“So much of problem-solving demands creativity. To imagine a new way, a better way, a more just way of living – we’re gonna need to get creative.

In my opinion – everything! We are trying to imagine a new world. A better world. A world where our identities are no longer used as tools to bludgeon and diminish. We want bad things to stop being so damn predictable, and we want good things to be the new world order.”

“Even if my inbox is zero or I’ve attended all my scheduled meetings, I have “to-dos.” I could work ahead, catch up, or make progress on one of my many projects that are months (not hours or days) long.

Do you resonate?

Listen to my playlist “Close Out Ritual Songs”

“there is been a lot of denial and avoidance of both the big and little ways that politics and our workplaces are inextricably linked.

when adults chose to tap out – bury their head in the sand – or deny reality, it drives me batty. It’s like - we can watch “Handmaids Tale” and “Game of Thrones” (not everyone’s cup of tea, I realize), but then act like we’re all shocked and confused about how to navigate the well monied Wild West of U.S. elections and cable news.”

“Imagine my arm reaching out to strike someone who is standing near me. I can reach them because they are close. I bump into them – whether I mean to or not – because we are sharing space.

Horizontal violence - in its purest form - is lashing out.”

“The reality is, depending on our health, our budget, and our season of life – what feels viable as a vacation to one of our colleagues may currently feel light-years away to us. And we are each capablevof jealousy, envy, and judgment. Those feelings can seep into our working relationships.

So, what’s the antidote? How can workers and workplaces imagine making time for rest and restoration?”

“The question should NOT be, “who died?” it SHOULD BE, “are you well enough to be at work?”

Like sickness, it is often highly inconvenient, and may even happen during what feels like a “critical moment” at work. I get that. And yet, we are human beings having a human experience. Let’s do the work to get better prepared so that we can rally around our colleagues in their times of greatest need rather than act like they are letting us down and bothering us with their loss…”

“The big three monotheistic religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity each come with their own assumptions, stereotypes, and tropes about their followers. How moral are you? How hard-working are you? How God-fearing are you?

Here’s what’s true about our 300-million-person population, though – WE ARE A MULTI-RELIGIOUS COUNTRY.”

“IF YOU’RE SICK, STAY HOME!

Truly, our resistance to logic, as adults who function inside a capitalist economy has really been something special. Our egos demand of us that we pretend to be impervious to the human condition. Rather than embrace our body’s wisdom, we try to override it with our big brains and “push through” as though that is ever gonna have positive consequences on the other side…”

“Whoa. Deep breath. I get it. Americans (myself included) have a cultural allergy to being taken advantage of. We do not want to get screwed. Additionally, we suck at rest, restoration, and holidays. And it’s clear why – capitalism.

No wonder workers are afraid to take time off! And no wonder workplaces are unpracticed at treating workers like fallible human beings who cannot simply keep going like automatons.”

Secrets. Hiding. Access. Privilege. Trust. Vault. Knowing.

In a work setting, who gets to know what? when? why? and at what level of detail?

Based on the conversations I’ve had with clients, here are my current recommendations on things to watch out for and be mindful of in your own approach to living your values around both transparency and confidentiality…”

Workers have been very clear with me about the kinds of freedoms they are craving:

• free to work with and for people who share values

• free to work where it makes sense for me and my family

• I want my body to be free – not monitored and controlled

These freedoms, to me, feel like understandable responses to constriction and control.

What you can do to be readier to welcome top talent onto your team – people who happen not to have been born here.

Stop policing what other adults choose to do from one meeting to the next. Don’t do them, do you. If you want to be on camera, do it. If you don’t want to be on camera, do that. If you’d like to ask your colleagues when you can see their face, go ahead. Don’t assume. Don’t judge. And don’t read into everyone else’s on and off camera behavior.

I’ve got very good news – you do not have to suffer through meeting after meeting with no room to breathe, eat, or pee. Back-to-back meetings are so stupid. There are diminishing returns almost immediately. Good news, we can bring sense back to our work calendars, our work teams, and our work cultures.

My grievance: garbage check-ins.The alternative: check-ins that are actually useful.

At the top of a meeting, retreat, or event, someone makes a half-hearted attempt at a get-to-know-you question. The question is often unplanned, and stumbles into some inane wondering about “favorites.”

My grievance, my annoyance, my ick regarding these low caliber questions are that while you may be getting snippets of insight, you are more often than not actually performing a middle school-esque sorting of who likes “cool” stuff and who does not.

There are way better ways to check in, especially across meaningful lines of difference like race, religion, and gender.

Dress codes in U.S. workplaces continue to be a hot topic. Why? Because bodies continue to be a hot topic. Clothes, face, hair. Here in the U.S., we’re having a helluva time releasing our desire for control of other people’s bodies.

Years ago, particularly in white progressive circles, you may have noticed land acknowledgements making their way into community space.

The material practice of acknowledging stolen land and broken treaties is one thing. Then what? What happens after we name what is true?

Who lives here and who works here matters. A handful of numbers that I find meaningful at the moment:

· The U.S. will return to being majority POC by 2045

· Children of color already make up the majority of kids in many states

· Current U.S. colonies are majority People of Color

· There are currently 574 Federally Recognized Tribes inside the U.S.

My resilience strategies do not remain static; they can't. The world, and my world, continue to shift, change, and evolve. I am an adult who wants to be able to interact with hard truths without crumbling. I don't want to be numb. I also don't want to be so overcome that I can't function. So what do I try? I learned to increase the charge without fritzing out.

All four generations currently in the modern day workforce feel deeply disrespected and misunderstood by the other three.

Ouch. And, in my lived experience - that tracks. We treat one another as generational caricatures - tropes of the lowest side of what our particular generation is known for - and made fun of.