3% Movement’s Kat Gordon and VMLY&R’s Walter Geer: The Path from Vulnerability to Belonging

Gordon is working on a book with the same name as the panel She believes that until we unlock the contributions of all of us we won39t be able to experience exponential growth that the future holds for humanityquotWhen we talk about inclusivity we ask 39Do you understand me Do you understand the things I like the way I like to be approached the way I talk39quot said Walter Geer Executive Creative Director VMLYampampR who presented with Gordon during the panel quotYou understanding me allows me to feel comfortable in my skin And when I39m comfortable in my skin I can do the best work of my careerquot In the session Geer shared his lived experience of entering the advertising industry feeling marginalized and timid about expressing his ideas and talked about how he overcame those setbacks and what a difference that has made for his careerGordon straddles two worlds she has decades of experience as an advertising director and a creative and later in her career she became a social change entrepreneur around the issue of diversity and its relationship to creativity She works with agencies and teaches them how to enhance their creative efforts by working on their diversity inclusion and belonging Gordon is focusing on acts big and small that make a difference and make team members feel welcome and prized not just toleratedShe says creativity is an act of vulnerability and it39s also a team sport quotIf you have culture inside your company where only one kind of leader is accommodated and centered then the remaining people are not in a place where they can create and share that act of vulnerabilityquot she said quotThat is a loss for the industryquotOne example she cited is the discussion about work from home quotThere has been a chorus of voices asking to work from home for decadesquot she said quotIt has been onedimensionalized as a 39mom39 issue or a 39parent39 issuequotBut there are a host of reasons people prefer to occasionally work from home or exclusively work from homequot she continued quotA lot of that is neurodiversity How you do your best work and where you can focus If you have anxiety it39s about where you feel more at ease approaching your workload Companies need to evaluate who they center on and who is an afterthought because employees immediately recognize thatquotGeer said marginalizing and shaming often starts in childhood when wellmeaning family members say quotMake sure you talk this certain way so they don39t think that you39re ghettoquot These sentiments carry into adulthood and are reflected for example in people39s first work experiencesquotWhen you and I are shown into a conference room for the first time and hear all the executives and white men in the room talking and acting a certain way and joking with each other we feel uncomfortablequot he asserted quotWe then back down into what we39ve been told 39I39m not going to say anything in this meeting cause guess what I don39t want to look stupid39 We need to shut down that tired way of thinking And that starts with the leadershipquotGordon paraphrased Adam Grant who commented on a situation wherein people are embarrassed to look back at things they39ve said or done in the past Grant said that39s actually beautiful and a piece of evidence that you are evolving as a human So how do we actually get people especially leaders to realize it39s okay to make a mistakequotTreat your employees the same way as your spousequot Geer declared quotWhen you fck up you need to say 39sorry39quot You know what a lot of us want Transparency honesty candor Last year when everyone was posting black squares saying yes we are going to invest all this money and a year later no one is saying anything about it amp8230 Ok where did the money goquotIt starts with ensuring that leadership is okay with having those transparent conversationsquot he said quotLet us know that hey we haven39t done everything we promised last year but we39re trying And this is what trying looks likequotOn making mistakes Gordon said quotI am so much happier as a human and how I can spend my time and the depth of conversation I39m sharing with other people as a result of withstanding that discomfort of being an idiot once in a whilequotquotOwning that is so importantquot added Geer quotand it says so much of a leader who can come out and say 39I39m sorry I screwed up and here are the changes I39m gonna make to fix that39quotAsked under which conditions he had the most breakthrough work period of his life Geer recalled a boss who kept pushing him towards opportunities and through the discomfort that he felt about speaking up for his ideas at the timequotConfidence is everything and you cannot be confident unless you know who you arequot Geer explained quotIt means being comfortable saying what you want to say dressing how you want to dress and being who you want to bequotReferring to the Tshirt he was wearing which had the words BE YOURSELF THEY39LL ADJUST emblazoned across the front he concluded quotBe you and let everyone around you adjust It should not be the other way aroundquotClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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3% Movement’s Kat Gordon and VMLY&R’s Walter Geer: The Path from Vulnerability to Belonging

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David Berkowitz

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3% Movement’s Kat Gordon and VMLY&R’s Walter Geer: The Path from Vulnerability to Belonging

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