college students. That’s what many are fighting for – a chance to win clemency from the Tennessee Board of Parole and Governor Bill Haslam granting her a new life.

Cyntoia was sexually exploited and lured into a lifestyle of abuse, and now her education has become an outlet for halting the spiral of shame, low self-esteem, and hopelessness. Not only is she battling her life sentence, she’s fighting the lack of awareness and acceptance around this problem. Through education, she has used her academic experience to highlight the domestic minor sex trafficking that she’s witnessed firsthand and is ready to devote her future life to creating solutions.

Becoming a scholar is a worthy pursuit. Cyntoia can now look beyond prison walls to see what could be and to know that her life is forever transformed. Full of promise, she’s now an agent for change and an influential voice in the fight for exploited teens.

Her story is a testament of proof that making an investment the best minds of our society can create cultural change and set them on the road to redemption.

Why Your Diversity Training Won’t Work

Earlier this year, Starbucks paused it operations of 8,000 stores for unconscious bias training. Soon after the announcement, I landed three new clients desiring to facilitate conversations and launch initiatives around issues of diversity and inclusion for their organization. The majority of my work, like others who work in this area, is spent customizing content for the trainings and crafting a strategy to support them. I predict more of these trainings will be a priority for organizations, and recommend that consumers hold them accountable for doing the work.

But there’s a major issue with diversity trainings. Many of them won’t work.

Even if you offer multiple trainings, or a series of events and workshops, the experience will have no impact if you have overlooked the most important element any organization must implement – a strategy.

Any training or learning event should be tactic inside a larger diversity strategy because most times when training is treated like an activity, the learning experience is much less effective and not seen as a deliberate part of the organizational culture. Without a strategic plan to support your diversity and inclusion initiatives, your trainings are merely an exercise.

Because corporate America has historically struggled to communicate the value of employees and consumers who represent cultural differences, the atmosphere or climate of an organization can have varying effects on employee outcomes and organizational effectiveness. In order for your trainings to work, they must be supported by a strategic plan that advances a dedication to diversity and internalizes a culture of inclusion.

A plan establishes diversity and inclusion as a strategic imperative. It means your organization is committed to the practice of diversity and inclusion and is not simply having a conversation. If your trainings are an attempt to develop core competencies for your employees that will enable them to work more effectively inside a diverse workforce and approach consumer audiences with greater cultural awareness, then a strategic plan should include a focus to examine trainings to determine their effectiveness.

Developing a plan can be based on a competency-based framework for practicing diversity and inclusion. A few proven models that can support your plan include Darla Deardorff’s Process Model of Intercultural Competence (2006), The Conference Board’s Report on Global Competencies (2008) and UNC’s Diversity Competencies for Leadership Development (2016). These examples offer competencies that organizations can strategically use as metrics for regular analysis and data collection.

Implementing a strategic plan ensures that diversity and inclusion will be:

• embedded throughout the organization

• engaged across functions and departments

• executed through communication with consumers and communities

• evaluated for effectiveness through business outcomes.

To value diversity is to be expected but to have measurable knowledge and skills on how cultural differences can work best inside the organization, and how to communicate effectively about those similarities and differences, is to be strategic.

Your employees may be relieved to know that your organization is attempting to have a conversation around issues of diversity and inclusion – trainings increase one’s cultural knowledge, ability to empathize, understanding of cultural differences and willingness to face challenges.

Unfortunately, if treated like an exercise, your employees can suffer from pressure to participate, resentment of false commitment and the likelihood of losing interest. Trainings should be not a “check the box” exercise.

Organizations cannot trade tactics for strategies. Conducting trainings for diversity is a wasted effort without a strategic plan in place to activate inclusion.

One of Nashville’s 40 Under 40

My 40 Under 40 interview was released in the Nashville Business Journal earlier this month. The content was exclusive so here’s a sneak peek of the feature. Enjoy!

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received, and what did you learn from it? 

Most recently, the worst advice I received was not to pursue a doctoral degree. Last spring, I enrolled in the University of Southern California’s Global Executive Doctor of Education program, and since, I believe its one the best decisions I’ve ever made. Initially, there were many people who highly endorsed the idea as a possible waste of time and money. With a master’s degree, a few businesses and a job as a professor, they felt the credentials I had were enough to carry me as far I wanted to go. I see some merit in that notion but I also saw this as a chance to deepen the connection between my entrepreneurial background and my role as an educator. I relish the opportunity to tackle intellectual problems and explore new areas of knowledge through global trends from around the world. Making this decision gave greater affirmation in knowing that not everyone will understand your vision. I have come to learn with this and past situations that the more you love your decisions, the less you will need others to love them.

What is the greatest potential that comes from Nashville’s growth?

I am both optimistic and concerned about the growth this city is experiencing. While we’ve seen amazing progress in significant areas, we’ve also seen issues like crime, gentrification, housing and transit become more prevalent as a result of our rising population. I believe that the greatest potential from this expansion is the opportunity to make Nashville an exemplar for diverse communities – a place where resources are allocated and room is made for residents of various socioeconomic levels to thrive.

What fictional character do you most relate to or empathize with, and why?

Not a fictional character but a biblical character, Lydia – a woman from the Bible whose story found in Acts 16 – is one with which I identify. Lydia was an intelligent entrepreneur who loved community and understood the value of relationships. She was humble, perceptive, assertive and generous.

What is your least favorite assumption about millennials?

I write in detail about millennials in my book, The Original Millennial: Lessons in Leadership, and address the many stereotypes and assumptions of my generation. I think there’s enough conversation about what millennials are and are not in contrast to other generations so I don’t speak to the stereotypes or assumption that could support common issues. I think those are rehearsed and, quite frankly, rather old. I believe the driving force behind the potential greatness within the millennial generation is our originality. Millennials always look for ways to make things greater, bigger, better, stronger and more practical. The best parts of millennials are found in the choice to change and evolve. The original qualities of past generations use commonly understood behavior patterns, which make them far easier to define, whereas millennials have the ability to defy category. We, and other generations, have to accept that and embrace it to overcome issues that could create barriers to leadership and collaboration.

What is your favorite social media platform, and why? 

I love YouTube. I am a creative at heart so I love the storytelling aspect of videos as well as the ability to research, find information, and be informed and entertained. I also love Instagram and WhatsApp.

Why #BlackGirlMagic Is More Relevant Than Ever

The gap in management, representation and compensation leaves room for the PR industry to champion African-American women leaders

The evidence is real. #BlackGirlMagic isn’t just a trending hashtag or catchphrase, it’s a real-time, quantifiable illustration of how the consumer preferences and brand affinities of African-American women are resonating across the U.S. According to African-American Women: Our Science, Her Magic, a new report by Nielsen, African-American women are driving total Black spending power toward a record $1.5 trillion by 2021. Insights reveal that we have enjoyed steady growth in population, incomes, and educational attainment. This rise in influence and buying power as consumers is a result of our increased success in business and our careers.

But, another stat is much less impressive. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016) reported that below 4 percent of women employed in public relations were African American (women overall make up about 70 percent of the industry). With all of our magical abilities to drive product categories and shift culture as trendsetters, brand loyalists and early adopters, there’s no reason more of us shouldn’t be leading in brands and agencies as decision makers. Make no mistake – we are here, and have been here for decades – but the gap in management, representation and compensation for African-American women leaders in the public relations industry must lessen as we’ve further proven our power and influence.

Here’s how we champion “Black Girl Magic” in the PR industry:

African-American women are best at creating and cultivating community.

Our magic is made tangible when we establish opportunities for dialogue and work to make industry diversity actionable and accountable. Such efforts like the E3 Task Force, a nationwide agency diversity effort led by Edelman’s DC President Lisa Osborne Ross, empower diverse candidates to elevate their voices and emerge as leaders.

Credit: ColorComm 2016 C2 Conference

With the ColorComm (C2) Conference in Miami as the catalyst for the conversation, the task force went to work forming a quantitative study and hosting listening sessions, with mostly women of color in the communications industry across eight U.S. markets, to assess the barriers and dismantle the roadblocks to leadership. Similarly in advertising and marketing, there are still very few women of color in creative leadership roles.

Credit: bohan Advertising

Ad Women For All Women, a program created and hosted by bohan, an independent, full-service advertising and marketing agency, introduces young women in high school and college to the opportunities available in advertising. The AWFAW program focuses on women and women of color specifically, but is part of a commitment to diversity and inclusion in a broad sense as well. Each effort, and so many others, indicates where we want to be and how we are willing to help one other get there.

 African-American women show a desire to lead and an ability to drive revenue.

Our magic is obvious as the Nielsen study reveals that 64 percent of black women agree their goal is to make it to the top of their profession. The study also reports that Black female entrepreneurs have grown by 67 percent within five years, totaling more than 1.5 million businesses with over $42 billion in sales and $7.7 billion in payroll. This kind of ingenuity is worth acknowledging and forces a response by placing more African-American women in PR leadership roles. Yet, in a survey of 51 agencies in North America, the Holmes Report and Ketchum Global Research & Analytics reported that women of color made $10,000 less than white women in public relations. This leads to the progression of African-American women opting out of agency life to create their own businesses or to leave the industry altogether. This is a clear sign of industry leadership passing on the untapped potential of ambitious African-American women, lagging on developing an organizational culture of inclusion and equity, and overlooking the intrinsic value we hold for leveraging business savvy for greater profits.

African-American women maintain a unique cultural capital.

Our magic is limitless as mainstream culture looks to us for trends and patterns. In most product categories, African-American women over-index against non-Hispanic white women for dollars per buyer and buying power, according to Nielsen. Also, 86 percent admitted to spending 5 or more hours each day on online/mobile platforms for consumer engagement activities and social media movements. As African-American women, our spending, watching, and listening habits are mirrored by other women and shape the way women of all ethnicities see themselves, states the report. While the behaviors, values and purchasing patters of African-American women have been long studied by corporations, our recent influence is proving that the cultural capital we embody has the power to extend beyond contributing a consumer point of view to now reaching leadership with a seat at the table in order to meet industry demands and address PR’s diversity deficit.

It’s confirmed. We are magic.

 

We are an undeniable force as women influencers in public relations, as well as marketing, advertising and digital. Our position as creators, decision makers and game changers is indefinite, and will secure our presence as levelers in the future.

If the rest of the world is taking notice and recognizing “Black Girl Magic,” the public relations industry should be our greatest advocate.

What Jay-Z’s 4:44 Means For Black Millennial Leaders

In 1997, Jay-Z, a Brooklyn MC emerging in popularity and ambition, released his second studio album, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Still perfecting his sound and his persona, Jay was at his hungriest then yet seemingly stuck between the rap game and the dope game, and the streets and the boardroom. Also in 1997, the African American community emerged as the fastest growing consumer base worldwide with a total purchasing power of $469.4 billion. As our influence climbed so did our access to education and entrepreneurship setting the stage for the youngest in our community – the millennials – to witness this growth and progression firsthand.

20 years later, Jay-Z is known as the legendary rapper holding the number one slot on just about everyone’s top five list. From beats to business – then Beyonce and Blue Ivy – he’s been able transcend all aspects of entertainment, leverage philanthropy for the cause and master entrepreneurship with the best of black excellence. His latest album 4:44 is proof, and most black millennials will agree. With themes like financial freedom, generational wealth, ownership and entrepreneurship all woven into dope, soulful beats, and not to mention, the slick short movies as videos for songs like Moonlight and Story of O.J., and an inside scoop from the Rap Radar podcast on TIDAL, 4:44 is a blueprint for black millennials who are poised to lead.

Yet, we still have a reality to face. In the Black community, money circulates zero to one time and one dollar circulates between us for only six hours, according to Nielsen, making us the least wealthy U.S demographic. However, Nielsen also tells us that the overall Black spending power is projected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2020. And with millennials representing 50 percent of the global workplace by 2020 making us huge influencers on how business works, the projected $162 billion that Black Millennials have in buying power along with undisputed cultural influence, means we as leaders must get serious about avoiding “living rich and dying broke” as Jay-Z said.

