Thanks to all my new subscribers for joining! I focus on social impact insights, often based on issues and questions I hear from clients, colleagues, and friends in social justice work.
I divide the newsletter into 3 sections:
Social Impact Insights
Surf Synthesis
Tarot Inspiration
Social Impact Insights: The Oscars
The topic that makes most of my clients lean in and brighten their eyes is the concept of building an Equity Mindset, the term I use to describe so much of what I work on. I’m always talking about it as a framework for building a thriving organizational culture, rooted in authentic trust; equity as an action; and a shared sense of belonging. Our goal is always to build an Equity Mindset as a lens for decision-making, so folks are using it as a muscle they’re flexing across their organization.
As a movie and Oscars fanatic, I’ve been thinking over the past month about how the Academy is doing when it comes to Equity Mindset. The Academy has done a lot of work on representation since the #OscarsSoWhite campaign of 2015, adding a far more diverse group of members, resulting in more nominees/winners who bring diversity of race, ethnicity, LGBTQ identity, and disability (including this year) and a greater focus on international cinema. So they’ve done the right things, in terms of assessment and recruiting with an eye to diversity.
And yet as with most organizations, that’s a great start, but nowhere near enough. We saw in real time that the Academy’s leadership felt out of touch and removed, and small decisions had ramifications that did the opposite of reflecting a culture of trust, equity, and belonging amongst movie-lovers. A number of moments jumped out at me, even as the Will Smith Effect took the entire night off the rails, but I’ll focus on one.
After Chris Rock got (wrongly, obviously) smacked after his tasteless and unnecessary joke, he said that the winner of the Best Documentary (Feature) was essentially “Questlove and four white guys.” So the other producers didn’t get to have their named called, and one of the “white guys” was actually a South Asian producer, a Brown man (named Joseph Patel, in the photo above with two other South Asian winners that night, Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed), who spoke on a Twitter thread about how much that comment stung, in what should have been a moment of pure joy.
I generally think Chris Rock is a pretty astute comic, but something is wrong when presenters aren’t given the message from the very top that bringing down the vibe of nominees/winners with punching-down quips is not the culture the Academy is trying to create. It’s especially uncomfortable to have presenters literally erase the identities of winners as they come up on stage, pretty much the definition of low-key racist. And I don’t have faith that the Academy’s leadership has made it clear that if you go off-script and are disrespectful in this very specific way, you won’t get invited back.
Combined with the appearance that no one was in charge to manage the debacle with Will Smith, this moment took away from what should have been a celebration of so much diversity in terms of the night’s winners. Three South Asians winning at an awards ceremony I’ve been watching since I was a kid was a pretty big deal to me. My first Oscar memory is of Persis Khambatta presenting an award in 1980, and I distinctly remember my mind being blown that an Indian lady was up on that stage, looking super glamorous and fitting right in. Respectful representation matters.
This is a great lesson for leaders of all kinds of organizations: Being present, being aware of and forward-thinking about the ripple effects of your decisions, and considering impact on feelings of trust, equity, and belonging of your stakeholders are key. And it’s almost always in the smaller decisions. For me, the Academy’s leadership left a bad taste in my mouth, and this movie-goer likely will not be watching along next year. Let’s see if they can get me back!
Surf Synthesis: Killing Eve
Something I can’t stop thinking about as I’ve been splashing around in the water is the series finale of Killing Eve, a show that’s about Female Rage in all its beautiful glory. I was completely obsessed with the scene in which someone reads tarot for Villanelle and Eve, drawing out what was to come for them and putting them even more on edge. Their derision over the idea that the cards might be relevant at all, coupled with their not-at-all-disguised desire and angling for a reading with positive outcomes, was a vibe familiar to any tarot reader. I found it simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, such a combination of cynicism and hope that has stuck with me.
Tarot Inspiration: The Hierophant
This past month, I’ve been thinking about a card I’ve always had trouble relating to: the Hierophant. The Hierophant represents formal religion, and I’ve always thought of them as representing False Gods, and the way so much organized religion gets caught up in concerns of money and conformity.
And yet as the card has shown up as I give readings, it’s challenged me to focus on the most positive aspect of organized religious groups, which is community, especially a community that comes together to support you when you need help. In my readings, it has also called to a sense of finding new paths to explore a person’s spirituality, or another modern form of healing, in seeking therapy or coaching, as well as community support. It’s been fun to see new layers in a card I used to dread seeing, another sign of growing and learning.
More to come! Let me know what you want more of in these newsletters, subscribe, and share with others who you think will be interested.