Courageous Leadership • Finding The Words
About This Episode
Taking action seems more complicated than in years past. As we dive into 2024, leaders are facing greater threats and barriers to change, particularly to advancing social change: from policies and lawsuits that threaten DEI practices, technological innovations that threaten workforces, political elections that threaten democracy, and extreme weather that threaten our existence. Where, then, to begin with a reinvention?
This week’s episode comes from the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights directly to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week.
Like this episode? Read this article in our weekly Finding the Words column.
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Hi there and welcome to the Mission Forward podcast, where each week we bring you a thought-provoking and perspective-shifting conversation on the power of communication.
I'm Carrie Fox, your host and CEO of Mission Partners, a social impact communications firm and certified B Corporation.
Today I have a short forum episode for you.
It's drawn from my weekly Wednesday column called Finding the Words, and if you like what you hear today, I hope you will head over to missionforward.us and sign up to get these insights delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday morning.
Now, if you like what you hear today, I hope you will stop, look down at your phone or your device you're listening and give this show a five-star rating. That helps make sure this content gets out to more people who can benefit from it.
But now, on to today's episode, Courageous Leadership.
"Despite rising optimism about the global economy, business leaders are less optimistic about their revenue prospects and more aware of the need for fundamental reinvention of their business."
Now, those are the words of Bob Moritz, global chair of PwC, related to PwC's annual global CEO survey, which was released earlier this year at Davos.
The survey's top takeaway?
Get this, nearly half of CEOs believe that if their company continues running on its current path, it will not be viable 10 years from now.
While corporate CEOs may have been the audience, a call for reinvention is being heard across all sectors.
But as threats to our businesses, democracy, public health, and workforces converge, is reinvention even enough?
As I consider these challenges, we are hearing these same challenges across clients this year, and one theme emerges.
Reinvention is required for the future, just as courageous action is required right now.
Taking action seems more complicated than in years past, though.
As we dive into 2024, leaders are facing threats and barriers to change, particularly to advancing social change.
From policies and lawsuits that threaten DEI practices, technological innovations that threaten their workforces, political elections that threaten democracy, and extreme weather that threaten our existence.
Where in the world, then, to begin with a reinvention?
Well, to give you a place to start, I'll suggest another leader's words, those of Ashton Latimore, editor-in-chief of PRISM, an independent nonprofit newsroom led by and for people of color, and someone that I admire greatly.
Ashton's words are from nearly two years ago, and are more relevant than ever.
Commenting on the state of current events, Ashton said on this Mission Forward podcast, "I see cause for alarm and cause for optimism.
We know from history that when you have great leaps forward, there's always a backlash, a push, a pendulum swing backward.
And just as we've come through those moments before, we can harness the energy of this moment and do the same now."
Then she said this, "If you want to know what kind of person you would have been during the Civil Rights Movement or slavery, what would you have been doing?
Look at what you're doing right now, because that's the kind of moment we are collectively in as a country."
Reinvention starts right now, with the actions you take and the practices you keep.
And while you can't control many forces around you, you can decide what side of history you'll be on.
Will you do right by your public commitments to DEI, or walk them back?
Will you lead through your values, or your bottom line?
Will you stand by while the world changes, or will you be that change?
We have just recently kicked off Season 9 of the Mission Forward podcast.
We have an incredible host of thought leaders we're listening to and learning from this season, and there is so much you can learn throughout each of these episodes this year about how to navigate the issues ahead.
So if you haven't been listening along the way, I hope you'll go back and tune in, because there is too much ahead to navigate alone.
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