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With new wind of inspiration from Jay and a major cultural shift at hand, here are four things 4:44 should inspire black millennial leaders to do:

We must own.

“You walkin’ around like you invincible/You dropped outta school, you lost your principles” – ‘Kill Jay Z’

Millennials are only interested in purposeful work. School may teach you how to get jobs but there’s no guarantee school will teach you how to create jobs. Ownership is a priority because for black millennials the future of business depends on our ability to be employers. With all our smarts gained from school or otherwise, we must maintain the vision to be owners – own everything we can from property to businesses. Whether you run a startup in your basement or you jet set to make big deals, ownership is your key to financial freedom and generational wealth. For black millennial leaders to build legacy, we must apply compelling vision to own our own – whether it’s a website selling apparel or a food truck selling cupcakes. Without ownership, we jeopardize our progress. It’s about principle above all.

We must invest.

‘Please don’t die over the neighborhood/That your mama rentin’/Take your drug money and buy the neighborhood/That’s how you rinse it’ – ‘Story of O.J.’

Millennials are magnets for creativity and community. Whether you buy the block in your old neighborhood or cut a check to a local nonprofit, directing your resources to your own community curates and preserves its cultural originality. When you invest in the black community, you generate profits in pursuit of social goals. Use your profit to invest in your purpose in leadership. Remember, your profit is not just your money. You can invest your profits in form of time, advice and raw talents. Not only does investing foster loyalty to your community, it introduces a culture of openness so that solutions can be explored to help solve the problems we want solved and ensure a legacy for future generations for follow.

We must innovate.

“Y’all think small, I think Biggie” – ‘Family Feud’

Millennials are vocal about what we want for our lives. We think big. We create lifestyles that support innovation which means we keep an open mind about the way the world works. As black millennials, we have a legitimate role to play in the innovation of leadership. We must lead with incremental steps that make old ideas new again and repurpose the familiar into the unexpected. The cultural shift of innovation forces us to the frontline of leadership. When black millennials embrace innovation and build a culture to support it, we demonstrate intentionality in our leadership. When we deliberately and routinely think big, we show that innovation is a way of life. And when boundaries appear, we use innovation to push them by facing the fast-paced world head-on with no fear.

We must build.

“We’re supposed to vacay ’til our backs burn / We’re supposed to laugh ’til our hearts stops” – ‘4:44’

Millennials love life. We do not want to put our passions on hold – travel, food, love, technology, etc. Meanwhile, we are still building. Its part of the black millennial experience. We are building ideas that successfully raise awareness of issues facing the Black community and influence decisions shaping our world. We must use our collective power to build the future together —we must focus on outcomes, not hours, and results, not hype. We must have a challenge to continuously learn and do better. Though our ambition and zest for life may get us labeled as self-centered, what we really want is to get better at what we are doing, take care of our families and have an impact on the world. As we build, we must empower each other to eliminate the “me” mentality. When we do so, and do it together, we earn the power and privilege to lead lives of unlimited potential. Besides, “what’s better than one billionaire? Two,
especially if they’re from the same hue as you.”

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In 4:44, Jay-Z masterfully proves the bond between cultural change and social entrepreneurship. Cultural change exposes problems by disrupting a system. This is a result of generations asking why. Social entrepreneurship solves problems by disrupting a system. This is a result of generations asking, why not? And, asking why not is what millennials do best.

Though Jay is a Gen-Xer and one of the most respected voices in pop culture, the so-called legends and power brokers from his generation aren’t the only ones responsible for creating the most exciting things impacting our culture these days. Increasingly, millennials are having the biggest impact on culture thanks to his influence along with others from Gen X.

If black millennials leaders intend to lead, and we are showing that we do, all the inspiration we need is in front of us.

Beyond the Buzzword: How to Talk about Diversity

Diversity has become a topic that everyone seems to want to talk about.

Now, in the second decade of the new millennium, the business case for practicing diversity and inclusion has been made a priority, as concern for race, age and gender expands to include diversity of culture, thought and lifestyle. This evolution has shown that the language of diversity is fluid and somewhat uncertain, and yet it contains fundamentals for the future.

While the importance of diversity has increased in recent decades, progress in the corporate world has been slower. “Diversity” has become a buzzword. The way we communicate the idea often makes diversity a novelty that we like to mention, rather than spending time determining how it should play out in organizations and in the world around us.

As the work of diversity and inclusion grows in demand, the PR profession has an opportunity to lead the language so that other industries can talk about this function with greater cultural competency. Here are a few simple ways to reframe how we talk about diversity:

Understand that diversity does not mean non-white

When we hear the word “diversity,” we tend to think that it means race, specifically people who are not Caucasian. Instead, we must define diversity as the measure or variation of social and cultural identities among people who exist together in a particular setting.

To go beyond the buzzword and arrive at authentic cross-cultural experiences, people of all races, ethnicities, ages, religions and backgrounds need to participate in building organizational cultures. On the other hand, relying solely on non-white employees to lead diversity efforts — or devaluing the realities of their societal experiences — allows us to sidestep persistent inequalities and to overlook opportunities to enhance our cultural competencies. 

Stop calling people ‘diverse’

Individuals add diversity to groups and should not be labeled as “diverse” for the sake of representation. One could argue that a statement such as “We need more diverse candidates” is a matter of semantics, but it obscures our understanding of diversity. Using the term this way depersonalizes people as “other” in an attempt to meet a socially acceptable goal, without naming the specific kind of person needed for the goal to be met. If one person fits the distinction, does that make the group diverse? Or if a group only has Latinas, for instance, is it diverse? It’s easy to measure diversity by headcount, but inclusion means understanding people’s narratives along with their numbers.

Using “diversity” as a catchall reinforces wrong meaning. Specifically naming the groups we’re talking about — based on characteristics such as LGBTQ, age, race or nationality — sets a tone for belonging, and prevents diversity from erasing the distinctions that make it necessary in the first place.

Prepare for the emerging majority

“Minority” has long been the default descriptor for people of color. But with the United States poised to become a minority-majority country by the year 2040, the shift will reshape the language of our industry and perhaps create a stronger filter for senior leaders and decision-makers responsible for navigating organizational cultures. 

Some believe that adding cultural differences creates a competitive advantage. Instead of seeing the focus on differences as divisive, we can leverage commonalities to spark future initiatives.

Treated as a buzzword, diversity becomes so diluted that it can be a code for anything we want it to represent. Even well-intended diversity efforts leave us without an understandable language. Changing the words and phrases we use to describe one another reflects progress toward a world in which everyone feels respected and included.

Some see diversity as a convenient solution to new racial and ethnic challenges, which becomes synonymous with a profit imperative. Appealing to diversity can unite people across differences that divide us and affirm a shared, self-reinforcing commitment to one another.

The PR/communications profession influences all areas of business and how language and perception are reshaped. When we grapple with how to discuss diversity and inclusion efforts, and look at how public perceptions will change, our profession can help lessen the misunderstandings and miscommunications that occur in the global workforce by listening actively, choosing words carefully and showing respect for others.

This article was originally posted at PRSAY. In August, PRSA is celebrating Diversity Month by focusing on the diverse communities, people and practices that comprise public relations. The Diversity & Inclusion Committee and other PR thought leaders offer their insights on the importance of a diverse and inclusive workplace. Join the discussion by following @PRSADiversity and using #PRSADiversity in your social media posts.

The Opportunity for Millennial Leaders

By 2020, millennials will represent 50% of the global workplace, making us a huge influence on how business works.

Organizational leaders are becoming increasingly concerned that they soon will be unable to find the talent they need to succeed, with a shortage of suitably skilled workers as the single biggest worry. Businesses are competing fiercely for the best available talent to replace the retiring boomers in the upcoming years. Every year, more and more of that talent will be recruited from the ranks of millennials (PwC, 2011).

That means building leaders from the millennial generation can no longer be a delayed strategy for decision-makers in the workplace.

Reason 1: Millennials are critical to organizational success and sustainability

Reason 2: Millennials can quickly learn the ropes then come for the boss’s job

Reason 3: Millennials have options. We can decide we don’t want to work for someone

Reason 4: Without millennials, organizations will start to wane.

A report by PriceWaterhouse Coopers provides some insight into the minds of millennials. In 2011, the corporation carried out an online survey of 4,364 millennials across 75 countries under the age of 31 or under and had graduated college between 2008 and 2011. Seventy-five percent were currently employed or about to start a new job while 8% were unemployed at the time they responded to the questionnaire. The rest were self-employed or returning full-time to continue their education. According to the survey, 76% of respondents with a job said it was a graduate role, while 12% had a job that did not require a degree. The survey said that 54% expected to work for between two and five employers over their entire career.

This isn’t attributed to low attention spans and bouts of boredom millennials are believed to possess. This is a direct result of organizations determining that millennials aren’t high-level contributors because we’re not “one-size fits all.” We spend an average 1.5 years to 3 years working at a company. But working for two and five employers over a 40 to 50-year career suggests much greater longevity with an employer than that the perceived length of millennials’ employment, the survey said.

Millennials are vocal about what we want for our lives. Our careers are top priority. In fact, our generation sees a bigger picture for our work, leveraged by technology, freedom and creativity. This means we have the ability to add meaningful value to our work from anywhere at anytime, and we must be allowed to exercise that value in ways that others respect it.

Here are immediate opportunities we can take as leaders:

• Ask your employer for the resources to pursue education in your chosen field and opportunities to keep learning through training, workshops or tuition reimbursement. Also, be prepared to invest in your own training outside of the office to make your skills as marketable and transferable as possible. Ask for time with your manager for an explanation for how your specific contributions add to the company’s bottom line and how the team benefits from the efficiencies you can create.

 

• Ask management for leadership and personality assessments to better understand your traits as an intrapreneurial leader. Seek a professional coach and internal mentors who can advise you along the way. We are comfortable with transparency and want management to practice it as they are grooming us. We get the basic ingredients for success, but can gain valuable guidance as the benefit of some unconventional advice. Be prepared to make improvements along the way based on the feedback you receive. And, don’t be offended, even if you don’t agree with what comes out of the evaluation. Use it to your advantage. When we ask management to help us, we should reciprocate a tone of clarity and openness, with a respect for inclusion and diversity.

 

• Ask if you can mentor fellow millennials in the workplace who may need to be coached on the company’s culture. Offer to be a reverse mentor to baby boomers or Gen X-ers as an effort to build relationships with senior colleagues that could raise the bar on employee engagement and productivity. If you seek leadership in the workplace, ask for an honest assessment of your communication weaknesses and make sure you are working to inspire confidence, showing interest in the professional development of your coworkers and communicating with clarity and transparency.

When we define and prove our value as leaders, we create leverage to ask for more of what we want and the work we want to do.

My Workshop for Millennial Leaders

Many cities across the country are experiencing a major culture shift led by millennials born 1980-1995. Nashville is one of them.

Here’s an opportunity for millennials to participate in an action-oriented class in preparation for the next phase of leadership in business and in community on Saturday, August 5, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Ezell Center at Lipscomb University. And, there’s an opportunity for me to come to your city. Dates are going fast!

I’ll tell my personal story as a young leader and facilitate an interactive six-step leadership development training session covering the following areas:

• Career, Entrepreneurship, Intrapraneurship
• Problem Solving, Disruption, Innovation
• Ambition, Decision Making, Goal-Setting
• Influence, Access, Creativity
• Profit, Passion, Purpose
• Faith, Mindfulness, Empowerment.

I’ll also lead a personal brand mapping session and we’ll have a little fun too.

Here’s my invitation!

 

Register at nashvillemillennialleadership.eventbrite.com for only $35 which includes lunch and a signed copy of the book.

For more about me and my book or to request a workshop in your city or at your company,
visit THEORIGINALMILLENNIAL.COM

 

What Makes A Millennial “Original”

Many headlines seem to focus on the idea that millennials are not poised to lead. We are incompetent, shiftless and noncommittal. We show up late. We act entitled. We demand more than we earn.

