5 Things / More Than Words
I spent this week polishing my new keynote with my Heroic Public Speaking cohort. My new DEI keynote is called More Than Words and addresses the gap between DEI strategy and results. Reply if you want to hear more about it.
Thanks to my work with HPS, it’s an entertaining and engaging keynote that was crafted with the support of my cohort: an eclectic and diverse group of former corporate execs, entrepreneurs, and military veterans who speak on topics as varied as mindfulness, empathetic leadership, innovation, and interior design!
For four days, we came together, day and night to work on our craft. Not once did we talk about politics or the U.S. election results. Not once did we talk about Elon Musk or layoffs. Crafting an impactful keynote in a community with others is a vulnerable and humbling experience, and requires a ton of psychological safety. We’re now bonded for life. There’s something incredibly special about coming together in a community on the same journey toward parallel goals.
Are you looking for a professional community of any kind? Please respond if you are and I might be able to point you in the right direction.
Here are the good vibes I found this week:
This week I found optimism in the U.S. election results with an increase in diversity among newly elected officials around the country and across party lines. This matters because representation matters, perhaps more than ever:
Gen Z voted in big numbers, showing true civic engagement. And it has its first member of Congress: Maxwell Alejandro Frost, from the Orlando area.
Some big firsts in Maryland: its first Black governor, Wes Moore; first Indian American lieutenant governor, Aruna Miller, and the first Black state attorney general, Anthony Brown.
Two lesbians, Maura Healey from Massachusetts, and Tina Koteck from Oregon were elected governors, part of a larger group of 436 LGBTQ people elected. That’s 100 more than in 2020.
12 women are now U.S. governors, also a first (yet still far too small a number…) with some states like Alabama and Arkansas electing women for the first time ever.
Some more firsts in Congress: Delia Ramirez became the first Latina Congresswoman from Illinois. Summer Lee became the first Black Congresswoman from Pennsylvania, and Katie Britt became the first woman Senator from Alabama.