87. Honoring Your 2020 Experience
Summary
As December winds down, we’re getting dangerously close to being bombarded with new year’s resolutions. But rather than speeding into 2021 looking only to the future, Erica and India are here to help you reflect on your 2020 evolution.
They each share their top leadership and allyship lessons from the year and provide recommendations for witnessing your own growth and ensuring you’re leading with your values in the coming year.
After the Episode
Sign up for January’s Implicit To Explicit Values Masterclass
Quoted
ERICA COURDAE
“I don’t want to go into 2021 and just ignore the past year.”
“I’m seeing the India I’ve already known being comfortable being India in a whole lot more places.”
“It felt like all of the sudden everybody woke up wanting to do anti-racism work and DEI work.”
“It’s humbling to recognize the impact I’ve had and will continue to have.”
“If you’re trying to figure out what your company response is, it’s important to reconcile that with what your conversation is going to be with your friends and family members.”
“Do everything you can to be as whole as you can in this moment.”
INDIA JACKSON
“There’s more value in looking at the evolution you’ve already had and honoring your growth to inspire you to go further.”
“No matter what happens we always look for the lesson in it.”
“Who I am now is more of who I already was.”
“When you show up as yourself and let people see you and what you’re experiencing it gives them permission to do more of it on their own.“
“If you were to ask me where the biggest growth I’ve had this year it’s in allyship and leadership.”
“The messenger matters.”
Episode Notes
WHO ARE YOU NOW?
There’s lots of talk this time of year about new year’s resolutions—even more this year because it’s been a lot.
But rather than skipping ahead to the future, there’s immense value in looking at the evolution you’ve had and honoring your growth to inspire you to go further. It’s not just looking at what went badly and what went well. It’s about honoring the purpose that each experience and lesson served and messages provided that we all needed.
India says that no matter what happens, at Pause On The Play she and Erica always look for the lesson in it. They are looking for the positive they can take away from it.
Erica asks India: “Who do you think you are now after everything you’ve experienced this year? And how will that propel you forward in 2021?”
India responds: “More of who I already was.”
She thinks many people hear this question and immediately think of all the things that are new. But when you can reconcile with your own identity—all of the vulnerable pieces—you’ll experience less resistance and more clarity than you’ve ever had.
On the way though, it felt like India was going through an identity crisis. She wondered if she really said what she wanted to or showed up as herself what would happen. While Erica understands, she thinks it’s been more of an uncovering—India being India in a whole lot more places.
DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?
Erica says that this year, with the murder of George Floyd on film, it felt like the collective whole of society woke up. All of the sudden everyone wanted to do DEI and anti-racism work.
Erica says that she realized that what she was doing didn’t change but her platform greatly shifted. She admits it was scary to think about whether she was doing it wrong or whether she was the right person to be doing the work at all.
2020 required her to step fully into me being herself, knowing that is more than good enough.
That also brings up the value of individuality. When you can show up as yourself and let people see what you’re experiencing, it gives them permission to do more of that on their own. It has an impact on the collective whole.
India says her biggest growth this year is in leadership in allyship. Everything they do at Flaunt Your Fire is about visibility and this year she got to live that to the fullest.
Her biggest lesson? That diversity, equity, and inclusion work isn’t just for white people. We all have the opportunity to create and speak from a place that includes vantage points they didn’t previously consider.
When asked the same question, Erica says that she also learned about what allyship looks like to people of color and the importance of intersectionality. Growing up, she says, you were just considered Black. You weren’t recognized as Black and queer, Black and disabled. Having that conversation has been important to her.
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR VALUES
Erica says each time she did the Implicit to Explicit value exercise it went deeper for her. India concurs and says that while she was focused on diversity as a top value this year, she also surprisingly deepened her connection with white male clients who wanted to talk about issues of race and equity but didn’t know where or how.
Thus, she stresses, the messenger matters.
In a year that did not look like you thought it would, it’s so important to recognize resiliency in life and in business. We can’t just throw our hands up and say, “Life is just too hard!”
Doing this all goes back to your values. While many people think of values as a marketing exercise, Erica and India urge you to anchor them in action and integrate them in your day-to-day.
A good place to start is by asking yourself: What are my brand values?
Do you have them? Do you think you could look at them and in the case of another civil rights movement instantly know what you participate in and don’t.
You also need to consider: How does the personal me inform the professional me?
If you’re trying to figure out what your company response is to an issue, it’s important to reconcile that with what your conversation is going to be with your friends and family members.
Lastly, as you look at your values list inquire whether it feels aligned with who you are now, not who you were when the year began. That’s not a good or bad value judgement. It’s simply about growth.
As you continue in this work, it’s important to have someone else to keep a space that’s objective and open. This is what Erica and India offer in their Implicit to Explicit Values Masterclass. It’s happening:
January 7, 2021 - 12pm - 3pm ET
January 21, 2021 - 12pm - 3pm ET
They’ll guide you through the intersection of your personal and professional ethics and help you identify the values you want to bring into your business.
Sign up at: www.pauseontheplay.com/events