It’s been six months since I released my book, The Original Millennial: Lessons in Leadership for the Millennial Generation. The reception has been fantastic, though not without questions.

“So is the book only for millennials?”

“So are you saying only millennials can be ‘original’?”

“What about Gen X? And the Baby Boomers? You left us out?”

No, no and no.

While millennials have a series of subgroups divided by the factors of age and socioeconomic background, originality is not a concept that refers to demographics as descriptors for millennials. It’s true that the entrepreneurial members of the older-millennial subset are altogether reinventing the planet and the younger subset is revitalizing organizations with an intrapraneurial excitement that is reinventing the workforce.

We understand why there is a great deal of variation from one individual millennial to another, more than within any other generational cohort, when we understand who our parents are. The differences between baby boomer and Gen X-er parents are the most critical reason millennials are so diversely defined yet grossly misunderstood.

A 33-year old millennial remembers using dial-up internet access to log on to the first version of Facebook, while a 23-year old millennial has likely never used Facebook without a high speed mobile or Wi-Fi connection. Those are major moments in the social development of millennials that are not to be ignored. However, the term “original” in this book will not be used to separate millennials by younger and older subsets.

The millennial generation continues to have a major influence on almost every aspect of our lives, including how we communicate and use technology. Millennials have affected changes in parenting practices, educational and career choices and sparked shifts in homeownership and family life. These developments have inspired much speculation about how this generation will fare later in life, and whether these trends are temporary or permanent (TCEA, 2014).

The driving force behind the potential greatness within the millennial generation is originality. We got here with so much originality that we were ready to take on a world that wasn’t making room for us.

We get distracted because we switch devices 27 times an hour. It may look like we don’t know where we’re going with our eyes glued to the screen and our fingers scrolling down the side. But we keep original ideas flowing from the sources found in the platforms we surf.

We thrive on original experiences and relationships. We are cautious and loyal. We often think the media are biased and can quickly perceive fakeness in human interaction.

We must have original conversations that happen in a meaningful, sincere way. We back brands. It gives us a sense of ownership and makes us feel like we contribute to the growth and prominence of those businesses.

We may look up to Mark Zuckerberg, Jay-Z and Steve Jobs for their originality, but our favorite mentors and models for inspiration are our fellow millennials.

Why is this? Because originality can sometimes be at odds with the source. The best parts of original millennials are found in the choice to change and evolve. The original qualities of past generations use commonly understood behavior patterns, which make them far easier to define, whereas original millennials have the ability to defy category.

For the millennial generation, originality is the most important trait because it positions how we think, feel, work and lead. The power of originality becomes most valuable when used in the pursuit of solutions. Millennials always look for ways to make things greater, bigger, better, stronger and more practical.

Across society, there’s enough division between cultural groups including generations – so much so that our thoughts take us instantly to a detection of bias, which is great in order for us acknowledge if and how bias exists.

Calling a millennial “original” not about pointing out our intergenerational differences. It’s about uplifting a generation by harnessing the original qualities we possess. The distinction of original is applied to the approach millennials bring to life; how we marry vision and values; how we merge creativity with cause and how we make real challenges look remarkably cool. Originality is the prime possession that makes the difference.

That’s all.

Read the book for yourself and you be the judge. What makes a millennial “original?”

*This post includes an excerpt from The Original Millennial: Lessons in Leadership for the Millennial Generation.*

A look at Nashville’s 40 Under 40

Cranes in the sky. That’s all we saw when posing for this photo from high up on the rooftop of The Westin Hotel. Reflecting on the growth and expansion of the city, we gathered as a handful of this year’s Nashville Business Journal 40 Under 40 winners selected to appear on the cover of the paper. It was an honor to be one of the young leaders in the city chosen from nearly 600 nominations – a record number.

Take a look at this year’s winners.

Coaching Leaders of the Millennial Generation

At the top of the year, I started coaching millennials in the area of leadership development to kick off National Mentoring Month and…wow, what an experience!

I knew our generation was made of amazingly passionate innovators but the work I have been able to do with my millennials has been an absolute joy.

Because millennials will make up 75% of the workforce in America by 2025, a cultural shift is happening and I am working to encourage, prepare and coach our millennials for leadership. It is important that organizations are prepared for the shift that is quickly approaching, and I am here to help. With expertise in leadership communication and influence as a college professor, I am equipped with the knowledge and know-how to effectively train and ready your millennial team members. Based on curriculum from my book, The Original Millennial, I am helping millennials recognize their value and prepare them for unprecedented leadership.

If you’re a millennial, here’s a chance to get exclusive access to me as your champion! I learned the lessons, put them in a book and created a six-week curriculum to help you succeed. With my guidance and support, you become a change agent prepared to lead in business and community, and leave a legendary mark on the world. If you believe you need someone like me to groom, coach and mentor, sign up here.

If you are not a millennial…does your organization currently have professional development initiatives in place for your employees ages 20-35? Do you see a need to invest additional resources to develop your young emerging talent? I’d love an opportunity to work with your organization as a leadership development consultant to assess your generational diversity needs and counsel your millennial team members on best practices for fine-tuning the skills needed to take their professional careers, and your organization, to the next level. If you want more info, learn more here.

I’m Headed to SXSW 2017

In a few weeks, I’ll be in Austin, Texas. I’ve been selected to speak at the 2017 SXSWedu Conference & Festival, March 6-9. I’ll offer a mentor session on diversity, millennials and PR; and on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., I’ll be signing copies of my book, The Original Millennial, too!

The SXSWedu® Conference & Festival fosters and celebrates innovations in learning by hosting a diverse and energetic community of stakeholders across a variety of backgrounds in education. The annual four-day event affords registrants open access to engaging sessions, immersive workshops, interactive learning experiences, film screenings, early-stage startups, business opportunities and networking. Through collaboration, creativity and social action, SXSWedu empowers its global community to Connect. Discover. Impact. SXSWedu is a component of the South by Southwest® family of conferences and festivals.

If you will be at #SXSW or #SXSWedu, add my session to your event schedule.

For more information, please visit http://sxswedu.com.

How Must I Use My Influence?

2009. Social networking had taken over the world. From the moment I started a MySpace profile, I knew my generation would be the poster kids for social media. It changed the way we communicated, worked, played and lived.  It was new, exciting and innovation. It could also be overwhelming at times. The easy access, the ambiguity of messages, the jeopardy of privacy – it would make me nervous at times. I was an introvert who appeared to have extrovert tendencies.

As much as I loved to communicate with people and share ideas, I often got tired of the demand to be present and accessible on social media. I noticed, though, how social media proved something very significant for me – my influence.

Influence calls us into relationships. We look to discover relationships with those who have a substantial following in social networks, a notable brand or an authority within an industry or a community with a loyal audience. The strength of this connectivity creates relationships that earn millennials influence as a direct result of investing intellectual capital, goodwill and networking.

As with most generations, millennials have developed a tremendous amount of influence. Our influence, however, wears an originality that has created social capital almost beyond compare. This shift of influence is an example of social capital—an important element among millennial influencers. Social capital is the catalyst for influence. It becomes the key that unlocks influence and new experiences.*

This week, I’ll accept the Women of Influence Award from the Nashville Business Journal as a 2017 Trailblazer – a woman who has led the way for others to follow in her footsteps. Every year, the Nashville Business Journal recognizes a new class of Women of Influence awards winners – women who are shaping their companies, improving communities and paving the way for the next generation of influential female leaders. I’m happy and humbled begin the year with this honor and leverage my social capital for the benefit of those in my network. I’m thankful for the recognition and grateful that God continues to see fit to use me as an example.

This is an opportunity to reflect deeper and carefully consider, “how must I use my influence?” Influential leaders must consider how they will contribute to the growth of those they lead. People are drawn to a leader who actually leads, meaning they influence behavior, performance, events and outcomes. Influential leaders recognize that they are designed to be part of a mission that is larger than themselves.

As you are reading this email, you are proving your influence. You are someone who wants to help move and motivate people to make a difference. You are willing to nurture them through leadership and challenge them through motivation. A balance of two is the only way to have meaningful influence.

AE

*(This email features an excerpt from my book The Original Millennial – Part 4: Do I Want to Reflect or Direct: Influence, Access, Creativity. To order the book for yourself or a millennial you know, love or mentor, visit theoriginalmillennial.com or Amazon.com)

Millennials: Where’s Our Money?

In 2007, during the beginning of the Great Recession, I was a self-employed millennial running my own PR firm full-time. I unexpectedly lost three of my largest accounts.

I had a sense that I needed to be going after more clients, increasing my revenue and saving up more money, but I was a young entrepreneur with a lot to learn about running a company. After all, I started the business fresh out of college because the job market was so bleak and I couldn’t land a position in my field or anything stable enough to carry me financially. The business had allowed me to cover all my bills and stash away a good deal of cash, but, when the recession hit, I became afraid. When I began the business three years earlier without any money, I didn’t even have enough to open a bank account. Now, here I was again with no more money and no one to ask for help.

Why didn’t I just go get a job? Well, it’s not that simple. Millennials came into the workforce hoping to lock down a secure career and bank on a big payday only to be disappointed that neither of those things were readily available. We watched our parents work for years at the same company and believe they had a nest egg for retirement that somehow disappeared. We make less money than previous generations and have smaller incomes and bigger debts because we’re often underemployed and underpaid.

So, we’ve figured out how to use technology to do more and spend less. We love discounts, deals and freebies. We’ve put off commitments like marriage and home ownership not because they don’t hold value to us but because we want to be stable enough to fully enjoy those experiences without major financial woes. We like money and appreciate the finer things, but live for a bargain. We did not want to follow in our parents’ footsteps so we started scrambling up extra money in addition to our full time jobs as side hustles (Pew Research).

This year, we’ll approach the 10-year anniversary of the Great Recession. It took a while but I’m doing pretty well now financially. However, I am concerned about my generation. As the oldest millennials turn 37 this year – an age where most Americans are supposed to be at their peak spending age – millennials are still feeling the aftermath of the Recession (Morgan Stanley).

 

We are the largest generation of the U.S. workforce and, as we age, many factors will bear down on our financial future: Social Security is underfunded, our life expectancy is on the rise and college debt won’t disappear. Many millennials, especially those who are entrepreneurial, don’t always learn things we should about money or by the time we do we’ve already been cast out into the world burdened by money mistakes and financial mess-ups. We are a considerably underfinanced generation, which is why we have no choice but to start saving as much as possible, living on significantly less and seeking financial advice.

Where is our money? How can millennials drive growth to the U.S. economy? What will predictions say about our financial contributions? How can we develop a sustainable plan for future generations?

We have to get to saving. Twenty-three percent of younger millennials (18–24) don’t have a savings account and 43 percent of millennials who make $75–$100k a year don’t have a savings account or have nothing saved. If we don’t save today, we’ll be playing catch up later. (Millennial Money)

We have to remain frugal. Millennials should have a vision for where we might want to be financially. We must plan for our finances to keep us comfortable and learn to live below our means. Develop a budget and set money goals accordingly – translation: buy a few less lattes.

We have to ask for help. As resourceful as we are and as much as we value relationships, we shouldn’t have a problem getting money advice and financial guidance to manage the things we value most. The earlier we enlist help, the better off we’ll be.

Contrary to what is said or perceived, millennials are not lazy, entitled slackers. We have the same needs and wants as older generations — financial security, family stability and retirement savings. As we plan for the future, we must consider the kind of commitments, goals and investments we will set with our money. We know how to use our profit—what we gain out of life—to supply our purpose in the world because we inherently understand that profit is not just about money. Profit includes your time, life takeaways, raw talents and trusted tangibles. And, millennials are going to need all of those to build a sturdy foundation for the future of our money.

This article is an excerpt from my book, The Original Millennial and appeared in The Tennessean for 12th and Broad as part of the Millennial Money Experiment powered by Regions Bank.

