We opened up our themes for 2019 with a big topic that cannot be covered in a month, so we’ve decided to extend diversity and inclusion for another month into March, which just so happens to be Women’s History Month!
We have some exciting stories upcoming of incredible people of color and amazing women who are doing great things in business in Indiana. Before we publish these, I (Daniel Fuller, VP Business Development) want to tell you the personal why behind my passion for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and all environments for that matter. As Julie Kratz mentioned in our last post, I have had to embrace a personal reason to get involved in the conversation, and mine has been watching the experience of my wife who is a gifted leader, as well as other women and minority leaders I have coached or worked alongside. For each of them, their experiences as leaders have been much more challenging than my experience as a white male leader. In my career, I have coached female leaders who were called divisive by their male superiors for speaking up for their teams, challenging their superiors, and not staying silent and submissive as was their company’s unspoken cultural expectation for women. I have also coached and supported African-American and Latino leaders who endured unconscious bias and overt racism from their white leaders and colleagues.
THIS IS NOT OKAY! I want to be a part of changing this reality. Until recently, I have focused my energies in more quiet and covert efforts against these oppressive forces of our culture and companies that keep people from leading in the way they are gifted and skilled to lead. Then in February, I received challenges from Julie Kratz from Pivot Point and Kristen Cooper from The Startup Ladies, to speak and write more boldly on this topic as an ally, and I accepted their challenges! Julie and Kristen’s work challenges me to listen to and learn from the amazing women and people of color who are leading in the Indiana business community, and tell their stories. As I lead FullStack on this forum, it is my intention to do this well and be open to ongoing feedback of how I can do it better for the sake of diversity, inclusion, and gender equality.