The failure of institutions

I have spent my academic and professional career on social change -  researching domestic violence policy, trying to actually stop violence, encouraging people to talk about racism and managing organizations dedicated to eradicating discrimination. I have been a grant maker, supporting the nonprofits led by people of color. I have often sought to change the way that  institutions address systemic oppression, discrimination and harassment, whether it happens to be what is happening internally to the institution or how the institution interacts or influences the world.

Too often I have often been disappointed in these institutions and their leaders for their failures to root out sexism or racism or child abuse. I have  also been sorely disappointed at the way institutions have punished people who speak up, myself included.

It must work for many institutions to sweep their problems under the rug or to treat a discrimination complaint as a risk mitigation issue. However, I look at organizations such as the Catholic Church, the Minneapolis Police Department or the Boy Scouts of America and think that those organizations would be in a better place today if they could have honestly looked at themselves in the mirror and said "we need to care of this" before the rest of society forced them to do so.

I am not ready to totally give up on institutions. I like the local library system.  Public health departments are pretty important right now.  And I am writing this blog on a computer on a blogging application, so I have some use for corporations too.  I just want them to be more just.

In this series of blogs, I am going to explore how we can make institutions more just.  Why do they make the decisions they do?  How can institutions and those within them approach sexism, homophobia, ableism and racism differently?

I would be interested in hearing your stories, good and bad. Please drop me a line if you would be interested in sharing.

Just a few blocks away, two worlds apart

Last week I spent many hours in two higher education institutions in downtown Minneapolis.  At the first institution, I took a 2.5 day finance class for mid-career professionals at the business school. At the other, a community college, I guest lectured at a public policy class.  These two

institutions were a short walk from each other, but worlds apart.

Out of the 25 or so people in the finance class, I was the only person of color. The mantra that was repeated over and over again was that the role of a corporation was increasing shareholder value.  While at least one participant ended up in the program through the dislocated worker program, most  were settled into well paying jobs.  Politics wasn't really discussed except in relation to the instructor's desire to have a balanced federal budget. I don't really know the political leanings of most of the people in the room, but I don't think it would count as progressive.

In the evening, I went to the community college to guest lecture in a public policy class. The student body was diverse and pretty clear that the economy wasn't working for them.  They wanted to know why we couldn't have public policies that supported greater equity.  We talked about the fact that there were still very differing view points in our democracy and that it is a feat to put together political will. I used the first class I was in as an example.

Going between these two classes was jarring.  However, I wonder how we can combine these conversations. How can we shift the conversation to be about how an economy creates value for all?

Job searching, learning and Flamin' Hot Cheetos

This is the third post in my job search series.  The first two were on organizationlessness and rejection.  While those covered the more painful moments of my job search, this one describes my learning process. 

I am someone who likes learning and I use experiences, even unpleasant ones,  toward this end. While this period has been hard for me, it has afforded me opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

The first is that I have been able to spend time at my child's school. I now have a greater understanding of what goes on in an elementary school class room and the struggles kids are having either in their personal life or academic life. I have also learned about modern class room management issues.  I know you were wondering how the Flamin' Hot Cheetos figured into this story and are probably getting hungry about now.  While I was volunteering in the classroom, my son's teacher made a comment about how she was having issues with Cheetos in the classroom.  I looked at her quizzically. Sure enough, a little while later, a student was trying to eat  those Hot Cheetos when they weren't supposed to be.

I have also learned how supportive my network can be.  After I initially posted on Facebook that my political appointment was ending, several people reached out. People who I didn't know well have taken me out to coffee and helped me on my search.  Others who I have sometimes had conflict with spent hours with me. Former colleagues helped me remember all the work I have done. I have caught up with a lot of people and have been able to pay fuller attention to them.

My compassion has grown for people in similar circumstances. I have worked on diversity and equity work from a place of privilege. This is the first time in over 20 years that I have not been employed.  It is good for me to at least have some lived understanding of what other people are going through.

I have also learned a lot about how the workplace is changing. I  last worked at the State of Minnesota, which is a bit behind the times. The offices of some of the smaller organizations I visited look really really different. They have more flexible schedules.  Data is becoming a big part of  even nonprofit jobs (hopefully someone is thinking more about how we should use the data in a just way).


And last, I have signed up for formal education. I am on day one of a finance course at the University of St. Thomas and will become a qualified Intercultural Development Inventory administrator in April.

I do hopefully be able to find a meaningful  job or become a sought after consultant, but I know I will continue to learn in this uncomfortable period.

The Practice of Diversity Equity and Inclusion

The book the As If Principle by Richard Wiseman recently caught my eye. Wiseman describes the work of psychologist William James who theorized that behavior causes emotion rather than the other way around - or to quote Wiseman quoting James, "If you want a quality, act as if you already have it."

The book describes a variety of studies that support this idea. For example, one study demonstrated that people who read positive statements out loud felt happier. In an experiment on donating to charities, only 3% of those visiting a web site of an organization supporting children of war made a donation when asked to click a link to donate.  When individuals were asked to sign a petition against land mines first, the percentage of people donating rose to 14%. Wiseman also provides a number of helpful tips and activities to people trying to change their lives.   