Why Cultural Fit Could Destroy Your Diversity Efforts

Culture is important. In fact, it’s what sets one organization distinctly apart from another. Your organizational culture is one of the most critical elements for having well-harmonized teams in which all the members fit.

Cultural fit has its merits. Industry gatekeepers prize cultural fit as a hiring imperative. Organizations use cultural fit for competitive advantage by relying on the idea that the best employees are like-minded with matched personalities, skills and values. Cultural fit supports the assessment that when people are different from the majority, and do not fit in group it becomes difficult to work with them and integrate them into the team. But there are serious limitations with the value of balancing fit with diversity and inclusion.

We’ve been deliberate to communicate the importance of workplace diversity yet overlook the concrete problems that are likely to emerge if homogeneity takes priority over genuine inclusion. Cultural fit, when misused in hiring for personal comfort, likeness, preference or chemistry, becomes one of the biggest threats to diversity in the PR workforce.

When done carelessly, the concept of fit becomes a dangerous catchall used to justify hiring people who are similar to decision makers and rejecting people who are not. Hiring for fit can keep demographic and cultural diversity low, force people into a given prototype and reinforce the myth that skill and talent is exclusive to a dominant group. This creates situations in which our organizations look diverse in appearance but are deceivingly homogenous. Sameness in profile, even with very different backgrounds, can breed the kind of culture that leads to uniformity and irrelevancy in the workforce, uninformed or overconfidence decisions among teams, and exclusion of high-performing candidates.

When done thoughtfully, the concept of fit becomes a progressive attempt to highlight contribution. Hiring for contribution can make our organizations more productive and profitable by redefining cultural fit to be closely aligned with business goals. This creates organizations where people with different perspectives, attitudes, and aspirations can work positively together. Achieving diversity through contribution is sign of future innovation. It signals that organizations committed to evolving to where they need to go are ready to trust high-level contributors to take them there.

To use cultural fit more effectively, we must decide that contribution has more value. Focusing on contribution in hiring shifts an existing organizational culture by taking the energy up a notch and setting the stage for creativity to flourish.

Instead of looking for someone who fits neatly your organization’s culture, seek to discover how this person will introduce something new and unique to your current culture. Instead of asking someone to match closely with your existing culture, seek to determine whether they are likely to energize your culture and nudge it in the right direction. As a result, your organization can become a home for big ideas and better growth.

Assess what your organization is doing well and what important measurable goals you can crush. Assess what is not going well and is a battle to achieve. Determine which aspects your organization’s culture directly affects how you reach those goals. Ask what qualities and differences are likely to influence the existing culture in a meaningful and positive way. In doing so, you reframe the concept of fit by developing a cultural profile based on contribution.

While there’s nothing wrong with asking the question, “Is he a culture fit,” it shouldn’t be completely synonymous with, “Do we like him?”

The beauty of diversity is having people come together to work on a common goal. We can’t lean on cultural fit to the degree that we become afraid of the perceived conflict in putting together different people or begin to treat diversity efforts like a chore that needs to be managed. The next time someone asks, “Are they a culture fit”, carefully consider what the answer might be. This approach could destroy all that we’ve what we have been striving for in championing diversity in our industry. When we rely on contribution, we create an opportunity to shift a culture with diversity and make inclusion a real concept.

What Makes a Great Mentor?

I will admit. I have some amazing mentors. They each come from different walks of life and parts of the country, have different areas of expertise and serve a different purpose in my life. Having a diverse group of people who pour into me regularly has made a major impact in my personal and professional development.

That’s why I make mentoring a priority and work really hard to help young professionals. As part of that desire to teach and groom others, I am happy to serve as an advisor for the diversity and inclusion committee with The Plank Center in Leadership for Public Relations. This group’s purpose is to be a catalyst for other professional organizations, to help identify and bridge gaps, and assist organizations seeking to adopt best-in-class practices in the area of diversity and inclusion.

We are devoting resources to diversity and inclusion research and we are launching an online research library designed to help students, educators and professionals locate public relations research on diversity and inclusion, leadership and mentorship.

We will celebrate our efforts and honor leaders in the industry this week at an annual Milestones in Mentoring Gala. The gala recognizes the dedication and impact of individuals who have fostered relationships with their organization, community and profession.

Though I am still early in my career in comparison to the majority of my industry’s leaders, I don’t think its ever too early to mentor. My mentors have been responsive, tough-loving, open-minded, free-hearted and innovative, and I try to model them in the way I mentor.

What about you? What things do you think make a great mentor?

Where Are The Leaders?

So many headlines seem to focus on the idea that millennials are not poised to lead. We are incompetent, shiftless and non-committal. We show up late. We act entitled. We demand more than we earn.

These generalizations don’t change that fact that millions of original millennials are employed and show up to work every single day ready to achieve. These assumptions don’t diminish the thousands of problems being solved by original millennials who revolutionizing the way business is done.

While we should expect to see an influx of millennials in leadership positions over the next few years, you’re probably asking “where are they?”

In my new book, The Original Millennial, you will discover that original millennials are valuable, loyal, high-performing leaders. You will learn lessons of leadership for your own life and career. You will take away inspiration and hope that future is in good hands with an original millennial at the helm.

As we countdown to the release in just a few weeks, you may pre-order my book today for only $8.99. This gets you access to exclusive interviews with millennial leaders before the book is officially released.

Share this post with a millennial!

What’s Life Like For Students of Color at a White College Campus?

I attended an HBCU and was engulfed by the black experience in college. Not until I began teaching at a predominantly white university did I begin to examine the experiences of students of color who spend their college years as an racial minority.

I am happy to lead a discussion on Tuesday, September 20, 6 p.m. that allows our students of color at Lipscomb University to share what life is like on a majority white campus.

Join me for this candid chat!

Did you attend a predominantly white university? What was your experience as a person of color? As a white person, what opportunities did you have to experience life on campus through the lens of a student of color?

Participate in the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #culturalcomm

#blackstudents #latinostudents #diversity #inclusion #intercultural #communication #crosscultural #race #ethnicity

The event is free and open to the public.

To learn more about the Collaborative Conversations series at Lipscomb University, visit: http://www.lipscomb.edu/leadership/news-events

Young, Gifted and Not White

Fortune Magazine picked up on my think piece “How The Millennial Generation Has Redefined Diversity” and ran it in their raceAHEAD column. Take a look!

http://fortune.com/2016/05/31/raceahead-may-31-2016/

 

Sneak Peek from The Original Millennial Thought Leadership Series

Have you pre-ordered your copy of my new book, The Original Millennial?

Early adopters who pre-ordered the book have been receiving exclusive content from The Original Millennial thought leadership series. Here’s a sneak peek from the book featuring an amazing original millennial!

MEET BRANDON FRAME:

Brandon Frame, founder of The Black Man Can, has devoted his career to combating negative images and shaping perceptions of Black men and boys in more honest and multidimensional ways.

A Connecticut-native, Brandon founded the digital platform in 2010 to promote and advance positive, reinforcing images of Black males. Since then, The Black Man Can has grown into a full-fledged institute that provides motivation and mentorship to boys of color across the country. In addition to founding The Black Man Can, Frame is the Director of Business Partnerships and Program Development of Hartford’s High School, Inc. He has received numerous awards and honors including Top 40 Under 40 by The Hartford Business Journal and BET Honors Next In Class.

WATCH BRANDON’S INTERVIEW

To begin receiving exclusive content PRE-ORDER a copy of the book for yourself or to share with millennials you know, love or mentor.

TWEET TO YOUR FOLLOWERS:

Calling all #millennials! Join The Original Millennial thought leaders series now for only $5.99 http://bit.ly/theOGmillennial @theOGmillennial

Your contribution to this project is an early investment that will empower leaders of the millennial generation years to come.

Pick My Panel for SXSW

I am so excited to have an opportunity to do a book talk at SXSW 2017 in Austin, TX for my upcoming release, The Original Millennial, but I need your help.

You have to vote for me! The proposals with the most votes will be considered to present at the conference next year. You may log-in and vote now through September 2. Will you vote for my proposal? Click below.

After you vote, follow @theOGmillennial on Twitter and tweet this to your followers:

Pick this #SXSW panel: Leadership Lessons for The Millennial Generation
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/61297
We are on COUNTDOWN for the official release of the book. PRE-ORDER today!
Your contribution to this project is an early investment that will empower millennial leaders for years to come.
Thanks!

It’s Complicated: Explaining The Role of Race in Police Brutality

*I originally published this in June 2015. In wake of more deaths approximately one year later, I am sharing this again…today.*

 

I’ve opened the past two semesters talking about police brutality on the first day of class in my Cross-Cultural Communication course at Lipscomb University. This is a required course for communication and journalism majors to grasp the challenges of communicating in today’s complex society so we go there and get pretty deep. Building communication strategies to address obstacles and opportunities within a client’s organizational culture is something I know very well but grappling with the thorny issues of our times with a room full of college students means I must dig deep and go all the way. There are a wealth of topics I could start the semester with instead but it just so happens the biggest story in the news at the time concerned violence, race and injustice – in fall we dealt with cases of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, and in spring, the cases of Eric Garner and Freddie Gray. It looks as if perhaps this coming fall in August I will unfortunately and again have new content on the same topic – now with the incident in Mckinney, Texas and who knows what else between now and then.

For all of these tragic instances, a firestorm of commentary and disagreement ensued across news media and social media, and protests arose all over the world. Some students wonder how this could happen in the United States. For others, unfortunately, police brutality and discrimination are all too familiar. Yet for a large majority of my students at our private, Christian, predominately white University, police brutality and the racial disparities that accompany the topic are foreign concepts. They are often confused but curious and compassionate in their attempt to make sense of tough issues that even us mature adults struggle to comprehend. Naturally, they are faced with anger, frustration, sadness, disbelief and lots of questions.

“The victim had to be doing something wrong, right Professor Ellis? Wouldn’t the news media tell us if something was done unfairly?”

“Professor Ellis, wasn’t this an issue during segregation? Why are we seeing so much about it today?”

“But Professor Ellis, does this mean most cops are racist or that we should fear them?”

“So Professor Ellis, how do we fix stuff like this?”

My answer to them: “Well, it’s complicated.”

 

I could share with you how I lecture on the basis of these questions but that’s a 2000-word essay, not a blog post. I tell my students we have many things to consider…

• We’d need to consider how racism has always played a key role in our country and how it became embedded in our criminal justice system. We also need to talk about juries, how difficult it can be to find the truth and how media coverage and social media conversations impact the perceptions of what we believe is true. We’d need to consider the origins of racism and the repetitive narratives of injustice, violence and poverty in communities of color to examine the correlations.

• We’d need to look at the public’s general perception about the problem of police brutality and its history in America from the civil rights movement of the 1960’s to the transition from community policing to military policing in the 1980’s. We’d need to examine data that shows if you are black you are far more likely to die at the hands of a police officer than you would if you are white, and how that knowledge has perpetuated a relationship of conflict between police officers and the black community. We’d need to talk about how the outrage makes people feel hopeless and inspired to react in protesting or even rioting.
• We’d need to examine the disturbing trend in the news media where a person is often criminalized when they have been killed by a police officer rather than insisting they deserved to a chance to be charged, brought to trial and have remained among the living. We’d need to research at the trend of citizen journalism becoming a powerful catalyst for the narrative of injustice as a tool for breaking news. We’d need ask if we can discern by only looking at the mobile phone footage of a bystander how an unarmed citizen is to blame for the overcorrection, extra force or lack of control displayed by police officers.

• We’d need to assess how police administrators are training officers and addressing criticism since police brutality has gotten so much national attention recently. We’d need to consider that what a police officer could despise more than anything is when their authority is challenged, regardless of your color, and that could get you thrown in jail or met with excessive force. We should acknowledge that there are officers and administrators who understand how this crisis is impacting public trust and are trying to handle the issue with care and concern because their profession requires that they put their lives on the line everyday.

