120: One Piece of Content You Don't Want to Miss Sharing This Month

I just finished giving a presentation virtually to a group of primarily communicators. When I discussed this topic, it's not one of the easier ones to discuss. A participant started to ask questions about how to share information around this topic, what type of content. But as she spoke, her voice broke and then she started to stifle a cry and I got chills. It went through my whole body and I have never felt this way ever in a presentation. She moved me for a reason. And that reason just so happens to be the topic long scheduled for this week on the podcast. Welcome to the Confident Communications Podcast. I'm your host, Molly McPherson, helping you find the right response at the right time and deliver it on the right channel. I mentioned in the open I had a moment today and it started with this topic. Why you should be posting about this topic right now. So in this episode I'm going to share with you the importance behind it and why it brought someone almost to tears. It's the second week of February and some of you listening right now may need to hear this tip, while others, you're probably, probably good to go. But if I had to guess, I'm imagining you listening right now. You could be in your car, on a run or a walk, or cleaning the kitchen. That's the only time I listen to podcasts now. But if you work for a small to medium sized business or an organization, I'm going to guess chances are you have not done anything about this topic. There's been no communications around it whatsoever. I did the research because this week I knew I was speaking to two groups for their winter meetings and I asked this question, has anyone posted anything or shared any content or planned any event around Black History Month? The first group I asked, I believe the answer was zero. I don't think anyone spoke up and said they were doing anything. Now, in fairness, it wasn't communicators. They were directors, GMs, but no one mentioned that their organization was doing anything. The second group, mostly communicators, customer service, member service people, and only a handful on the chat mentioned it. But it did start the discussion because I didn't think that choice was their decision. So let me ask you right now, if you're listening to this, do you work for an organization or do you personally post about your own business that you run? Did you post anything about Black History Month? Black History Month, celebrated every year in February, honors the history, the contribution and the achievements of African Americans from both the past and today. And if you were to take a glance at the biggest brands just go online and type it in, see what they are doing for Black History Month. You will see a number of brands showing their commitment and dedication to recognizing Black History Month. For example, GE has an African American forum and where they share information about this African American forum with a lot of their, a lot of their employees and staff and external stakeholders. Also, GoDaddy is partnering with. I love this, I looked this up. Black entrepreneur and GoDaddy maker Maziah Bridges. He's the owner of Moe's Bros. I saw him on Shark Tank. I'm sure many of you know who he is. They're doing a promotion with him. Also, Squarespace is featuring customer stories and employee stories focusing on subjects about black and African American community. Under Armour is doing a partnership with Baltimore photographer Devin Allen. Target has a brand, a line called Black Beyond Measure and that's an assortment of apparel and accessories. And peloton, they have Black History Month so they have classes and content and they also have an apparel collaboration as well with four black artists. But if any of you use your peloton like I do, I've already done a number of those themed classes and my legs are feeling far worse for it. But it's not only up to the big brands to celebrate Black History Month. Now the smaller companies and organizations may not have as much reach when with a campaign or a post as one of these bigger brands. But by embracing and celebrating African Americans contribution to society, to communities, to your community, well, that can have far more impact. I discussed this conversation with Anthony Hayes of the Hayes initiative on episode 16 titled what Executives Should Know about Speaking out on Politics and Social Issues. And we discussed the topic topic of how companies should communicate specifically around minorities. How can a company show their values to minorities to all people? And I had asked him at a moment I knew that he was from, you know, rural US and he lives in New York City right now. And I had asked him how he felt when he was walking the streets of his hometown in rural usa, leaving New York City as a gay man. And did he notice the difference in the acceptance from brands communicating and businesses communicating from New York City to home. And he said absolutely. And then I asked him did he feel isolated or left out when he went back home because he noticed the absence of communications? His answer of course was absolutely. And that never ever left me. So coming into February, I knew with the clients who I work with right now when I was speaking with them and we talked about Black History Month 2 in particular when I asked if they were planning it or if they've ever done it before, both said no. And one CEO said, we haven't ever done it before. But there's no reason not to stop now. And there you go. There was a Black History Month post on the first day of February. That's how it happens many times. It just happens slowly. And it happens when one person decides now's the time. And so when I was presenting it today on this presentation, I was sharing with them that it's not just about communicating a post. It's not just about promoting one month or one minority group. It's about promoting a value system. If a black person in your small community or just your community, maybe it's mid size or even larger, if they see a communication or a promotion or an effort to celebrate Black History Month, they will notice. They will notice that they are welcome to shop there, to do business with you, to be a customer there or to work there. So will a homosexual teenager who is still not sure if they should come out or not to their family, to their community. So will the family who adopted a baby from China or the family who adopted a baby from Ethiopia. So will your indigenous customers. Even if they make up the smallest percentage of your customer base, they'll still notice. So will anyone who's Jewish in your