Episode 16: Why Every Small Business Owner Needs To Speak Up When It Comes to Equality

coaching episode

30 July

2020 is far from over but, the first half has taught us very valuable lessons that should be considered as a wake up call for everyone to take action against the injustices present in the system. In this special podcast episode, Fiona talks about why every business owner needs to speak up about important matters in a way that’s true to each business’ values. Make sure to pay attention to this episode as it’s a sensitive conversation that everyone needs to participate in… now more than ever.

Topics discussed in this episode:

Introduction [0:54]
Recalling what happened earlier this year [1:27]
Racism and privilege [2:40]
When should small business owners speak up? [3:34]
What is right for your business? [4:15]
Fiona's privilege as a white person [5:52]
Small business owners' values [6:44]
Diving into your values [11:34]
Showing up in a way that's true to your values [13:11]
Creating impact [14:02]
Talking about these kinds of issues [15:55]
A note for black people and people of colour [16:58]
A note for white people [17:43]
On showing up [18:38]
How Fiona does her part [19:55]
Conclusion [22:49]

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to a really special coaching episode. So I am recording this in the middle of 2020. And God, what a yeah, huh? I'm in Australia, and based in Melbourne, Australia. This year has been one of the toughest, if not THE toughest that we have faced as a nation. And what I'm going to talk about is not relevant just to people in Australia, but that is where my experience is coming from.

So it started with the bushfires in late December 2019 and in January this year. And the aftermath and the absolute devastation of that is still alive and kicking. Despite it not being front page everyday, it is there. There are huge communities across Australia that are still coming to terms with the catastrophe that was the incredible bushfires that happened then COVID and lockdown #1. I'm in Melbourne. Like I said, we're currently in lockdown #2. But this saw millions of people face reduced income and work hours and families go into full blown stress mode. And people, you know, close to a million people, I think was seeking financial assistance from the government. We also saw a huge spike in domestic violence in this country. And, you know, that is something that the country needs to come to terms with. But that is not particularly what I'm going to be talking about today. But it has been a full on start of the year. And then, of course, the absolute horrific death of George Floyd in May in the US, which completely shook the world. And it had us all evaluating and re-evaluating the enormous levels of racism and privilege that is in real life and is happening across the globe.

In Australia, we have a long and pretty awful history with racism, not pretty awful. It's it's totally awful racism directed at our Aboriginal communities. And, you know, we stole this land and there has to be repercussions for that. And I think a lot of this is what's coming to light at the moment.

So I have been talking to so many small business owners about this year. And one thing that regularly comes up is the feeling of exhaustion. You know, it's as if we are bobbing up and down in a sea and each time we catch our breath and we come up, the sea seems to calm down for a second. And then you look up and another massive wave is edging closer to pull us down again.

So another common question that I'm asked about is with all of the stuff that's going on, when should small business owners speak up? Is there a right, you know, a right in inverted commas and wrong again, in inverted commas way to do this? You know, should we do it at all? What if we stuff up? What if we show how little we actually know? What if we offend people? What if we say the wrong thing? And I have to add that these questions are being asked and not just from my white clients. I have clients of all skin colours. I have clients of various religions, ethnicities, ages, genders and from all over the globe. And this is something that almost every single one of them has raised with me in some way, especially in light of Black Lives Matter.

So how do you decide what is right for your business and your internal and external facing communications? Do you talk about climate change? Do you talk about Black Lives Matter? Should you talk about immigration? Should you discuss racism and your own experiences of racism? Or on the flip side, your own privileges, should you speak out against the government or the police in your country? And are you even fortunate enough to be able to do that? So I had a chat recently with a client who is not in Australia and not in the US, not the UK. So I had a chat with this client recently about the fact that family members of his are monitoring his brand social media and begging him not to speak out about their particular part of the world because they are worried he could be locked up. He could do jail time. I mean, we forget how much of the world doesn't even have a choice when it comes to speaking out against their government and against authority groups in their country.

So being a coaching episode, I wanted to share a few ideas that have helped me and that have helped some of my clients with making decisions about these things. Now I have to reiterate that I am aware of just how privileged I am to even say words like decisions or choice, because I know that when it comes to these questions being raised right now for many small business owners, so many don't have a choice whether or not to speak up. They don't have a choice whether or not to be involved every single day of their life. They're facing issues and challenges that some of us, like myself don't ever encounter.

