I am participating in 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes 2019 (all of my submissions can be found here).
Today’s prompt is: STRONG
I end up reading about Darren Walker, CEO of the Ford Foundation, pretty often. I edit the BoardSource newsletter, which is geared toward nonprofit boards of directors, for SmartBrief, and he’s a pretty big deal in those circles.
Yesterday, I was reading a piece he wrote that discussed a new vision for capitalism in a world where there is so much inequity, financial and otherwise. Walker was talking about a prominent businessman, and the man’s contention that the companies where his organization invests must create long-term value in the world.
Walker wrote, “I hope that BlackRock’s [the business he was referencing] strong words will be met with equally strong action.”
Isn’t that the disconnect we often encounter? We can create a need for strong action by uttering strong words “I am going to do my part to change that situation,” for example. Conversely, we probably undertake strong action sometimes without having thought about our rationale.
But sticking with the fact that our strong words are not always met with strong action, I think that somehow gets at one of society’s challenges today. We can retweet a tweet about a cause in the hopes of raising awareness. And such awareness is good, because it may encourage/inspire someone else.
But it is in taking strong action that I suspect we stand to make a bigger difference.
Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
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