**I selected the photo for this blog in honor of every woman, particularly women-of-color, who has been constantly asked to be less than who they truly are.
1. We are unwaveringly committed to every human being’s birthright: to own their agency and be seen and appreciated for exactly who they are.
We use every tool at our disposal – our power, authority, resources, protection, platform, and privilege – to dismantle barriers to every person developing agency in their careers and lives.
We build structures and cultures where people thrive, reclaim their power, celebrate, and know they are valued as their full, authentic selves.
2. We own our agency, power, and leadership—and use our position to expand it for others.
We claim our power and authority unapologetically.
We leverage our position, resources, and access to create pathways for others to claim theirs.
We continuously make decisions that redistribute power instead of concentrating it in and for the traditionally privileged.
3. We lead from where we are, wherever we find ourselves. We transform those spaces.
We use the power and authority we have right now, whether it be formal or informal, to interrupt harmful patterns, challenge destructive and harmful systems, and create pockets of safety, especially in hostile environments.
4. We build cultures of empathy, trust, integrity, respect, inclusion, equity, and accessibility.
These are our bedrock values.
We do more than practice them.
We embed them into team and corporate structures, policies, processes, and decision-making frameworks.
We intentionally design systems that validate people, ensuring these values outlast our presence.
5. We offer relentless grace to ourselves and to those around us – always.
We offer ourselves grace when we’re afraid, when we stumble, and when we’re paralyzed by feeling like we can’t do enough, fast enough.
This grace stabilizes us as we unleash our power. It gives us the stamina to do our leadership work over the long haul.
We extend that same relentless grace to our people, creating space for them to be fully human, to struggle, to recover, and to celebrate.
We model that making mistakes is human because we know that mistakes lead to growth.
As we lead with relentless grace, we build teams where people trust they can be vulnerable, take risks, and grow without fear of being crushed by an intentionally inhumane system.
6. We speak truth to power, and we shield others when they do the same.
We use our credibility as leaders and our privilege (if it exists) to name systemic harm, call out inequity, and constantly challenge inequitable decisions.
We protect people with less power from retaliation when they exercise their agency and speak their truth to power. We reinforce the power of their voices.
7. We take care of ourselves and create the conditions in which exhausted and underrepresented people can do the same.
We model sustainable leadership.
We demonstrate the importance of mental and physical health, rest, collaboration, sharing power, and celebration.
We use our authority to build policies, redistribute workload, and set boundaries that allow everyone, especially those most marginalized, including those not on our teams, to rest, recover, and thrive knowing we support their need to protect both their mental and physical health.
8. We serve as role models by intentionally deploying radical transparency and vulnerability.
We share our struggles and failures publicly, using our platform to expose others to the messy reality of leadership.
We normalize both struggling and failing.
We normalize recovering from both.
We normalize celebrating wins!
We focus on showing our vulnerabilities so those with less power can imagine a moment when they, too, can risk being vulnerable.
We create dedicated safe spaces where people are comfortable being.
We are fiercely committed to protecting people with less power when they step forward and share their vulnerability.
9. We recognize the unrecognized. We ensure they are rewarded, promoted, and heard.
We do more than praise people; we use our decision-making authority to ensure they are compensated fairly, offered meaningful, powerful opportunities, promoted appropriately, and recognized for their exceptional work.
We understand deeply that this is where equity lives.
We actively and constantly dismantle the systems of oppression that reward the status quo and privileged.
10. We elevate people before they’re ready and build support systems that ensure they succeed.
We use our organizational capital to create systemic equity by promoting people who have been othered and whose potential has been ignored and diminished.
We then provide resources, mentorship, protection from failure, and room to grow into roles that previously excluded them.
Our work never ends.
We own the responsibility of walking shoulder-to-shoulder with people while fomenting change in the environment around them.
Our work and our leadership never ends.
Instead, it evolves as we grow, our contexts shift, we learn more, and, most importantly, as we continue to lead wherever we find ourselves.