So, in case you have not seen me, I'm white, I have Irish heritage, and I have not experienced racism in any real way in my entire life. I also have more privileges than I could possibly ever even know. And each day I'm uncovering even more that I have been totally blind to. And I put my hands up and say that I have had my blinders on and this is uncomfortable. You can probably hear it in my voice. But it's an important episode to record. And I'm sure I will stuff up. I will say something that doesn't sound right. I will use the wrong words. I may even unknowingly offend somebody that is listening. And I mean, of course, I really hope I don't. But this is a very sensitive topic and I am still learning and unlearning. So on that note, let's get stuck in.

So one of the first things that I work on with clients, regardless of anything else going on pre-COVID, during COVID is their values. That is the belief systems and the values that underpin what they do and who they are. So we dive into why they have chosen certain values and where their beliefs come from. And some of these might be limiting beliefs, say, around money. Others might be beliefs that they're not even aware that they have. And we spend quite a bit of time dissecting and discussing these. And the reason being is that I truly believe that everything you do in life, including in your business life, comes down to what you believe to be true. So years and years ago, I got a tattoo. I have multiple tattoos. Some people hate them. Some people love them. I like them. But years ago, I got a tattoo on my finger, which stemmed from or was a result after I read a psychology book. So the tattoo, if you can imagine, obviously I'm on a podcast I can't show you. But if you can imagine, it's a circle with two and joined lines stemming from it. The circle represents an event or a situation in the relationship, but idea, decision and the two lines that are enjoined. But that kind of come out from that circle represent the two paths that you can take. So in any situation or event or in any relationship, there are always two paths you can travel down.

You can travel down the one that aligns with your value systems in your beliefs and how you want the world to be. Or you can choose the other way. And sometimes, you know, let's be real. We choose the other. We stay quiet or we stay in relationships or in friendships or in business partnerships that are not working for us, that don't work for us, that are toxic or where it's not equal, or we just choose to have an easier route even when we know we should have chosen the other path, the path that aligns with who we are.

So I have that tattoo as a permanent reminder that I have a choice in how I live my life, in the way that I respond to things and people and situations, what I allow into my life and in the place that I carve out for myself in the world. So values are hugely important to me. On a personal level, but also in business. And I have worked with hundreds of small business owners and I've taught thousands more through workshops and courses and speaking gigs and all of that stuff. And I know that if you don't have strong values and beliefs to underpin your business, you can easily get sidetracked. You can start to doubt yourself and you can get swept up in every shiny new thing that comes along. And you can also fail to speak up even when it's most needed.

So back to my clients. So we discuss not only the way their business shows up and aligns with its brand values on an external level, as in how you shop and say social media or what your marketing messages say on your website, but also how they are aligning to these values on an internal level. So, for example, with their staff, with their team culture, even for themselves as the figurehead or founder of the business. So, for example, many companies I work with will say that their values include empowerment or, you know, to be more succinct or more to the point - female empowerment. And I'm using inverted commas here. I hear that a lot. Yep. We are all about empowering women. And externally, yes, they show up to this. They are championing women and they use quotes that are all about women rising and, you know, women coming together and all of that stuff. But internally, they don't have things like domestic violence leave policy, which I know domestic violence relates to men as well. But women are much more statistically at risk to suffer from domestic violence and to have to suddenly flee their home. And sometimes it's the fact that they are worried that money will stop coming in. And so domestic violence leave policies are absolutely imperative if you have stuff.

So things like saying we're all about female empowerment and we can put this cool, fun gif on social media, but we don't have a domestic violence leave policy. There's a misalignment or things like they don't have locked rooms for women who need to pump breast milk or they don't have seriously flexible arrangements for women who may need to care for children or elderly parents. And again, I know that people that identify as male do care for elderly parents. But statistics prove that women do the bulk of caring for ageing parents.

So suffice to say, values are pretty important in small business. And like I said, I work with my clients to look at not only their values, but how they're showing up externally and internally in their business. So when I've had conversations with my clients around the world about things like Black Lives Matter or speaking about climate change or other things that are coming up and that have always been there, but they're coming to the fore a bit more. I first asked them to go back and dive into their values. If you are a brand that prides yourself on freedom or equality or empowerment, then how could you stay silent when it comes to fighting for freedom or equality or empowerment for all people?

