“Time heals all wounds” is one of the most widely known and generally accepted expressions in our popular culture, but I’ve always felt that this statement – although not false – was incomplete, at best. I believe that time is necessary but not sufficient for healing. Time facilitates the healing...

We live in an age where it can be challenging to keep up with the increasing speed of news cycles while managing our own busy day-to-day lives. There’s a vast amount of news available to us every day – but we may not have enough time to consume it, and we often have even less time to reflect on it...

I believe I’ll remember the images of last summer’s racial justice marches for the rest of my life – largely for a reason that I didn’t expect. It wasn’t just the number of protests around the country that inspired me, or even the size of the crowds (impressive as they were). It was the rich,...

There’s a lovely expression that many of us in the Black community use when we want to repair strained relationships with each other; it’s an expression that always moves me when I hear it. Whether the cause of the disagreement is related to something we’ve done (or not done), or something we’ve...

There’s an old saying that every great victory is the result of many smaller victories that went unnoticed. As we undertake our individual and organizational racial equity journeys, I would suggest we slightly modify this adage. I think it's essential that we do notice the small victories –...

As a Black man who has worked with or for nonprofits for most of my career, I’ve become very familiar with how nonprofit boards recruit for board diversity; by my count, I have been actively recruited by the boards of 13 organizations. 

I can divide 11 of these 13 board recruitment experiences into...

A couple of years ago, I attended a national conference of government officials focused on advancing racial equity in their communities. The conference began with a number of local government leaders engaging in an informative but rather conventional panel discussion about their local strategies to...

I am a long-time admirer of the late legendary poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.  In addition to appreciating the genius of her lovely, powerful poetry ("Still I Rise" is my personal favorite), I’ve always marveled at the wisdom, inspiration, and insight about life that I find in her most...

Amadou Diallo.

Freddie Gray.

Philando Castile.

Alton Sterling.

Walter Scott.

Tamir Rice.

Michael Brown.

Eric Garner.

Botham Jean.

Breonna Taylor.

And most recently: George Floyd.

One of Stephen M.R. Covey’s fundamental beliefs about leadership is that progress happens “at the speed of trust” —  that organizational work gets done with and through people, and that trust is the basis for every transaction and relationship.