• We’d need to consider our role in calling out injustice as a social and moral responsibility when the dynamic of the unknown convicts us to acknowledge stereotypes and reveal blind spots. We’d need to be honest about the relative silence over unfair treatment when it doesn’t impact us directly. We should admit we are imperfect people who have a tendency to limit our perspective, opinions, beliefs and comfort zones to be in agreement with those who relate to us most. We need to remember that what affects one affects us all, or at least it should.

I told you. It’s complicated.

I have the next generation of FOX news anchors, CNN producers, national radio hosts, online news editors, public information officers, non-profit leaders and crisis PR practitioners in my classroom. They will shape public opinion and determine how we consume messages through media. These students are studying to go into newsrooms to write stories and headlines about issues they’ve never witnessed personally, go into communities that may not look like the places they grew up in with cameras to capture the conflict of people who don’t look like them, go into companies to help generate awareness among a target audience whose lifestyles they can’t relate to, or go into organizations to help senior leaders to communicate about issues that might make them uncomfortable.

If I don’t get real with them, who will?

Now, I could be the kind of professor that ignores the cultural sensitivities that surface from answering these questions or I could be the kind that challenges students and myself to explore our self-identities and look at how fit they into the world. This is where we must consider our younger generations who are confused but curious about their role in improving our society in ways that enlighten and empower them. Violence, race and injustice – the anchors of the cultural discourse around police brutality – aren’t the easiest concepts to grasp and are no longer the kinds of one-time shallow conversations we can sweep under the rug. Ignoring the facts dehumanizes us. They have to be talked about on an ongoing basis every time a story comes out.

I challenge you, whether a professional, professor or parent, to start having open discussion about cultural issues with the young students in your communities. Address your personal biases internally, dig for more than what is reported through media, be okay with the discomfort of disagreement when a different opinion is expressed, search for a historical context connected to these issues we’ve increasingly seen in the news, seek meaningful conversations with people who’ve experienced the cultural struggles that you haven’t, and empower a young student to intelligently assess their role in doing something about the issues.

I’d like to hear from you.

How has your perspective of race and police brutality been impacted by recent events?

How has media coverage of the current events heightened your cultural sensitivity to racial issues and police discrimination?

How do you intend to help the next generation of leaders understand and address difficult issues like race, violence and injustice?

Grooming Millennials for Senior Management

I’m often met with shock when I tell people that I’ve owned two PR agencies.

Sure, I’m a millennial, but I started my PR career at a relatively young age. When I ran Urbane Imagery from 2004-2012 I hired two millennials in part-time senior roles, and when I was in charge at duGard Ellis Public Relations from 2012-2015 we had seven millennials on staff, two of whom had director titles.

Millennials understand how the biggest misconceptions surrounding our generation may annoy agency leaders. We’re portrayed as being overconfident, self-centered, self-entitled and preoccupied with our hand-held devices to the detriment of face-to-face contact.Unfortunately, the culture at many PR agencies is not conducive to cultivate millennial employees for senior roles.

However, underneath myriad labels, millennials posses key attributes that PR agency owners need in order to enhance the longevity of their agencies and embrace social media marketing.

As millennials move into the management ranks PR agency owners have an opportunity to leverage our energetic, ambitious and entrepreneurial spirits for the continued success of their firms.

With that in mind, here’s three tips for how to groom millennials for senior management:

1. Explain why. Millennials need to know “why.” We are curious problem-solvers. We need to know why precise operational procedures are in place. Why a distinct strategic solution is implemented for a particular client and why billing and accounting policies are structured in a certain fashion. Why do managers need to explain things frequently? Because providing clear explanations reveal the thought process behind your leadership decisions and creates knowledge-sharing opportunities. Rather than assigning repetitive tasks, take a moment to give millennials focused responses as to how their contributions fit into the bigger picture (and the bottom line). Explaining “why” lets millennials know that your agency has a business imperative to make their career growth a priority.

2. Learn how to coach failure. Millennials don’t fail well. We often have expectations to win at every turn. The desire to win comes naturally to us, so senior agency executives need to show us what to do when things don’t work out. “Get millennials to use their critical thinking skills by talking through what went wrong and how to improve the conversation for the next time. Make failure a teachable moment. Point out the hiccups and make recommendations for a fix,” said Jamal Hipps, chief creative officer at MPYER Marketing & Advertising.  This allows agency owners to assess potential leadership behaviors and attitudes among those millennials who are most willing to harness their strengths and openly address their weaknesses.

3. Provide for a sense of ownership. Millennials embrace ownership. We like to say, “I led that project” or “That’s my campaign.” We desire quick promotion, rapid progression and various interesting tasks and assignments. But, for owners and managers, it can be unnerving to relinquish control and critical decisions to millennials. Don’t fret. First, test responsibility by sharing all your projects and letting millennial employees choose which ones they want to tackle. Then, by providing needed resources and being available for questions, managers can offer millennial team members ownership of specific assignments/projects. Remember, millennials are the most ethnically and socially diverse generation to enter the workforce, not to mention the first generation weaned on social media and online communications. They don’t call us “digital natives” for nothing.

As the face of current agency leaders changes, millennials will need to step into the second tier. It is up to agency owners to transform us from swift and savvy technicians to strategic and visionary leaders. The above recommendations are your blueprint.

Let us know what you think we might be missing here.

 

**This post is an excerpt from my thought leadership series, The Original Millennial. Pre-order the book here.

How The Millennial Generation Has Redefined Diversity

A client came to me once and said, ‘Aerial, how do we get our millennials talking? They bring value to our organization and seem have a deep appreciation for diversity but we just don’t know how to engage them. Is there some kind of internal communication strategy we need to implement?”

I belong to the millennial generation so I understood the necessity behind their inquiry. An obsession with Generation Y, also know as millennials, has overtaken all aspects of culture. Millennials are likely the most studied generation to date. Brands and organizations have formed a fascination with how to relate and connect to millennials. Media and scholars have developed a 21st-century style of urgency to understand this demographic. Not since the baby boomers has a generation been the target of such fixation and the growing generational gap is redefining how we think about diversity and inclusion.

 

Millennials Leading a Cultural Shift

Not only are millennials the largest generation to date, we are the most traditionally diverse generation in history. A culture shift in the population shows that of the 80 million millennials and counting, 60% classifying as non-Hispanic white in comparison to 70% of the previous generation. That percentage is projected to continue a decline as ethnic minorities (blacks & hispanics) will account for 60% of the population by 2045. Of millennials in the US, 59% are white and 27% have immigrant backgrounds. The ethnic profile of the millennial is far more blended that than of previous generations. In addition, there are millennials who come from an increased percentage of single-parent homes, blended families, and families with same-sex parents than ever before (Broido, 2004).

Authors Neil Howe and William Strauss described the generation as an ethnically diverse generation who are team players, optimistic, confident, trusting of authority, rule-followers, achievers in school, and generally achievement-oriented in everything they undertake. Furthermore, millennials will make up an estimated 50% of the workforce by 2020 ultimately changing the face of organizational leadership.

Here at the 2016 NOW Diversity Workforce Diversity Breakfast Forum with panel of young professionals for The Millennial Report on Workforce Diversity – myself, Kinika Young (Bass, Berry & Sims), Marcus Johnson (Edward Jones) and Luke Marklin (Uber) and Q&A facilitator Jonquil Newland (News Channel 5) giving insight on how millennials are changing the workforce. (Photo Credit: NOWDiversity.org)

Millennials Needing Expression and Acceptance

For millennials, walking into an organization and seeing all types of people is a norm. Diversity of race and gender is a given and in some cases a must. While older generations likely consider demographics, equal opportunity, and representation as the frame for diversity, millennials are much more concerned about the diversity of thoughts, ideas and philosophies as we contain an unending curiosity to understand differences and explore opportunities for collaboration.

There is a growing segment of millennials who are refusing to check our identities at the door while many organizations are remaining unchanged in their response to our need for expression and acceptance. This need is not just an expectation we hope to receive for ourselves but one we want to see granted to other cultural groups as workplace demographics evolve. Our appreciation for share of voice is aligned with an appreciation for cognitive diversity.

This means organizations are forced to rethink and redefine their approach. Instead of using the phrase ‘diversity and inclusion’ to describe race, age and gender in a traditional fashion with no ties to business growth or evolution, the millennial generation has compelled organizations to consider a combination of unique traits to overcome challenges and achieve business goals as the diversity of experience and the inclusion of thought become increasingly more crucial to future innovation.

Millennials Commanding Inclusion and Innovation

As millennials move into leadership, a transformation in traditional diversity and inclusion models will challenge past approaches and break barriers that have hindered the progress.

Connectedness is part of our generational DNA and breeds the kinds of transformation organizations of the future will command. While there is much work to be done, the millennial generation is a likely catalyst to show how advocacy, learning, and leadership can collectively leverage opportunities to see greater inclusion and innovation.

If making a commitment to diversity and inclusion truly means allowing an individual to bring his/her true and whole self to work, organizations must ensure millennials, along with other culturally advanced cohorts, can work in a collaborative environment that openly values tangible participation from individuals who have different ideas and perspectives that can have positive impact on business outcomes.

This post is an excerpt from my thought leadership series, The Original Millennial.

Pre-order the book below.

What I’m Reading: Year of Yes

Before I decided to read this book, I started the year knowing that 2016 would be a year like none other. Now after four months in, I was obviously right. 2016 has been super amazing so far with many unexpected happenings and a number of important goals coming to fruition. So as I came across this title, it immediately caught my attention.

Year of Yes chronicles how Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away With Murder, committed to saying “YES” for one year and the serendipitous way it changed her life. In true Shonda Rhimes fashion, it is nothing less than a page turner. It gives a close-up view of her thoughts, experiences, insecurities, failures and victories. As someone who has changed the face of television, she openly shares a refreshing lesson on how to change your perspective through courage and vulnerabilty.

What a powerful impact the word “YES” can make!

Highly recommended.

 

Is Diversity America’s Superpower?

With all the recent chatter about #OscarsSoWhite for the second straight year where no minorities were selected among the 20 acting nominees, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced the development of a change management plan to reposition its voting requirements, recruiting process and governing structure aimed at increasing the diversity of its membership and doubling the number of female and minority members by 2020.

Prior to this announcement, superstar Will Smith who many feel offered an Oscar-worthy performance in the film “Concussion” but did not receive a nod this year, did an exclusive Good Morning America interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts where he expressed his disappointment at the absence of minority nominees. Even more, Smith shared his thoughts on why those diverse roles are missing in Hollywood and should be all the more celebrated because “diversity is America’s superpower.”

Is diversity America’s superpower?

Yes and no. Not only is diversity a superpower for America, it is a global force that makes the world go around. Beyond our differences, there is an unparalled ability to exercise influence and project power across the globe. Power is the ability to control, circumstances and access such as financial, social, and cultural resources. It is complex, dynamic and omnipresent in all relationships. Power can restrict or restrain people through the control of resources such as money, knowledge, and social institutions.

Since the power of diversity has become an undeniable element of culture, industries are trying to catch up to create spaces of inclusion, especially in Hollywood. Leading figures Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith announced that they would not be attending the coveted Oscars ceremony and spoke out in protest for what is seen as the systemic exclusion of African-American, Latinos, women, and other minority groups from recognition by their peers. Actor/comedian Chris Rock, the host of this year’s Oscars, even wrote an essay nearly two years ago about Hollywood’s diversity problem. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, an African-American women in her second year as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also shared her disappointment in the statement, “While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion.”

The message says certain voices, no matter how valuable or respected, will have low or no access to the influence and access that comes from power.

Because of power, we often maintain and perpetuate patterns of privilege in culture unknowingly. Members of the mainstream society or dominant/majority group define what is normal and are rarely forced to see or think about the “other” identity, standpoint or plight, if at all. Meanwhile, those who feel left out or overlooked are consistently in the difficult position of trying to dwell in two worlds – they are often reminded of their marginalized status, communicate from that perspective and feel forced to deal with forces that seem impossible to break. The Academy is a membership organization that directly reflects the demographic makeup of the industry it serves. Many in Hollywood from production to management feel a perpetual lack of opportunities or an imbalance that industry gatekeepers are unlikely to fix.

