As an entrepreneur and small business owner with a growth mindset, you must be open minded and resilient enough to make changes to your business that weren’t part of your original vision, and you have to cultivate foresight so that there’s time to prepare for whatever may be coming next.
The world is undergoing a political revolution and is desperately in need of leadership. People who I call New Citizens are sick of waiting on deadlocked democracies to solve social and economic problems centuries in the making. From the left, right, and center, New Citizens no longer trust their political establishment to enact real change. They are taking matters into their own hands. Leaderless networks of New Citizens circulate information and organize action on social media. From the Yellow Vest movement in France to civil rights causes in the U.S. to the post-disaster protests in Lebanon, New Citizens come from all ages, cultures, and political perspectives. What they share is the implicit demand for a new social order that can solve globalized threats, digitize civic life, and hold elected officials accountable to their constituents.
When I was sentenced to seven years in prison, I had no idea what I would do with my life after my period of incarceration. My life was filled with abuse, addiction, and crime. Trying to become gainfully employed and make a livable wage became one of my greatest challenges post-prison. In my hometown, there were 210 professions I could not even participate in solely based on my criminal record. I had lost my dignity, had zero self-esteem, and felt stuck. After some serious self-reflection about the reality of the situation and having so many natural barriers, I recognized the greatest block was my own way of thinking. I had to ask myself: what do I have, and what can I do with what I have?
As we fight valiantly to regain our sense of normalcy during the lockdown and even as it eases up in some states, productivity is the number one thing we strive and hustle for. We hope to buckle down for a short time until this pandemic is over. But behind this scramble for productivity is a faulty assumption that this thing will be over one day. The truth is it won't.
We are in the midst of an unprecedented moment for our country. What we see playing out in front of us isn't just about police brutality; it's about a trifecta of police brutality, murder, and the weaponization of skin color. We see these events nearly everyday, and they underscore, in a very visual way, how Black people do not have equality in this country — not by the government, society, and in some cases, the general public. These events highlight how they often continue to be thought of as less than whites.