77. Evaluate Your Efforts With The Imperfect Ally's Checklist
Summary
If you aren’t being explicit with what you believe in, you can’t assume others will know. On this episode, Erica gives a sneak peek into her Imperfect Ally Checklist, which provides important questions for all values-driven businesses to consider.
These questions will help you evaluate whether you’re doing the best you can do right now in the spaces you facilitate, events you curate, and communities you lead. They’ll also remind people of what matters to you and hold the door open to imagining how you can do better.
Quoted
ERICA COURDAE
“There’s no way for anyone to know how you think or feel if you’re not explicit about it.”
“Often people will say, ‘Everyone is welcome.’ When I hear that I want to scream BS so bad.”
“There’s a difference between ‘this was made with you in mind’ and ‘sure, you can come in.’”
After the Episode
Download The Imperfect Ally’s Checklist
Episode Notes
Erica begins the episode by mentioning that she’s heard a lot of chatter recently from leaders who aren’t sure if others are clear on what they believe in, what they stand for, and what they stand against.
When there’s any doubt, it’s likely you’re assuming people in your community and audience are making the leap between what you share and what you value. It’s important to realize that if we aren’t explicit about important matters, there’s too much room for interpretation.
It’s for this reason that Erica created the Imperfect Ally’s Checklist. In this document, there are important questions that you consider when investing your time, money, and attention, but also to evaluate your own business from the same lens. These questions include things like:
Who’s welcome here and who’s not?
What type of conversations are happening?
Where does the money go?
Doing this exercise for your own business will help evaluate whether your actions match your talk.
Erica points out that as an imperfect ally it’s crucial to let people know that a space, course, or community was made with them in mind, not just that they can come in. There’s a huge difference, she says, between being allowed in and feeling welcome.
Join the podcast next week as Erica continues to hold the space to discuss ways to remove stigma and create real change and connection as we cross lines, recreate boundaries, and support not separate.