by Elly Chapple & Dr. Kristen Liesch

ELLY CHAPPLE

This week I was honoured to talk to the phenomenal Dr Kristen Liesch who is the co-CEO of Tidal Equality in Canada. What brought about our connection was a discussion on LinkedIn sharing #flipthenarrative - the vision we have to change the global view about how we, as humans, share this space to be and accept one another, regardless of whatever package we arrived in. Kristen and her co-CEO Anna have a vision that resonates across spaces to be, and whoever you are:

‘A world in which equality is the new status quo and all people can achieve their full potential.’

Recently listed within the Forbes 10 Diversity and Inclusion Trailblazers you need to get familiar with I had a moment of ‘what to say’ when we made a date to call and discuss our crossover ideas. Sitting in my living room in the UK, sharing our message with Kristen felt like one of the biggest things we had done to date. In terms of comfort zone, I was well and truly out of mine! But within five minutes of the call, it was clear that like anyone else passionate about the human change we need globally, Kristen and I shared many values about the how, the why and the possible.

DR. KRISTEN LIESCH

I think Elly and I bonded before we even exchanged words. In a comment string in LinkedIn, Elly made it clear that her vision isn’t to just create ripples, but to be part of a tidal wave of change that transforms the landscape.

But, like other calls that don’t have a clear “objective,” I didn’t know what to expect when we connected. To prep for our call, I checked out Elly’s website, and watched her TedTalk where Elly presents a compelling case for reflecting on how we do or, rather, don’t value diversity, and where she sparks the imagination, planting the seed of a question: Imagine what the world would look like if we could #flipthenarrative!

ELLY

There is a building consensus that we are at a tipping point in our lives and our development as a species. Because we are by nature, a diverse species. Something I often find we forget, or miss this with our busy lives, and drive for success. Humans were never meant to be the same as one another, we were meant to be different. Within that difference lies every possible solution we could need, and the ability to share our space to be able to include everyone. Somehow, along the way this has become a ‘problem’ or a stumbling block, with many struggling to be in life – people like my daughter, Ella, who are at the sharp end of the wedge really have a difficult time fitting through the eye of the needle that we hold up as an expectation or measuring stick. In fact, I wonder how many can actually meet the criteria needed to fit through, whether it’s within the education space or the wider life space.

I’m sure there are many reasons why we have arrived at this point, but I don’t think we often reflect enough about the consequences of driving humans to this point. Thinking again about our story and journey, my daughter has suffered a great deal due to our societal view not encompassing someone like her yet – because she didn’t and couldn’t fit, and behaviour was seen first, and her being a human like anyone else, latterly. And there are millions more like her, who daily are trying to meet our expectation of what this human should look like, or being forcibly pushed towards it. Yet we look again at the why, and it doesn’t make sense. Cookie cutters are for biscuits, not humans, surely? So, I ask myself time and again – are we looking at this the right way around?

KRISTEN

Elly’s daughter Ella is someone who doesn’t fit neatly into the social infrastructure we’ve created around us, whether they’re built into our health care, education or social supports. But the fact of the matter, and the question we should perhaps reflect on, are:

Very few of us fit neatly into our social infrastructure.

What innovations, what revelations, what opportunities are we missing if we continue to design for the few?

When Elly writes, within our difference lies every solution we could need, I’m reminded of the story of how Ella taught her family how she learns. (If you want the details, you’ll have to check out the TedTalk!)

Learning, for Ella, wasn’t happening in a classroom. The classroom, for that matter, was a place where Ella found exclusion, frustration, and trauma. Frankly, though, so many of us - no matter our individual differences - share similar experiences to Ella. Because so many of our public and private institutions - like our classrooms - are not designed for the greatest number of people to achieve their full potential. This inequality of opportunity creates a significant missed opportunity, because our organizations, institutions and communities can’t achieve their full potential if the people working inside them are thwarted.

ELLY

I often think about the vulnerability conversation, that Brené Brown has shared, and the call to be brave and be who you are. To get into the ring and stand. And then I think about people like my daughter who are often termed vulnerable, because we don’t just see them as people like everyone else -

there’s still often a lingering view of difference being a deficit,

or we see a response to our actions as a negative. Something to protect, something to manage. Is that how my daughter sees herself? I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure she would like us to meet her in an equal space, and afford her the same respect and humanity we would with anyone. When I watch her daily, I’m reminded that she has walked the same path she has walked since the day she was born. She literally can’t be anything but herself. She’s in the ring every day of her life standing for that right to be who she is, and we are sitting ringside discussing whether that is a good move or not, or societally acceptable. But she doesn’t need a side line coach, she actually needs us in the ring standing with her, because she accepts us for exactly who we are.

KRISTEN

“Inclusion” is a word we hear a lot more these days, and for good reason. It’s true that our communities and organizations will only thrive when we cultivate diversity and inclusion. However, it is possible to be both diverse and inclusive and still not have equality.

In our work we hear stories from people who have been enticed to join a new team at a new organization. There are good signs of a diverse workforce (at the lower ranks, at least), and of an inclusive culture, but when it comes to equality of opportunity - to advance, to weigh in - it’s often a different story.

From our perspective, what remains are those systems and structures that, themselves, have been inherently designed to uphold the status quo. Not out of some maligned intent, but by nature of the fact that they were not designed with equality of opportunity in mind.

Take diversity training as an example. Today, it is the go-to first step for organizations looking to become more diverse and inclusive. However, diversity training was never intended to increase equality of opportunity, it was created as a risk mitigation mechanism. And its complete lack of documented effectiveness pays tribute to those origins. (My partner, Anna, will soon release an exposé on the history of bias training, so sign up to our newsletter if you want to read it.)

ELLY

People like Ella, I believe, walk an authentic route from birth through to the end of their life, while the rest of us walk the societal bell curve, and end up trying to get back to the point of being who we were in the first place. We go to yoga, we learn how to be mindful, we follow approaches and plans to be ‘better’ at things, we battle with being present and having time and space to think, act, do and be. She doesn’t need us to teach her that, she does that already, because she stayed true to who she is. What she actually needs, is us to get back to understanding that’s what we are all hard wired for. That our societal linear view of what we should be, to be a success or a worthy human, is actually what is causing our inability to accept the diversity of who we are as a whole. It’s a false lens. In essence, we are the problem – not people like Ella.

They are the solution and they walk amongst us every day. They teach us to be slower, to take time, to be realistic with our goals, to look at things differently and see solutions, that we can stretch and include people, that compassion, communication and connection are within us all.

We just turned off the switch at some point, because the societal lens skewed and it’s brought us to a point of looking at things upside down.

Yes, humans are complex – neurobiologically we are an amazing species, and we still don’t know everything about what our hugely diverse bodies and brains can do. Nor do we understand fully the languages we all have – whether it is verbal or not. We have a long way to go, to be very sure of who we are as a whole, but it is not complicated to connect, be compassionate and communicate with one another. That’s is what we were born to be able to do. So, let’s get back to that, because that’s what we really need – all of us. We need to reboot, and relearn it does not matter what package you arrived in, it’s how we are going to fit together so we continue as a whole.

KRISTEN

We need to listen to, and learn from, people who have lived experiences of inequality, of discrimination. We need to equip them with the skills to co-design solutions to the problems they face. In doing so, we come closer to creating the kind of world where we can all thrive, where equality is the rising tide that lifts all boats.

ELLY & KRISTEN