town. So will the couple who opened the best Mexican restaurant in town serving recipes from their childhood in Mexico. So will someone with a disability. So will the young woman working in your office with a transgendered sibling. She will likely be touched by the notion that the company that she works for took the time and had a value system that made anyone feel welcome in this month. It just happened to be African Americans, but it told her that she worked for a company that would value everyone. But what about the woman with the transgendered sibling who works for a company that hasn't done that yet? And she asked the question, how do I get someone to be open to posting about Black History Month? What if I have to ask someone in my office who I know may not be open to it? And when she asked that question, her voice broke. And that's when I heard a little bit of the tears and holding it back. And then she shared. And I found out later that she was new to the organization, fairly new. And she had said over this chat with a lot of people, I don't know many people who know this, but my sibling is transgender. And that was it. She didn't say anything more after that. And that's when I had a mixture of just chills and I was frozen and I was joyous because someone was telling me something that I was saying something I believed in. It's an ethos in me was telling me that it mattered. And it mattered not just because you're putting up one silly post is that it mattered to someone. It mattered to someone's family. I suspect she teared up because she knew the pain of her sibling and what it must feel like to go through life not being recognized or perhaps even being attacked. But I also sense the happiness that she felt knowing that her sibling, that he or she or they would soon feel like they belonged in a business where their sister worked because they were being recognized. And that's why you should commit to posting about Black History Month, to embrace any day or any month that celebrates a person or a group who does not define themselves in the majority. As I mentioned, this young woman and it was asked again, how do we get started? How do we get started just doing this or asking someone or trying to start posting about minority issues? My answer well, get started now. You have a few weeks left in this month. Another question. What if a person gives you grief about it? What if it's a boss or someone on the board? Well, think about it. If someone doesn't have a concern for all of your customers, are you really? Is that going to be a battle that you're not going to take on? Why wouldn't you want to stand up for anyone? Especially for people who rarely have people stand up for them. So my answer is to anyone who said or would be offended by a Black History Month post, the person who feels that way is on the wrong side of history. If 2020 taught us anything, it's that black lives matter. Really, all lives matter. And I know that comment is one that is a trigger for many people because it says black people should matter as much as everyone else. And that's not true in the sense that we don't see the color of people. We do. Everyone's lives matter, but other lives should matter more when we take the time to tell people they matter more to us. And that's why we want to celebrate them. Okay, whites get celebrated all the time just by existing. But let's celebrate black people. Let's celebrate indigenous people. Let's celebrate homosexual people. Let's celebrate everyone. Anyone who feels left out or a minority, they deserve a celebration. And if your business that wants to celebrate them, well, you will be better for it. For the people who have grief, for the people who still have racism in them, I'm the first to admit it. You know, I even said this on the Talk today. There are people who grew up at a different time. They were in a different culture. It could have been in their home. It's understandable why some people would be wired to grow up to be racist or not be so open and inclusive. Okay, so we don't want to exclude them. We don't want to make them feel bad. But we want to stand up for our value systems, and we want to stand up for other people who don't normally stand up for themselves or don't have the opportunity to do so. So prior to 2020, you can reason with the choice for people who may not even want to wade into it. Like, why bother? We're fine if we don't do it. Not that I agree with it, but I understand it. But 2021, after June 2020, after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, with all of the stories and all of the passion behind Black Lives Matter, how can you not? When you don't make a statement about Black History Month or African Americans or about any minorities, you are sending an even stronger message than if you did. So if you haven't posted or publicly celebrated African Americans in your office or in your communications, again, you still have plenty of time. You have weeks. So honor Black History Month in your communications. You can start on social media. That's easy. You can do a post. But you can find other ways to share and teach cultural acceptance among your staff and workers. And don't just stop at African Americans. Okay, Discuss Black History Month ideas around your office to get a more accepting work atmosphere. And over overall, it's going to result in a better culture. Then it's going to be easy to accept everyone else. And trust me, they notice. They notice. That's all for this week on the podcast. Reach out to me on my website or on Twitter if you're looking for a speaker. I was so happy today. The organizer of the event, she called me back and she just raved about it. And I think she was raving. Not because I'm so great. I mean, even though it felt great, but I think she felt the vibe in the room, the vibration, because we were all feeling the same thing about values and communicating values. And she also told me I looked like Julianne Moore. And I don't see it, but I'll take it, definitely. So my talk, it's communicating in 2021. It's the new now. And you certainly heard part of it because 2020 set the framework for how to communicate in 2021 and this talk will help you set the communications right and to help with business continuity. Also, you can follow me on Twitter and you can check out my fleets. What's a fleet? Well, I will discuss it on a future podcast, but if you head over to Twitter right Now at Molly McPherson, I bet you'll be able to figure it out. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast for that future episode about fleets. That's all I have for now. Thanks so much for watching for listening. Bye for now.