It Starts From Within…

Dear Friends,

At PPR, we are of the mindset that change starts from within. It is a personal philosophy that drives me, so internally we act on this mindset in all we do – as a team and through the actions by which we influence to create inclusive and thriving workplaces with our clients.  In light of the devastating, heartbreaking and continuous acts of racism, we keep asking ourselves, “How can we do more? What is our part?” This is something I am sure many others are asking as well. 

After a transparent discussion in our weekly huddle, our team expressed many raw emotions which I am both grateful for and motivated by to take positive action steps. Not knowing what to do, I went back to the basics of “it starts from within,” so I took the discussion to a more intimate setting – with my daughter and her husband. Their words of wisdom and honest perspective resonated with me in so many ways, inspiring me to write this. As a woman of color who has experienced first-hand the wrath of prejudice, I can either choose to only have intimate discussions, or share this. As parents, we are being watched no matter what age our children are and based on the wise message from my children, it is a generational responsibility for us to speak up.  Through this piece, I am following their guidance and sharing what is in my heart.

 

Let’s have the tough conversations around our dinner tables. Let’s acknowledge that these continuous attacks against the black community are unacceptable. Let’s stand with those making a positive impact against racial injustice and reflect on how we can do better and take action together. One of the key areas of our work as HR professionals is to influence towards diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). We encourage our clients to think about the human within each employee and support development of strategies and polices that promote DEI and remove institutional racism in the workplace. We also strongly advocate for transparency around the fact that we all have unconscious biases, but that we are responsible for how our points of view impact others.

I love these words of Kacye Benson, a PPR Super Star: “I’m hopeful when things settle down, people will act to create change. Voting, running for local offices, joining citizen police academies, doing ride-a-longs with officers, more community-oriented policing, etc. That’s how you create change. Seek first to understand the different perspectives and challenges, then seek to overcome.”  I agree with her. 

Please join us in examining from within and working to promote positive change. If you have any suggestions regarding how we can do or be better, please contact me directly. I am always grateful for the gift of learning through feedback. 

 

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward Justice.”

 -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Gabriela Norton

Founder & CEO

People Performance Resources (PPR)