Black History & Bridging to Equity-Centered Futures
First, a headline to acknowledge Black History Month here in Canada and for those who recognize it around the world. The theme for the Canadian Black History Month this February is: Black Legacy and Leadership: Celebrating Canadian History and Uplifting Future Generations. I am pleased to be hosting a conversation with Black Canadian Women in leadership roles who will be talking about exactly this from their life and leadership lessons. Please register here to join us!
Second, I invite you to join in reading along/with a friend/with a book club, my short story collection, Identities. This collection features the lives and experiences of global African protagonists, navigating the experiences of bridging, balancing and weaving together their lives on and off the African continent. Register free here to join in reading together and for an opportunity for 2 zoom live sessions with me to discuss these stories. Dialogues from this short story collection have always left me amazed!
I am pleased to have served as Special Editor for the recent winter issue (Vol 56(4)) of the Organization Development Review, alongside Dr. John Bennett titled: Bridging to Equity-Centered Futures in Organization Development.
In the wake of 2020, Dr. David Jamieson, Editor in Chief of the Organization Development Review asked John and I to serve as Special Issue Editors, to help our community in thinking through the challenges of leading and supporting organizations in a time of great disruption. We had both, he said, brought forward to him our concerns for the field, and the need for both a systemic and grounded approach to the work that was emerging in organizations of all forms, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. We had so much response, that what was meant to be one issue ended up being two: “Organization Development in Times of Disruption,” Special Issue, 53(2), and “Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) in Organization Development,” Special Issue, 53(3). In 2024, we found ourselves reflecting on the fact that much remained the same in our experience of the world and in how our field of scholarship and professional practice was responding. As geopolitical, climate and economic polycrises continue to plummet our world, humanity seems to be increasing rather than bridging our divides and our responses seemed more divergent than ever. My ongoing concern is that it seems that we are succumbing to our basal fears, rather than seeking to cooperate towards solutions, which is the most critical need of our times.
As an editorial team, John and I decided it was time again to inquire into what might be possible, if we looked beyond all rhetoric and discord to use the applied behavioural, organizational and social sciences of our field to address the key questions and challenges of these times. What does it look like for us as leaders, scholars, practitioners to dig even deeper in our quest to elevate humanity, especially now? So we chose to use our encore as special issue editors to call our community to inquire into what it will take to bridge from our current impasses and culture wars to really enter the equity-centered futures we all need. The human systems we have created are crumbling around us, whether we are paying attention or not. It is time to bridge and build towards the future we need to sustain planetary life and we know our community of scholars and practitioners are navigating the challenges, setbacks and pushbacks daily, while holding space for dialogue and collaborative solutions.
I am not going to pretend that these are easy times or that there are any simple solutions. Indeed, we noted our own fatigue and exhaustion many times through the editorial process and our concerns for the state of the world, our families, our work and our communities of practice. In the end, we concluded, “we were not satisfied to shrink back, stop our efforts, or simply ride out the times.” We are here to be an active part of the conversations and co-creators of the future…wherever that may lead. We are committed to a clear-eyed look at the facts, beyond rhetoric, misinformation and disinformation. We also choose to continue taking a stand for our shared humanity and human rights.
It is easy to feel hopeless and catch despair in the face of rising hate, intolerance and a frightening and self-destructive indifference towards the dignity and human rights of the neighbours who look, think and have different life experience than we do. In the face of it all, it is tempting to bury my head in the sand and hope it will all pass me by. But as a mother and as a Black/African woman who has been an immigrant and a refugee, this is not a choice I can make. You see, this past 3 months alone, all members of my family unit, including our children, directly and profoundly experienced the systemic concerns that have been at debate in the public sphere. I cannot ignore issues from which I cannot escape. And so this labour of love was necessary. As John and I wrote in our overview: “Despite growing evidence about our dangerously unequal world, legislative debates, actions to roll back equity, and efforts to hold back civil and human rights, advances for systemically marginalized groups globally have increased. We believe Organization Development (OD) scholars and practitioners must hold the tension between the past, present, and future and determine how we must cross the threshold of these divides together. OD has never been values-neutral and has always used human-centered, democratic values to collaborate in finding solutions; this is the challenge of our times!”
I am grateful to all the contributors in this volume and the previous two, for answering the call to stay in inquiry for our collective good. This collective wisdom has given me much needed anchor. From Miller and Katz’s over 100 years of wisdom and experience summarized in one article as best they could; to Crosby’s challenge to go back to Lewinian science where it has been missing; to Buffkins & Owusu’s call to reject persistent systemic blockers and take a deep pause; to Beltran, Hill, Webster, & Etmanski’s call to center refusal, rest and joy in the midst; and so much more, this special issue is worth deep study. See our full cover summary of the issue here. If you are an OD Network member, please revisit these issues. If you are not and there is any article you are interested in, let me know and I will ask for permission to put you in touch with the authors…till next time, have a great month/Black History Month and may it be filled with good trouble, good theory and much pause, rest, refusal and joy.
Full editors’ cover note to the special issue: Bridging to Equity-Centered Futures in Organization Development.
Summary blog for: “Organization Development in Times of Disruption,” Special Issue, 53(2),
Summary blog for: “Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) in Organization Development,” Special Issue, 53(3).