What do we believe?
Some of the great books I read to prepare for our meeting
Last week, I led one of the most important and uncomfortable conversations we’ve ever had as a team: What do we believe as an organization?
My leadership team and I are close. We’ve been working together for years and years and years. We’ve had conversations about our individual beliefs on the death penalty, abortion, divorce, religion, politics—topics that are usually taboo at work but that we’ve talked about because we want to learn more about one another. And yet, we’ve never had a discussion about what we believe as a company and as a team.
With the anti-racist movement, I realize the importance of making organizational beliefs clear, as well as taking actions that align with those beliefs. But where is the line between what we believe individually and the beliefs we hold together?
This is an interesting and challenging question to explore as an organization and one that has given me pause in the past. For example, I can recall a time when a pro-life fundraising group asked Student Maid for a donation. The person who accepted the request wanted to support the fundraiser. Some on our leadership team agreed with that choice and some did not. If Student Maid supported the fundraiser, did that mean that Student Maid is pro-life as an organization? How would that make those who are pro-choice feel? If Student Maid didn’t support the fundraiser, did that mean the company is pro-choice? And how would that make those who are pro-life feel? We decided not to donate to this cause—or any causes whatsoever—until we had a discussion around what we stood for as a company. But we never ended up having that discussion because I didn’t have the courage to lead it. I avoided it because no matter which “side” I took, someone got hurt.
Leadership isn’t avoiding something just because it’s uncomfortable. I knew we needed to have a conversation around our organizational beliefs because the team needs clarity on how to handle inevitable situations like the one I just described. That being said, I still had great anxiety going into this conversation. One of the members of my leadership team articulated the challenge perfectly: In our pursuit of inclusivity—by aligning our team around similar beliefs—we could become the opposite of inclusive if we aren’t careful. She wasn’t referring to being anti-racist, as we have already decided as a team that that is not a belief but a nonnegotiable position we firmly hold as an organization. But when it comes to ideological beliefs and political views, how can we articulate what we stand for as a company while also creating an environment that celebrates diversity of thought and belief?
As it usually goes, the conversation was not nearly as difficult as I made it to be in my head. In fact, it was wonderful. Here’s what we decided: For us, there are some issues that we do not need to support financially or take a stand on as a company. For our organization, it doesn’t matter whether someone is pro-life or pro-choice, for example. But there are some issues that we will absolutely take a stand on and use our platform to speak about, such as building an anti-racist workplace. That means we will hold these beliefs as team beliefs, and if we give financially, these are the causes that we will give to. Maybe not every leader and every organization will agree with our approach, but for us, it feels right.
I wish I could tell you that we identified the causes we believe in, but that’s not something we can decide in one meeting. It’s too big and too important. We did, however, end with a really good starting point. So far, the issues that we want to take a stand on as an organization are:
1) Education: Supporting the growth and development of future leaders
2) Entrepreneurship: Promoting the creation of businesses that seek to make a positive difference (In full transparency, we are unsure of this one. It resonated with some and not with all, and I have some more thinking I need to do here.)
3) Human leadership: Creating diverse, inclusive, equitable, anti-racist workplaces
Last week was the first of many meetings. We all have homework. Mine is to further explore and clarify these beliefs so that there is no question where we stand. We meet again on August 7th, and as usual, I will update you on our journey, even when we are still trying to figure out what that journey is. I promise to always be transparent with you.
Thanks for being here and for learning with us. I hope you are leaning into difficult conversations on your own team, identifying what you stand for, and thinking about how to remain inclusive in the process.
Big hugs,