As you might guess, there isn't a chapter on diversity, equity and inclusion.  However, the premise got me thinking. As someone who has both delivered and attending training on racial equity, I know that  sessions can get emotionally heated.  For some people, strong emotion helps to solidify their commitment. For some people of color, expressing the harm racism has caused them personally is necessary for their health.  However, some people get stuck in the emotions. 

I believe there is more the one way to arrive at a destination. What if we approached DEI training like a meditation practice, with the most important thing being to do it regularly no matter how you feel  We do know from other studies that reading positive stories about a certain group will reduce implicit bias. o 

Here are some ideas for practicing diversity and equity on a regular basis.

• This week, read three articles that talk about the experience of people of a group that you are not part of.  Next week, read three more. 
• Talk to someone about your personal history around race or another identity twice this week and again next week. 
• Make regular contributions to a civil rights or Indian land tenure cause.
• Question out loud about how privilege might show up in some policy or practice twice a week.  Write what you did down.  
• State your commitment to diversity out loud three times this week to your co-workers. It should make you more committed to act. 

Let me know if some researcher would want to test these ideas. 

"Organizationlessness"

One of my friends told me that I spend a lot of time thinking about the world, but not enough time thinking about what I really want.  Along that lines, almost everything I have written in the past two decades longer than a random Facebook post is about some social issue or organizational process. This blog is about me.

In January, my politically appointed position ended.  It was an incredible opportunity I learned as much in 3.5 years of work life than I did in the previous 15 years. I did not have another job lined up when I left. While I have had job instability at other times in my life, I have always been able to jump quickly and keep my career trajectory going in a continuous and positive direction. I even survived my last political transition. This time around, it hasn't worked the way it did in the past.

While my family is not in danger of becoming destitute, I still feel incredibly unmoored. I  have come to realize how much my identity was tied to the organization for which I worked.  And now I don't have that anchor. I have given a name to this state. I call it "organizationlessness."  It's not nearly as serious as statelessness (and it's not lack of work because I am finding plenty of tasks to complete), but tenuous nonetheless.  I also worry about long term job prospects given the specter of middle age and changing technology.

I have been fortunate for many supportive family members and friends and that fact that I did not have to scramble for child care when school was cancelled six times for snow and cold.  I am also working on building a consulting practice, but I don't know if that will be viable either.

It appears that the universe has given me the following tasks:

1) Think about what I want (and try to figure out it someone will pay me for it).
2) Talk and think about myself in a different way.  One friend gave me an "F" for self promotion. I hired an interview coach and I am working on it.
3) Synthesize what I have learned in the last 20 years and transform it into "my" material.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  And let me know how you have experienced "organizationlessness" in your life.

p.s. my next posts that are in my head to be written are about social issues

Government, philanthropy and change

Having now worked in leadership positions in government and philanthropy, I have been musing on how the two sectors might collaborate more effectively to make communities better.

In my previous government position, the agency that I worked for took regulatory action to reduce racial disparities in a certain sector. One of my roles was to talk to philanthropy about how foundations might support these efforts.

I found myself in a conversation with a representative from a local foundation about the project.  The representative remarked that it was going to take a lot of time to bring the organizations in question together and create buy-in for reducing the disparities.  My unspoken response was I am in government and we don't need to wait for their buy in. We can subpoena them and compel action with potential litigation.  However, we weren't in a position to pay for some of the resources the sector needed to truly change.

Government has the authority to compel. It has vast financial resources as well, but these resources can't always be used flexibly. Philanthropy has the ability to bring people together, create buy in and fund innovative projects and pay for important things government can't.

What would happen in the sectors formulated strategies together more regularly?  How much more effective could they be together?

My view is that leadership and social change could be amplified by understanding the power and role of each and using each in way that reinforces the other.

Creativity in parenting or how I made the lion puppet throw up

Since I became a parent, I have come up with a lot of creative actions, actions borne of desperation. Wild ideas just pop into my head occasionally when they are most needed.

For example:

• I ended a 45-minute toddler tantrum by stuffing some curly ribbon into a lion puppet and making the puppet vomit. The child went from crying to laughing and jumping up and down within minutes. 

•  After meeting much resistance when applying anti-fungal cream to the toddler's skin, I rebranded the cream, "tickle cream" because the armpits were one of the places we had to put it. The application was much more palatable to the child once the name was changed.  

•  I stopped my child from vomiting. Although I am fine with vomit in the form of curly ribbon, real vomit is not so appealing. My child was in the back seat of the car, trying to gag himself. I was driving, and not able do very much physically to stop it. So, I started singing "Wheels on the Bus" with the wrong words. He removed his fingers from his mouth to yell "No."
• I have been able to channel my child's desire to hit us when he is angry into a "mad high five."  If he tries to hit, I give him an option to give me a "mad high five."  He usually starts smiling after a couple high fives.

I wonder how I can bring this type of creativity in other parts of my life, but I don't feel the same pressure and don't seem to be able to come up with such out-of-the box ideas.

How do you fuel creativity within yourself?