Black History Is Every Month

Recently, I’ve been thinking about a close sister-friend of mine who passed away a few years ago. I affectionately referred to her as my Silver Dollar. In college, there were three of us that made up this "silver dollar trio." I know what you’re thinking, but in 2001 it sounded like a cool name. We were thick as thieves, and we definitely believed our own hype! In the words of Kanye West, "Can't Tell Me Nothing." The Silver Dollars even went so far as to get matching “SD” ankle tattoos. After college, people always thought SD was some ex-lover’s initials - boy were they wrong!

I would give anything to hear her voice on my voicemail saying. “SD call me back!”

My SD, Liz, died too young and in her sleep. She left behind two beautiful young girls. It hurts even to type the words. For the 15 years, I knew her, Liz always talked about one thing: CHICAGO! When I met her, her big thing was moving to Chicago, and Chicago this and Chicago that. After college, Chicago was still the cat’s meow. Liz grew up in a small town, maybe five to six hours away from Chicago. Chicago was her own personal Mecca. Unfortunately, she never got to make Chicago her reality - she kept waiting for the “right time.” And unfortunately, the right time never came.

Writing this makes me think about timing. In other words, when is something ever the right time? What is your Chicago? What have you been putting off until the right amount of money comes along, until your friends and family support you, or until you get your next promotion?

Your “Chicago” can represent a physical person, place, or thing! Here are three tips to start moving your Chicago plans in motion in order to make your dreams come true.

• Plan and Execute

Make a 30, 60, and 90-day action plan towards your Chicago. What steps need to take place to get you to YOUR goal? Hold yourself accountable each day, each month, and for each goal. CHALLENGE: Then, take it a step further. Find an accountability partner and make sure they hold you to your word. Maybe your “Chicago” is a trip to France (After COVID). You know you need a passport, so make that happen in 30 days. Maybe instead, it’s asking your boss for a promotion. What do you need to accomplish in the next 60 days to demonstrate your added value?

• Change Your Language

If you keep telling yourself and everyone around you that “it’s never going to happen,” well, guess what? It will never happen! You have to start encouraging yourself and speaking words of power over your situation. Each day, declare that your Chicago is coming. QUESTION: Don’t you want to be ready when it comes? Heck yeah, you do! So find your words of affirmation and speak them over yourself every day. Here are a few affirmations to try out.

• Who's Next?

Who in your life has a Chicago? If you have people in your life that have a passion and are always talking about it, give them a little push. Be an accountability partner for someone else. It’s more rewarding when the entire crew can finally enjoy their Chicago.

I think back and wonder if I should have done more to help Liz make Chicago obtainable, but ultimately, Liz had to want Chicago badly enough to take the leap. Please don’t let fear or lack of resources be why you don’t go after your goals. There’s a saying, “Be a go-getter; go get it and bring it back!” Each of us deserves our own taste of Chicago. Don’t be the reason YOU never get to CHICAGO!

What Are Other Companies Doing?

I had a great conversation with Shavonne Gordon, VP of Enterprise Diversity Recruiting at Capital One. We discussed what Capital One is doing to make the workplace more equitable for Women of Color.

If you are looking for career opportunities, check out Capital One's Career Page here.

In Case You Missed It

MY new Book, Right Within: How To Heal From Racial Trauma in The Workplace is available for pre-order. I hope you will consider sharing and supporting--Thank you.

Before I GO...

And, if you know anything about me, I am a lover of grits and rap lyrics. And I can't end this month's newsletter without dropping a gem. The lyric I am vibing on this month is a song called Doo Wop by Lauryn Hill. There's a line in the song, "How you gon' win when you ain't right within." Often, we will never change others, but we can do our own inner work to be right within.

And don't forget you can catch me every Monday at Noon ET for my Linkedin Live show Secure The Seat. And check out LinkedIn News and their #ConversationsForChange campaign.