Now, this is not to shame anyone, but purely to ask the question and really have people dig deep to decide at what point to their values stop aligning with their actions. At what point might they be choosing their own comfort over truly aligning with the values that they believe in and that they purport to live by? As a business, again, this is not to shame people. These are questions every single person running a small business or even just in life needs to ask themselves. And I include myself in this. I have definitely chosen my own comfort level many times in life when I should have been braver and I should have spoken up, or I should have had actions that align closer to the values that that I want to live my life by. So also, at this stage, it's really important to look at the fears that might come up or surface when we're having these conversations. And again, while this is uncomfortable for many, this is reality. The fact is that some people may be fearful of looking bad, particularly of their business, looking bad, of being slammed for saying the wrong thing or even of cancel culture. And and we've seen that play out many times recently. And so they retreat and they don't say anything, which in some cases can be worse than showing up and putting a foot wrong.

So the next thing that usually comes up here and again, this is just in the conversations that I've had with small business owners I work with or I know some of whom are black and people of colour and some of whom are white is then how do I do this? How do I show up in a way that's true to my values? You know, do I need to be all over social media talking 24/7 about these issues? Do I completely overhaul my marketing and for various reasons? These actions might not be aligned to who they are or how they run their business, or they may feel that this is being performative or jumping on the bandwagon. You know, for instance, if they never, ever use social media as a channel and then suddenly they show up and post a black square and then jump off again. Is that actually in alignment with showing up for their values or could there be some other way that they do that?

So next we look at impact and bringing these values to life. So what does this mean for them? What does it mean for their communities and their clients and their customers? Now, for some people and some small business owners, this will mean talking and showing up and aligning to those values they say underpin their business on platforms like social media, on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. But for others, it might be showing up in other ways, such as refraining from being on panels or speaking at events where there is not non-white people on the Line-Up, where basically everyone on the Line-Up is white. So they might refrain from that. It could be investing in buying more from businesses that are black owned or owned by people of colour. It could be removing their advertising dollars from companies that don't support equality or that enable hate speech to be shared across the globe for others, still, it could be investing time and money into re-writing, reworking their policies and changing up things like their recruitment, cultural insights, training and staff education.

And for others, still, it might be challenging the places where they send their children, you know, ensuring that books and educational tools that are brought into the home are showing people of all skin colours and backgrounds. For others, it could be joining forces to protest against governments or to raise much needed funds for various human rights groups or even families of people who've been murdered by police or have been the victims of hate crimes. So impact will mean different things to different people. And it's up to each small business owner to understand first what their values really are, the extent to which they actually align their business actions with these values, both internally and externally. And then the ways in which they can truly have an impact when it comes to their influence on their customers, their clients and the community around these issues.

So, like I said, this is not an easy topic to discuss for anyone - for black, for white, for people of colour. It's not an easy topic to discuss, but it's an important topic and it has to be discussed. If you're black or a person of colour, listening to this episode, you know, perhaps your grappling with the trauma that all of these conversations, including this one, bring up. I mean, one thing that's come up in conversations I've had with people lately is that when the absolutely atrocious acts committed against children by the Catholic Church were coming out in newspapers and media and court cases were being dissected daily, there was often a help line phone number attached to this media. And so survivors of childhood sexual abuse from the church were correctly given some way to get immediate support.

What isn't happening with the current Black Lives Matter movement is that there doesn't seem to be a united support front in the way of call centres or mental health groups opening up purely to discuss and be there for the trauma that is coming up for people of colour and black people right now.

Perhaps if you're black or a person of colour listening, you're also beyond tired of being asked the same questions over and over by people who could have just Googled the answer. Or perhaps you're even listening to this advice and thinking, "Well, that's all very well, Fiona but I don't actually see anything actually changing from this." Or perhaps you have suddenly got all these new followers on Instagram or in your closed Facebook groups and people buying your products and services. And you're feeling really mixed about this. And you're wondering why did it have to take this for you to notice my business? And what is the intention behind your purchase? Or perhaps you are hoping that all of this conversation and groundswell will actually start to change things and that really excites and energises you particularly for the next generation.