 

Within any industry, decision makers must be deliberate about creating a culture of inclusion.

Why? No industry can experience the strength of diversity and continue to be viable without the inclusion of the unique talents, voices and abilities. As people of color make up 39 percent of the U.S. population with upwards 3 billion in buying power predictions, changes in spending patterns and decision-making process will continue to reflect a constant shift. Industries must invest time and resources in aligning that shift with consumer demand, audience preference and organizational leadership.

So if diversity is America’s superpower, how should we use it to achieve greater inclusion? Here are a few things we cannot do.

• We cannot be frustrated about the lack of recognition yet overlook the lack of influence and leadership.

• We cannot allow those in power to openly insult those who contribute at a high-level by assuming that are not a “cultural fit.”

• We cannot think that diversity means non-white – all people are part of diversity and have a role in advancing its power.

• We cannot operate in our comfort zone by being satisfied with everyone at the table looking, speaking, and thinking in the same monolithic ways.

• We cannot write plans and make statements about diversity tactics without clear and transparent goals of inclusion as well as metrics and timelines to measure the change process.

• We cannot ignore the significance of marginalized groups who build efforts to celebrate their own cultural impact while welcoming others who acknowledge how that impact has made our society even better.

Superpowers are not a cure-all because developing cultures of inclusion can be a long complicated journey when often it doesn’t have to be.

If diversity is our superpower, we must allow the space for it flourish, witness its magnitude and let it make us greater.

 

 

 

Inclusion Must Honor the MLK Legacy

As we return to work after observing the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, we must pause to honor his legacy and reflect on the impact of his work as it lingers throughout our communities.

If we consider the presence of that legacy being carried out in our organizations, we would immediately consider the practice of diversity and inclusion.

Sadly however, many organizations spend more time talking about how they can and should improve workplace diversity than taking any measurable action toward workplace inclusion.  Statements and declarations, committees and councils, trainings and assessments — all sound great. None of those things truly move the needle toward inclusion. When policies are not matched with strategic efforts, results will never come about.

In light of this much needed work, I was happy to create and coordinate the annual MLK Diversity Breakfast hosted by the Lipscomb University Department of Communication and Journalism and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on Friday, January 15, 2016 in partnership with the Council on Workforce Innovation and National Organization for Workforce Diversity.

This event is aimed at inspiring interactive conversation among local leaders who are champions for diversity and inclusion by sharing ideas, addressing issues and rethinking practices that affect our multicultural communities.

(Aerial Ellis opening the 2016 MLK Diversity Breakfast at Lipscomb University.)

The MLK Diversity Breakfast is an opportunity for area professionals to gain a greater understanding of how to communicate about diversity and inclusion as a priority within their organizations and have access to a network of colleagues who collectively celebrate the cultural progression of the Nashville community. Our keynote speaker is a C-suite or civic leader connected to the practice of cross-cultural communication with a passion for the ways in which diversity and inclusion impacts business and community.

This year’s event featured Rose Jackson Flenorl, Manager, Global Citizenship, FedEx Corporation as keynote speaker. Flenorl directs and implements the company’s community outreach strategy in the areas of disaster relief, safety, environment, education, and diversity. She leads a team of professionals committed to representing the heart of the corporation by executing strategic programs and maintaining relationships with national and international non-profit organizations. Flenorl provided insight on the global corporation’s work in serving an evolving base of multicultural consumers, strengthening its pipeline to recruit, retain and advance diverse talent, and supporting minority business owners and community initiatives through citizenship engagement.

Last year, our inaugural event featured Anthony Carter, Chief Diversity Officer at Johnson & Johnson. Take a look at our 2015 highlights.

(L-R: Rose Jackson Flenorl of FedEx – 2016 keynote speaker, Jacky Akbari of Now Diversity)

In addition to the breakfast, Rose Jackson Flenorl spent time talking with our communication and journalism students about the path to success in the industry. Discussions about diversity allow our students to better identify bias and stereotypes, discover advocacy with an objective lens, and communicate across global cultures as future journalists and public relations practitioners.

Though her visit, I believe all were able to consider diversity as a social action that challenges those norms, values, styles and patterns of thinking that can inspire more inclusive conversations.

If organizations strive to live up to the tenets of Dr. King’s vision, they must honor his legacy through actions that show real progress toward workplace inclusion. Initiatives must not only embrace employees for their individuality but also celebrate the differences that contribute to the success and innovation in the workplace regardless of gender, creed, color or sexual orientation.

Beyond commemorative events and celebrations, we have an obligation to act. Inclusion at any point should always be our goal. In this new year and moment of cultural reflection, I challenge you to thinker deeper about the ways Dr. King’s legacy can inspire and shape your organization’s practice of inclusion.

See a few highlights from the 2016 MLK Diversity Breakfast.

What I’m Reading: Improvise – Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO

What I’m Reading: Improvise – Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO

I spent the last five days in Atlanta at Public Relations Society of America International Conference where Golin CEO Fred Cook offered this book to share the inspiring story of how he followed an unusual yet fascinating path from young adulthood to the corner office.

As CEO of one of the top PR agencies in the world, Cook provides counsel to blue-chip companies like Nintendo, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, BP, and Toyota, and has worked personally with Jeff Bezos, Michael Eisner, and Steve Jobs.

This book is great for motivating readers to create their path to leadership through the practicality life experiences by changing their perspectives and acknowledging unique life experiences as a means to an end.

Highly recommended.

What I’m Reading: Between the World and Me

What I’m reading: Between The World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coates.

“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.”

This is a profound work by an amazing author passionately attempting to explain the difficulties of race and American racism to his young Black son. This work offers a powerful framework for new and present understanding of our nation’s shameful and complicated history with race and the current conversation around the cultural crisis.

I will boldly say that this is required reading as quoted by the great Toni Morrison. The author is giving a new age Richard Wright, James McBride type literally excellence.

Very impressed and enlightened.

Highly recommended.

Introducing the Launch of The Original Millennial

Slackers, narcissists, entitled — the infamous cliché known of a generation born around 1980 or so. This special breed of individuals, debunking myths and assumptions, will lead a cultural shift to represent a full 75 percent of the U.S. workforce by the year 2025 and change the face of leadership.

They are creative, innovative, enterprising, influential, bold, unapologetic, and ready to solve the world’s problems.

They are called the original millennial.

Last month, I announced the launch of my newest project – The Original Millennial – during my keynote speech before 250 attendees at the Memphis Urban League Young Professionals Empowerment Conference.

This is an eBook project that will begin funding a social venture to support startups run by women and minorities who own businesses in the public relations marketing, media and digital industries.

The Original Millennial, a thought leadership series featuring the stories and experiences of millennial entrepreneurs, is the first of many projects that will fund this social venture effort. For $5.99, you may pre-order the eBook with exclusive content including interviews and videos for early release later this year.

The millennial generation is bigger and more diverse than any other generation has ever been. Most of us original millennials born in the early 1980s went through college only to find ourselves dissatisfied with our jobs, hopping from job to job more frequently than our parents, grandparents and even older siblings, or employed in fields unrelated to our area of study. We became more likely to start our own businesses or entrepreneurial ventures and less likely to stay in an unfulfilling work environment than previous generations. We became invigorated by the ways that business can go well and do good at the same time. If we were unsatisfied with our jobs or communities, we became relentless in finding a better situation even if we had to create it ourselves.

We are the generation that doesn’t stop at the question ‘why?’ We ask ‘why not?’

Contrary to what has said or perceived, the original millennial is not lazy and selfish lacking motivation and creativity. The original millennial is a servant, innovator, go-getter – a leader. We’ve become leaders of the social entrepreneurship sector which emerged around 2007 during the time when most of us graduated college or started our careers. Many millennials have been inspired by a cultural change to create organizations and movements that are neither businesses nor charities, but rather hybrid entities that generate revenue in pursuit of social goals. Now there are tens of thousands of social ventures and many are being led and utilized by millennials. The original millennial believes that solutions of the past won’t work for problems in the future, and we will be the generation leading the shift and bringing change to life. 

To support the release of The Original Millennial eBook series, visit theoriginalmillennial.com

Your contribution is an early investment that will empower millennial entrepreneurs in the year to come.

Five Things PR Pros Can Learn From #BlackTwitter

If you hadn’t heard, the Los Angeles Times recently added a reporter to cover #BlackTwitter.

What is #BlackTwitter?… I’m glad you asked.

Over the past few years, Twitter has become a platform for breaking news, public discussion, trending topics and cultural concerns. On occasion, a hashtag will emerge among the chatter. The hashtag #BlackTwitter has grown as one of the most popular colloquialisms associated with African-Americans who use Twitter, many of whom are tastemakers, public figures and intellectuals collectively setting the tone for daily dialogue related to real-world issues that would have been seen as rather taboo or sensitive for mainstream media.

Conversations around the murder of Michael Brown or scenes from ABC’s hit TV show “Scandal” are examples of how the hashtag reflects the variety in which African-Americans are passionately tweeting among themselves to raise awareness, celebrate interests and disrupt the narratives of mainstream media. Searching the hashtag means you will find discussions about everything from the calling out of a celebrity for making a cultural offense to running jokes about stereotypes shared among African-Americans.

PR pros are increasingly seeking ways to drill closer to the lifestyles, behaviors and sentiments of ethnic communities with social media as the source. Though hashtags have risen in popularity, use for audience research can be selectively evaluated and subjectively filtered. This is a critical place to pause and caution PR pros to think deeply about strategies designed to tap into a diverse ethnic community through social media.

Here are five things PR pros can learn from #BlackTwitter:

African-Americans use Twitter frequently…

There’s a hint of consumer insight to be gained from #BlackTwitter. African Americans use social media more than any other ethnic group and access Twitter by roughly 22 percent as compared with 16 percent of whites, according to a study from the Pew Research Center. The study also revealed that 73 percent of all African-Americans using the Internet are on Twitter. Brands and organizations can build and benefit from access to this population and the dynamics of engagement that await discovery.

But this isn’t a solely “black thing” – it’s simply the nature of online communities…

The great thing about social media is that it provides a space for conversations that have been long had offline to find a home online. The essence of conversations within an ethnic group that derived mostly from their unique experiences is now open to observation for all. As in any online community, members are more likely to bond around a core commonality, follow each other, develop their own terminology, and create consensus around commentary. The knowledge of values and complexity is unlimited with #BlackTwitter because conversations can change overnight. However, this dynamic allows diverse groups to dominate conversations with an authentic voice.

Because their influence motivates movements…

The presence of African-Americans on Twitter established a history for the #BlackTwitter hashtag and the subcultures it birthed. When African-Americans felt mainstream media overlooked or ignored issues that impacted their community, they took to Twitter. For instance, the hashtag #BoycottSororitySisters was created by VH1 viewers to express their disappointment and embarrassment with a new reality show that chronicled the lives of African-American sorority sisters focusing on stereotypes among the women instead of the sisterhood and service these organizations are known for. After the backlash, brands such Hallmark, Honda, Domino’s and State Farm used Twitter to announce that their advertisements would be pulled from show and VH1 later confirmed the show’s cancellation.

That’s why newsrooms are watching…

Whether for profit or production, media has shown an increased interest in ethnic communities. Although there remains a deficiency among people of color working in newsrooms, outlets are getting smarter about how the history of diverse groups is researched and how the issues of race, gender, and identity within a community are reported. Content creators have to be responsible enough not to surveillance tweets for subject matter or copy and paste screenshots but instead work with users to tell broader stories through interviews and leverage access to the relationships of users to build diverse connections. Content creators should also be keen on the differences between a trending topic and a story of substance.

And remember, anyone can use a hashtag.

Careful not to use #BlackTwitter as a window into this consumer base from the comfort of your laptop without a true historical context of the audience and the issues they tweet about. Ethnic groups are not monolithic. Trends among people of color especially can be hard to assess. One member’s voice cannot cover the complete sentiments of the whole. Acknowledge the patterns but recognize that perspectives, interests and needs of a group cannot be teased out of a hashtag.

