The Care and Cultivation of Authentic Leadership, Part 1: How SageD Consulting Approaches Supporting Women Leaders
Navigating corporate America and other shared work environments maintains many similarities among all walks of life. There are certain aspects of the social contract that we can all agree upon, like:
Don’t microwave fish for lunch
HR is not your friend
Most people don’t really care if an email finds you well or not
However, as we start embracing the spirit of bringing our whole selves to work, we must also confront unique challenges that stem from a history of systemic inequality. This is particularly true for Black women, and I’ll let the data talk (sourced from this Forbes article):
“Only 4.4% of Black women are in management positions and only 1.4% hold C-suite positions, despite being 7.4% of the U.S. population.”
“The wage gap for Black women means they make less on average than white men and white women in similar positions.” This year, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day fell on July 27th, which is a symbolic demonstration that represents the extra months and days that Black women must work into the following year to catch up to what their white male counterparts earned in the previous year. It is a sobering reminder of the persistent wage gap and the systemic challenges that hinder economic progress for Black women. (Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research)
“Black women are almost twice as likely as women overall to say that they can’t bring their whole selves to work and more than 1.5 times as likely to say they don’t have strong allies, according to The Women in the Workplace 2021 Report.”
My work in the Inequality in Philanthropy Advisory Group further cemented these realities as I pulled back the curtain on how money is inequitably distributed to organizations led by Black women in the social impact sector – and this is what led to the creation of my flagship program, Legacy Leadership.
In the words of Angela Davis, “I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change…I’m changing the things I cannot accept.”
The Inequality in Philanthropy Advisory Group in a moment of shared joy
Dream it
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Dream it 〰️
“I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change…I’m changing the things I cannot accept.”
To change the things I will not accept, I have spent the last few years developing a unique methodology that carefully cultivates authentic leadership experiences by leveraging the synergistic relationship between individual and collective liberation.
In simpler terms, I fully understand that supporting individual leaders, particularly Black women leaders, can only go so far if there is no systemic support surrounding them.
And so, my leadership development work not only acknowledges the challenges of our reality, but also provides the Executives in our cohorts with the space, resources, and community to both endure and overcome what is within our sphere of influence.
Talking about all things leadership & women’s empowerment at The Lola, our partner & place-based anchor for Legacy Leadership
I am so excited to share more with you all, and I understand that immersing ourselves in new ideas requires time and space for integration when we live in a social and cultural juxtaposition. As such, I’ll be slowing down and sharing this blog in three parts, in which my goal is not so much to unpack these complexities as it is to share the story of empowerment, inspiration, and community that has emerged from intentional curation, representation, and space to explore the multifaceted world of being a Black woman in leadership.
Stay tuned for Part 2 coming next week, and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter below to get it delivered straight to your inbox.
