As we (in the U.S.) pause to honor Martin Luther King, Jr’s legacy today, I am once again both humbled and inspired by the excerpts of his speeches being recirculated in the media. King not only spoke out about the injustices of his time (many of which continue today), he also spoke of an alternative future, a future that was not a continuation of the status quo. In speaking that future – one where “sons of former slaves and sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood” and “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” and “my four little children will…live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
In the wake of the insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol last week, it can be easy to fall prey to fear and despair – will we ever realize the dream? There are examples – pockets of society – where the dream is becoming reality. We are on the brink of inaugurating Kamala Harris, the first Black, first Asian, and first female Vice President of the United States, which is huge. And the insurrection reminds us there is work to be done and that that work is not limited to isolated pockets of “fringe radicals” in the Deep South.
But what does all of that have to do with corporations and teams? Our organizations – and the teams within those organizations – are microcosms of the larger society, reflecting the values and practices of that society.
Our organizations and teams can also be laboratories for new ways of organizing and collaborating – experimenting with new hiring, communication, collaboration, and decision-making processes that reflect our aspirations, our dream.
What is your dream? Your team’s dream? Your organization’s dream? Is it a dream to elevate only yourselves or to also improve the human condition? As we articulate and reflect on those dreams, this quote from a different Dr. King speech, given in Alabama in 1963, seems especially apropos:
“We are caught in a network of inescapable mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Are your daily routines replicating the status quo or building a better future?
