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A couple of weeks ago, when George Floyd was murdered by police, the country erupted into a fury that seemingly will not end anytime soon—nor should it.

We are in massive need of an overhaul of many of our systems—and of our culture—if every human being is to be treated the same as others, no matter who they are, what they believe, and certainly not the color of their skin.

As the entire world has watched this unfold, there have been incredibly challenging conversations with clients, with friends, with co-workers, and with other stakeholders.

Three Questions to Ponder

There are three things we’ve asked the leadership teams of our clients to think about as we determine how they will not just make a statement, but prove it with their actions:

1. Are we willing to lose customers or detract prospects from hiring us if we take a public stance on social injustices?
2. What kind of policy do we want to have in place for employee activists?
3. How will we react if an employee is arrested or a customer leaves because of something they’ve done or said, as it relates to social injustice?

These are challenging questions to answer—and I know not everyone will handle it the same way I would want to for my business.

But, just like we put social media policies in place, it’s important to do the same for social injustice and employee activism.

Hopefully the answers reflect the values of your organization.

If they do not, you’d better get there fast.

There is a crisis waiting to happen if you say you stand for diversity, equality, and inclusion and your website is full of old white men.

Don’t just say it—live it.

On this week’s Spin Sucks podcast episode, we talk more about how the answers to these questions will help you, your leadership team, and/or your clients set the stage for social issues.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Gina Luttrell and Natalia Flores
• Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
• Spin Sucks Community
• Employee Activism

About Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger at Spin Sucks and is the founder of Spin Sucks Pro. She is the co-author of Marketing in the Round and co-host of Inside PR. Full bio