I’m THAT person.  

I’m that person that sees an ad for an event and counts the number of non-male presenting people, the number of non-white presenting people.  

Just the other day I saw an ad for ClickFunnels “One Funnel Away” and it had only white, male presenting people. In fact, it had 6 of them. And I thought to myself, “Could you not find any additional people?” 

Clearly they weren’t looking very hard (or at all). 

For me, the importance of representation started in 2014 – while I was at a professional conference. In my community at that time, most of the participants were women. As I listened to a panel discussion, I noticed that the women speaking did not have children while growing their businesses. They were all older. The message I received was that growing a business with children, at my age, was not possible. 

Thankfully, I didn’t take that message with me when I left.

I left wanting to change that and to be the example for others like me that didn’t see themselves represented. 

Fast forward to today.

Now, I host peer discussion groups and masterminds where the diversity in the room is notable.  There is diversity of: 

• Parenting Status
• Age
• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Years in business
• Gender
• Physical Capability
• Health
• Language
• Diet
• Geography
• Education
• Body Shape
• Brain based conditions
• Marital Status
• Sensitivity

And more unseen factors

Creating these spaces has been very important to me. 

Representation has been a driving force. 

But not the end goal.  

The goal for me is for all people to be able to live out their missions.  

And I know, that:

• We work better together.
• We can learn from each other’s different experiences.
• An environment that is accessible for one person is likely more supportive for all people.
• We don’t all need the same support at the same time but resources can be shared to ensure that when each of us needs support, it’s available. 
• When we work together we can solve bigger problems.

Have you read Brene Brown’s book “Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts”? I encourage you to do so if you haven’t. 

In her book, Brene shares that often businesses end up having members of their team work in silos. One person is off doing their thing, another team is working on a project in their space, and you’re doing your thing, too. 

Then conflicts arise and the team isn’t working together. 

And that’s a disaster.

Because we’re stronger together – whether it be with our internal team or those external people who support you and your business.

Since I host peer discussion groups, I often look at people who are supporting you from outside of your business – so I want you to do me a favor:

Look around…are you talking and interacting with people that are different from you? If not, how can you?

I would wager that the more you find connection and similarities in those that are different from you, the greater sense of belonging you will experience, the more you will learn and grow, the higher you will both be able to reach and achieve.

And that’s powerful beyond measure.

If you are in business and would like to find belonging by being different, join us for a peer discussion group. We would love to hear your voice.