If you're white, listening to this episode, perhaps you're feeling that this is another attack or another thing to make you feel ashamed. Perhaps you're feeling like you need to be doing more. Or perhaps you're already doing a lot of work behind the scenes and you're trying to figure out how you can show that to your customers and your communities without coming across as performative. Perhaps you've been championing things like equality for years and you feel like finally other people are starting to catch up. Perhaps you are still at a complete loss as to what to do or where to start. So there is no perfect answer and there is no one solution to these questions that will fit every small business owner neatly, regardless of your skin colour or upbringing or knowledge or lack thereof when it comes to things like white supremacy and white fragility and racism. We all do have values and we all have beliefs that guide us and guide our business.

So if you've been wondering how do I show up right now, how as a small business owner do I show up, then I would urge you to dedicate some time soon, you know, make the time to revisit the values and the beliefs that underpin you and your brand and then get really honest and ask yourself, are my actions in true alignment with these values? And if not, how might they begin to be so? And if that work leads you to want to do more, to learn more, to unlearn and understand more, have a list of resources in the show notes which you can find it at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/16 as an episode 16. But of course there are an abundance of articles on this topic and there are an abundance of people far more skilled in this area than myself that I would urge you to do the research, and especially if you are white, undertake this research without having to put all the onus on people of colour or black people, you know, or that you follow to give you all the answers, you know, go out there. The answers are out there. The resources are out there in abundance. You just need to commit to doing the work.

So it would be completely hypocritical of me to dish out this advice without taking it on board myself. And that is something I am doing and I'll continue to do. Many times in my career, I have championed equality and diversity, not just when it comes to racism, but also ageism and sexism and ableism. And that said, I have a long way to go to uncover the privileges that I have as a white woman living in Australia since the death of George Floyd on the 25th of May 2020. I have been investing my time, my money, my energy into unlearning and learning. And this includes undertaking things like cultural insights, training with Barkindji woman and director of Source Nation, Dixie Crawford. And she still has a lot of those seminars available. So you can go and check her out at Dixie Crawford or at sourcenation.com today. Having various meetings with a variety of diversity experts and First Nations groups. I've been investing in anti-racism courses and I've been reading a bunch of books like Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia by Anita Heiss, Australia Day by Stan Grant, How to be an Anti-racist by Ibram X. Kendi, White Fragility by Robin Diangelo. And also looking at a lot of the free talks that are sort of interviews with these people online and also completing the work in the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad with in an online book club. So it was a kind of online book club where we worked through all of the parts of the book. So it wasn't just about reading the book, but actually committing to doing the work in the book. I've also continued to purchase books that show a mix of people for my kids, as well as increase the amount of books written by Aboriginal authors in my children's bookshelves.

I've also collated a list of people who do similar work to me and I sent it to some of the places where I was due to talk asking them to consider removing me from their line-up and adding somebody in who is black or a person of colour. I wanted to do this not as tokenism, but to make sure that it's not just me saying, "oh, I'll step back and you should really get somebody, a person of colour or black." I wanted to give people a list, so it made it as easy as possible for event organisers to to actually do this in action it rather than, you know, just have this nice idea. But it's not a nice idea. It's just an important idea and has to happen.

People need to be able to see themselves represented on stage and on all of these types of things. And I'm also having a lot of conversations with people of all skin colours. And some of these are incredibly awkward or uncomfortable, but they are more so important. And obviously, my levels of uncomfortable-ness or feeling awkward is absolutely nothing on what it must feel like for people who are not white to go out every single day and face racism and face challenges and face inequalities.

So like I said, I'm white. I cannot begin to understand what it's like to be a recipient of racism. But I can do my part in understanding and acknowledging my own privileges, my role in white supremacy and my own white fragility. And hopefully by doing so, I'm opening up the conversation and helping change things for future generations. And as someone who works predominantly with small business owners, I think it's my duty to do that as well. So that brings us to the end of this episode. I know it might be uncomfortable to listen to regardless of what skin colour you happen to have, but I hope that if nothing else, it has you thinking about what your values really are as a small business owner and how you can truly show up and align your actions to those for your clients, your customers and for the community at large.

Like I said before, a full transcript of this episode and a list of resources is available at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/16 as in episode 16. Thank you for listening and see you next episode.

Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram - @mydailybusinesscoach.

For more information, kindly check out the following:

Watch

How To Respond When You're Called Out by @itskatyprince

Read

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad

Australia Day by Stan Grant

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss

Growing Up African in Australia edited by Maxine Beneba Clarke

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi

You can also see a bunch more here in this Antiracist Reading List in the NYT.

For a list of diverse books for kids check this IG account