Over the last month, I have been filled with anger, processing the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks; whose deaths reflect the systemic racism that exists in our country, and in myself.
Watching the recent My Brother’s Keeper Townhall featuring President Obama, I was struck by Phillipe Cunningham and Brittany Packnett Cunningham, who President Obama passed the mic to lead the conversation about the future of policing and our country.
One word these activists repeatedly used was, “Reimagine.”
Ever since watching this event, the word reimagine has been speaking to me.
What else in our lives besides policing needs to be reimagined?
In the professional world what I think about is:
Reimagine Leadership: What if every manager is taught nonviolent communication and how to navigate topics ranging from race, to mental health, to personal triggers? What if instead of cliquey teams we built teams that valued differences and our leaders had the skills to integrate these disparate opinions and people?
Reimagine Communication: what if companies began to recognize that emotions are ingrained in any high stress, high-intensity job? What if business leaders created space for people to experience anger, sadness, joy, and guilt, within the workplace, and these experiences were normalized?
Reimagine Worklife: what if businesses took to heart research on optimal working hours and some companies began offering optional 4-day work weeks and flexible schedules that reflect the reality of how different types of people work? What if we used the massive economic growth of the last four decades to allow people to live more dynamic lives rather than to minimize and mechanize people.
Reimagine Mental Health in the Workplace: what happens if we make mental fitness as accessible as physical fitness? What if companies paid for every employee's mental fitness programs? What if people come to the office more aware of their emotional landscape and were encouraged to share these things?
Outside of the office, what does it look like to reimagine the economy (placing greater value on creatives and creators), reimagine transportation, reimagine our relationships to technology, reimagine the nuclear family and more? The future of society has always been driven by youth.
If you haven’t done so already, watch Phillipe and Brittany at the recent town hall—this is what the young people of the world are thinking about—this is where our society is heading. It’s time for all of us to reimagine a radically different and better future and to start by making changes in our own areas of influence.
—
As Bob Dylan sings:
“Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'“