It’s enlightening to see the cultural phenomenon of #BlackTwitter proving the power of people-centered platforms but it’s more important that PR pros explore the intersectional issues discussed by people of color via social media through the advancement of inclusive conversations.

A New Reality: Women of Color Meet at C2 Miami

As organizations adjust to cultural shifts within their businesses internally and search for ways to connect with multi-layered audiences externally, diversity becomes a major topic for senior leaders. A new reality for women of color in the communications industry leading the conversation around issues of diversity and inclusion is now before us.

I had the exhilarating experience of attending the ColorComm C2 Conference last week in Key Biscayne, Florida. Women of color in public relations, marketing, advertising, media, and digital gathered from all across the country to share experiences and learn from one another to enhance their personal and professional development.

The three-day event for women focuses on leadership training, executive positioning, business development, and expanding financial literacy. The event also attracts leaders in diversity and inclusion.

I asked some of the nation’s leading women in the communications industry their thoughts on diversity and inclusion, and they all agree on one thing: the practice must be a priority.

Hear what they had to say.

With a star lineup of speakers including women’s activist Gloria Steinem and CNN’s Lisa Ling, the women dived deep into discussions about diversifying the communications industry, remaining professionally competitive, navigating promotions and achieving work-life balance.

This event exchanged rich moments of wisdom, intellect and sisterhood. Click below to see the great rundown of highlights from social media with the #C2Miami hashtag.

I’m definitely counting down to #C2Miami 2016!

Are you a women of color in communications? How do you think diversity impacts our new reality?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave your comment here and tweet me @aerialellis using the hashtag #PRdiversity.

In a Crisis? What NOT To Do With Media

We’ve all been there – watched an embattled public figure makes an uncomfortable mistake that played out in the media. You may have turned the channel on the TV, flipped to the next page of the newspaper, or clicked over to the next story shaking you head and thinking how much worse could this situation get.

When media is involved, there are some things a brand faced with a crisis situation would be better off not doing. Communication in a crisis is the single most important action a brand must manage in order to instill a sense of control and contact. It also allows a brand to restore confidence among their audiences in a gradual way. Those facts we should always understand.

The real questions begin when we determine the things that damage or jeopardize a brand’s road of recovery.

The highest potential of getting through a crisis situation often times depends less on what you do and more on what don’t do. You can follow the crisis rule book to the letter but you can risk all that is right without knowledge of all this is wrong.

There’s only one thing that exposes the right and wrong to the public – the media.

Here are a few don’ts when interacting with media in the midst of crisis situation.

• Do not take to social media without plan. Social media networks are wide open for anyone who will listen and there are no restrictions. Have a one to two sentence message or apology you want to communicate and walk away until the smoke clears. For example, “I remain committed to my family, my organization and my community. I apologize and hope to move beyond this situation.”

• Do not hide from the media – at least not forever. The main thing that separates your true image from the image the public will believe is the perception is the media. Accommodate media because they have the power of influence to repair a damaged image. There’s no such thing as “off the record” when speaking to the media. In these tense and sensitive moments, any statement you make is likely to make the news. At the right time, you will have the opportunity to speak.

• Don’t repeat negative words or phrases. It reinforces them. Instead, restate the question with more positive or neutral language. For instance, a reporter says, “Nothing seems to be working for you lately. What’s the problem?” and you respond, “It may seem that way but I am making progress.“

• Don’t ever say “No Comment.” Whenever possible explain why you can’t give media the information. For instance, “I cannot speak about that at the moment due to legal reasons.” Be cooperative. Know what you will and won’t say.

• Don’t let a reporter get away with the wrong information; correct inaccuracies before you answer any questions. For instance, “No, that’s incorrect. Before I get to your question, let me clear that up for you.” DON’T speculate, lie or talk about anything that’s not a known fact. It’s OK to say “I don’t know.”

• Don’t keep talking as you’re walking away. Stop talking before you walk or walk away after your final comment. Walking while talking is often portrayed that you are running away or that media chasing you. The momentum in the heat of the moment will upset you and an argument can begin with reporters. Aim to look and sound calm and controlled.

Remember, the only thing that separates your true image from the image the public will perceive is the media.

 

Conversations about Race at Lipscomb University’s Summer Celebration

Ferguson, Baltimore and now Charleston – tangible and tragic moments in a much larger national dynamic that involves an increasingly diverse nation trying to understand and practice racial harmony.

This morning, I had the chance to talk issues of race and injustice around these events and the media coverage surrounding them in a class led by President Randy Lowry at Lipscomb University’s annual Summer Celebration. I was certainly happy to do it (see my photo? 🙂

One of my fellow faculty members asked me at the end of the discussion in reference to my comments, “how do you talk to your students about race as a black woman in a majority white environment like Lipscomb?” and we had good dialogue around my answer.

I am always amazed when a community of faith comes together to talk about such a difficult topic as race in a spiritual context and encouraged by the honesty of those who admit their shortcomings when dealing with issues of race.

I have much more to say about these topics as we dwell deeper and deeper into an era of racial understanding so I plan to write a few pieces around the subject in the coming months.

Thankful to President Lowry for inviting me to be a part of the discussion today! ‪

Damage Control: Three Steps to Reputation Recovery

If you’re watching the news or following current events, you’ll notice a pattern. People are messing up a lot. Companies are experiencing major mishaps, politicians are spouting insensitive remarks, and public figures are stumbling over their own identities.

We are in interesting times. These times often call for quick and expedient damage control.

While many professionals work hard to maintain and reinforce their good reputations, they can do instant damage to their brands with merely one statement or action. Sometimes, all it takes is one slip up to lead you to the kind of crisis situation that puts a dent in your credibility. In this instance, your goal should be to minimize the negative perception caused by the crisis situation whether it happened as result of poor execution or planning, a half-baked judgment call or an unexpected event.

Here are my three keys to damage control for a personal brand facing reputation recovery.

Patience: This is an extremely key factor in your crisis because the public has the ability to negotiate your reputation on their terms. Fight the urge to make hasty decisions or react recklessly. One snap comment, untrue statement, bad move or rash decision can ruin your credibility, upset the media and make your closest supporters resent you. Face your issues in a methodical and graceful manner.

Honesty: Be honest with your PR and legal counsel at all times. They need to know the facts of any situation that could be brand damaging. Remember that most incidents involving the police, courts or emergency medical are public record. That means they can be readily accessed for fact-finding in media reports. If your family would be embarrassed or you’d be ashamed by your words or actions, then it’s probably not a wise move.

Prevention: Prevention is the key to avoiding humiliating disasters. To be prevention-oriented, one must value their character just as much as their talent. Remember, there is no 100% guarantee that a crisis can be prevented. There is constantly disruptive behavior ready to surround and attack you, especially if you are in the public eye.

This is the second post of three in a series about personal branding in a PR crisis. My third post will be about the do’s and don’ts while in a crisis situation. Stay tuned!

Can You Recover From a Public Scandal?

I’ve had just about enough this Rachel Dolezal craziness, haven’t you?

When the news reached me last Thursday evening, I was extremely puzzled and will admit to giggling at the #AskRachel comedy on Twitter and Instagram (Sorry, I’m human..lol). By Friday morning, it had made the national news circuit and I started to receive a few calls and messages from colleagues at media outlets asking for some expert quotes on this scandal.

Questions like “what should she do?” “should she speak to media or make a statement at this point?” “how can she recover?” were the focus of their inquiries. I find major conflicts with the facts of the Dolezal crisis – mainly cultural conflicts that bother me personally. Meanwhile, though the professional conflicts are equally as offensive (I cringed at her response in an interview where a reporter asked what she thought of the things people were saying about her), we’re all too familiar with the central theme of this kind of public scandal and it all starts with one thing – a presumed lie.

A public scandal is tough to cope with and often times even tougher to recover from. Most times, scandals that surfaced from a cover-up or hidden truth are the worst to bounce back from. I have a lot of advice here so this blog post will be one of three in a series about personal brand management in the midst of a crisis situation.

Let’s start by defining a crisis:

A crisis is anything that has the potential to have lasting damage on the public’s perception of a brand.

Whether the news broke, leaked or spread, you are now exposed, ashamed and embarrassed.

What should you do?

Accept your wrongdoing.

The recovery period of a scandal is often the most sensitive because it’s a time of reflection where the consequences of the situation start to hit hard emotionally. The shame that lingers during the aftermath can be painful. You must admit that you were wrong in order to start the recovery process. Have you noticed how critical we’ve become of public figures nowadays? We’re probably a bit too critical of each other sometimes considering no one is perfect but we certainly don’t appreciate being lied to – we want honesty and we respect transparency. This is a time when you need to take a moment to heal in private so you can ultimately try to make a public effort to present yourself in a repented and reformed fashion.

Receive and accept the right guidance.

Many times, in a public scandal, you discover who has your best interest, loves you unconditionally and will give you the best advice they know how. On the other hand, you realize who may have never truly had your back, was only along for the ride when things were good or who want to be attached to your drama for selfish reasons. Stick close to professional supporters such as legal and PR counselors skilled and trained in helping you mop up the mess and to the loved ones who give sincere guidance. Avoid the ambulance chasers who only want to be affiliated with your failure because it gives them a chance at 15 minutes of fame or a potential payday.

Come back with credibility.

Your image took a blow and you’re going to have to handle your comeback with care. The ultimate test of a full recovery shouldn’t be whether the public accepts you back as you once were. Even years after a scandal takes place, it can linger in the memory of the public if your comeback plan is not intact. The court of public opinion is tough but most people love a comeback and will often root for a fallen brand that is making a real attempt at earning the public’s trust again grounded by the truth. A successful reintroduction effort can make the scandal a vague memory. Don’t expect this overnight. Don’t even expect to be a loved as you once were. Just expect that slowly but surely, if you are true to your talents and consistently building toward the future, the public will grant you a measure of grace.

I will say more about the keys to damage control and the do’s and don’ts with any crisis situation in my next two posts. Stay tuned!

It’s Complicated: Explaining The Role of Race in Police Brutality

 

I’ve opened the past two semesters talking about police brutality on the first day of class in my Cross-Cultural Communication course at Lipscomb University. This is a required course for communication and journalism majors to grasp the challenges of communicating in today’s complex society so we go there and get pretty deep. Building communication strategies to address obstacles and opportunities within a client’s organizational culture is something I know very well but grappling with the thorny issues of our times with a room full of college students means I must dig deep and go all the way. There are a wealth of topics I could start the semester with instead but it just so happens the biggest story in the news at the time concerned violence, race and injustice – in fall we dealt with cases of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, and in spring, the cases of Eric Garner and Freddie Gray. It looks as if perhaps this coming fall in August I will unfortunately and again have new content on the same topic – now with the incident in Mckinney, Texas and who knows what else between now and then.

For all of these tragic instances, a firestorm of commentary and disagreement ensued across news media and social media, and protests arose all over the world. Some students wonder how this could happen in the United States. For others, unfortunately, police brutality and discrimination are all too familiar. Yet for a large majority of my students at our private, Christian, predominately white University, police brutality and the racial disparities that accompany the topic are foreign concepts. They are often confused but curious and compassionate in their attempt to make sense of tough issues that even us mature adults struggle to comprehend. Naturally, they are faced with anger, frustration, sadness, disbelief and lots of questions.

“The victim had to be doing something wrong, right Professor Ellis? Wouldn’t the news media tell us if something was done unfairly?”

“Professor Ellis, wasn’t this an issue during segregation? Why are we seeing so much about it today?”

“But Professor Ellis, does this mean most cops are racist or that we should fear them?”

“So Professor Ellis, how do we fix stuff like this?”

My answer to them: “Well, it’s complicated.”

I could share with you how I lecture on the basis of these questions but that’s a 2000-word essay, not a blog post. I tell my students we have many things to consider…

• We’d need to consider how racism has always played a key role in our country and how it became embedded in our criminal justice system. We also need to talk about juries, how difficult it can be to find the truth and how media coverage and social media conversations impact the perceptions of what we believe is true. We’d need to consider the origins of racism and the repetitive narratives of injustice, violence and poverty in communities of color to examine the correlations.

• We’d need to look at the public’s general perception about the problem of police brutality and its history in America from the civil rights movement of the 1960’s to the transition from community policing to military policing in the 1980’s. We’d need to examine data that shows if you are black you are far more likely to die at the hands of a police officer than you would if you are white, and how that knowledge has perpetuated a relationship of conflict between police officers and the black community. We’d need to talk about how the outrage makes people feel hopeless and inspired to react in protesting or even rioting.

• We’d need to examine the disturbing trend in the news media where a person is often criminalized when they have been killed by a police officer rather than insisting they deserved to a chance to be charged, brought to trial and have remained among the living. We’d need to research at the trend of citizen journalism becoming a powerful catalyst for the narrative of injustice as a tool for breaking news. We’d need ask if we can discern by only looking at the mobile phone footage of a bystander how an unarmed citizen is to blame for the overcorrection, extra force or lack of control displayed by police officers.

• We’d need to assess how police administrators are training officers and addressing criticism since police brutality has gotten so much national attention recently. We’d need to consider that what a police officer could despise more than anything is when their authority is challenged, regardless of your color, and that could get you thrown in jail or met with excessive force. We should acknowledge that there are officers and administrators who understand how this crisis is impacting public trust and are trying to handle the issue with care and concern because their profession requires that they put their lives on the line everyday.

• We’d need to consider our role in calling out injustice as a social and moral responsibility when the dynamic of the unknown convicts us to acknowledge stereotypes and reveal blind spots. We’d need to be honest about the relative silence over unfair treatment when it doesn’t impact us directly. We should admit we are imperfect people who have a tendency to limit our perspective, opinions, beliefs and comfort zones to be in agreement with those who relate to us most. We need to remember that what affects one affects us all, or at least it should.

I told you. It’s complicated.

I have the next generation of FOX news anchors, CNN producers, national radio hosts, online news editors, public information officers, non-profit leaders and crisis PR practitioners in my classroom. They will shape public opinion and determine how we consume messages through media. These students are studying to go into newsrooms to write stories and headlines about issues they’ve never witnessed personally, go into communities that may not look like the places they grew up in with cameras to capture the conflict of people who don’t look like them, go into companies to help generate awareness among a target audience whose lifestyles they can’t relate to, or go into organizations to help senior leaders to communicate about issues that might make them uncomfortable.

If I don’t get real with them, who will?

(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune)

Now, I could be the kind of professor that ignores the cultural sensitivities that surface from answering these questions or I could be the kind that challenges students and myself to explore our self-identities and look at how fit they into the world. This is where we must consider our younger generations who are confused but curious about their role in improving our society in ways that enlighten and empower them. Violence, race and injustice – the anchors of the cultural discourse around police brutality – aren’t the easiest concepts to grasp and are no longer the kinds of one-time shallow conversations we can sweep under the rug. Ignoring the facts dehumanizes us. They have to be talked about on an ongoing basis every time a story comes out.

I challenge you, whether a professional, professor or parent, to start having open discussion about cultural issues with the young students in your communities. Address your personal biases internally, dig for more than what is reported through media, be okay with the discomfort of disagreement when a different opinion is expressed, search for a historical context connected to these issues we’ve increasingly seen in the news, seek meaningful conversations with people who’ve experienced the cultural struggles that you haven’t, and empower a young student to intelligently assess their role in doing something about the issues.

I’d like to hear from you.

How has your perspective of race and police brutality been impacted by recent events?

How has media coverage of the current events heightened your cultural sensitivity to racial issues and police discrimination?

How do you intend to help the next generation of leaders understand and address difficult issues like race, violence and injustice?

Straight Talk: Communicating Gender Transition in the Workplace

If I worked with Bruce Jenner on the job for a few years, I would have gotten to know quite a bit about him. I’d know he was married to a woman, how many children he had, how to spot him in a crowd at a company event, and that he typically wear khakis on casual Fridays.

I must admit that I’d be confused and cautious if he showed up all of a sudden with a new face, name, hairdo and outfit. Bruce has become Caitlyn. The same man I’ve gotten to know, respect and work closely with is now living life as woman and no one told me what to do or expect.

While many organizations put time and effort into developing a culture that supports gay and lesbian employees they often ignore the culture shift that takes place when an employee chooses to become transgender. A transgender employee is defined as someone whose gender identity, expression or assignment differs from the gender assumptions made about him or her at birth. There are workplace barriers and challenges facing transgender employees. Some transgender employees will undergo gender transition while within an organization – a process that may take months or even years. Others will have completed the transition before they were hired or have a history of a transition in their younger years.

How should organizations prepare to communicate this shift in ways that support transgender employees while sustaining the culture of the workplace environment?

Organizations should have a transition plan in place to set guidelines for safe and healthy development of transgender employees and to assist other employees in their adjustment to the shift. A gender transition plan should feature three parts: the organizational policy, a training component and a communication strategy. The communication strategy within the plan is critical and should be carefully thought out and executed. The strategy should also be supported by the organization’s non-discrimination policy used to manage a gender transition.

When tackling communication about the transition of a transgender employee, messages should be strategically scheduled and segmented. Start with gathering the employee’s immediate work team/group for an intimate meeting with discussion and training to ensure clarity and confidentiality. The employee can opt to make a statement at the meeting or prepare a personal letter to be distributed. From there, the messages must be gradually integrated with HR policies and directed from senior leadership to co-workers and key constituents who are in frequent workplace contact with the employee. Allowing the voice of a senior leader to set the tone of the announcement with supportive communication for the employee creates expectations for co-workers going forward. While the announcement may lessen the likelihood of confusion and lay a foundation for acceptance (relearning names, matching pronouns, etc.), an organization should allow the employee the liberty to choose when the announcement should be made, if/she wants to help craft the announcement and a chance to cancel or delay the announcement if needed.

A key point in the messaging about the use of restrooms should state that the transgender employee would use the restroom of the gender he/she presents for practical reasons. The safety of the employee should also be considered. Direct communication with the organization’s security team should occur specifically to be on alert about any harassment or bullying.

Enlist a senior leader, a licensed counselor, an employee who has undergone a gender transition, an HR professional and the employee’s supervisor to assemble a transition team. Identify a senior leader who can sponsor the employee as a supporter who is engaged throughout the process. The sponsor can be charged with helping a transgender employee manage his/her transition in the workplace and also help advise the transition team on inclusive messaging. This helps to minimize any disruption in the workplace and convey the message that everything is business as usual. Additionally, developing a resource group for LGBT employees creates a sense of community for the transgender employee as they transition.

When communicating with the transgender employee, inform him/her what to expect from the transition team and senior leadership in facilitating the transition. Have an open yet reassuring discussion with him/her about potential hostility or perceived discomfort with certain co-workers and that the organization is prepared to help them with transition as well. Explain the process of how the transition will be announced and steadily implement the tactics of the communication strategy soon after the employee notifies HR of the transition process. Explain what the procedure is for implementing any workplace and personnel changes such as name changes, business cards, and security badges. Work with HR to monitor the adjustment of the employee and his/her relationship with co-workers through a follow-up after the transition to be aware of gossip, mistreatment and offensive communication that can impact the overall workplace culture.

An employee’s gender transition can be a major shift for an organization but embracing a workplace culture where diversity and inclusion thrives can happen at any time. Combating potential issues and preventing misinformation can be addressed through educational diversity training specific to sexual orientation or gender identity issues. Without a communication strategy, the doors swing open for confusion, tension, miscommunication or even grievances and lawsuits.

While each employee is entitled to his or her own opinions and beliefs, no one should take the personal privilege to judge or dictate the rights of other employees within the workplace. When a gender transition is communicated properly and succinctly, the transgender employee can be met with a level of inclusiveness that translates how well your organization values diversity within the workplace culture.

What Univision’s Acquisition of The Root Signals for Communities of Color

When I saw the news break on Twitter about Univision, the premier media company for Latinos in the U.S., acquiring The Root, an African American oriented news and culture website, I retweeted it immediately.  I retweeted the news because it instantly signaled to me the evidence of hope that someone somewhere had a major conversation revealing the power of collaboration between communities of color. It signals that someone understood that cultural inclusion breeds change and innovation.

In other words, this shift in perspective is more than just a money move or a PR plot – it’s a game-changing moment. As I retweeted in rejoice, others retweeted in reluctancy with a few questions in mind, “Didn’t Essence Magazine partner with Latina Magazine 10 years ago?” “What does this mean for the future of African American news sites?” “Isn’t this blended acquisition of an African American platform by a Hispanic-driven brand is no-brainer?” Yes, it depends, and not so much.

(mediamoves.com)

Since 2008, The Root has become a leading website for African American readers and boasts an audience of 5 million unique users a month. Univision says The Root will “retain its editorial voice and mission but will now have access to greater resources, including Univision’s digital production facilities and publishing infrastructure.”

That’s great to know but the most promising advantage of this acquisition is the increased likelihood of intersectionality in three ways.

Brands/organizations that have a need to target both the African American and Hispanic communities now have an option to dig into both then drill down to the message specifics without fighting over which of the two audiences prove to be more valuable to their marketing/advertising budgets.

The lens of Hispanic/Latino culture alone is a rich case study of intersectionality both racially and culturally. Consider the experiences of Black Hispanics, a population who not are African Americans but speak Spanish. Consider the outlook of African Americans who have been heavily exposed to the influence of Hispanic/Latino communities over their lifetime though their extended families or neighborhoods. Each have authentic stories that relate and distinct identities that complement one another. Collectively, the acquisition makes both groups see their own relevance through the validation of multicultural stories with less content and images based on the divide of class, economics and geography.

Lastly (and what seems like the most important point to me), here’s an opportunity for audiences to challenge media outlets to provide us with more cross-cultural content. If diverse audiences are collaborating to greater impact conditions in our communities, why shouldn’t we see more companies find synergy to improve communication for people working within an international or multicultural environment or witness more media organizations merging and developing platforms that give depth of voice and length of distribution to stories that empower and entertain vital groups who are culturally common?

No The Root or Univision are not minority-owned but their organizations are clearly committed to determining what they can accomplish together for the good of their audiences. Perhaps this will even encourage folks of color to seek higher positions in media management or inspire collaborations that establish support for media ownership.

Since communication is the one most fundamental aspect people must get right when attempting achieve and understand how cross-cultural collaboration breeds innovation, it’s imperative that media take the lead in creating and displaying the intersections of cultural conversation in powerful and progressive ways.

What I’m Reading: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer

What I’m reading: I finished out May and started June with this read – The Culture Map: Breaking Through The Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer. This is a great study on the globalization of corporate culture and how to effectively lead collaboration with cultural sensitivity. Highly recommended for global leaders, diversity advocates and professional communicators!

What I’m Reading: How to Get People to Do Stuff

We all want people to do stuff.

I know I do.

That’s why I picked up How to Get People to Do Stuff by Dr. Susan Weinschenk.

As a communicator, one of the first things you’re taught is how to master the art of persuasion. Well, this book combines the art and the science of persuasion to reveal the psychology behind motivating people to do the stuff you want them to do. It’s quick read and well worth the time.

What I’m Reading: Give and Take by Adam Grant

One of my goals for 2015 was to read one book each month…and well, I’m behind. I’m going to take next few weeks to catch up and finish what I started so I can share my good reads with you.

First up is “Give and Take” by Adam Grant.

This book explains how highly successful people need the ability to connect with others. It talks about the misconceptions we have about takers, why we underestimate the success of givers, and exclaims that when matchers aim to give and get equally we all can succeed (1 of 12).

Thanks to Dr. Craig Carroll for the recommendation! More about the author and the book: http://www.giveandtake.com/

#goodbooks #highlyrecommended #readtolead