As Churchill said, ‘Never waste a good crisis’ - we can use this pandemic to make big environmental changes. Great to see London doing it already with the step towards increased bicycle and pedestrian lanes.
From a tech perspective, we’re using this crisis as part of a second wave of e-commerce adoption, the influx of new marketplaces in education and health, and the leap to a more integrated home and work life. Countless more examples that this pandemic can be used for good, within our inter and intrapersonal lives too. Gratitude and appreciation of little things - if we can keep that, it will genuinely lead to happier lives.
Now, we need to apply that thinking to the George Floyd situation. #blacklivesmatter and diversity is a topic that is not seen as a priority outside of tragedies like this - and that itself, is tragic. But this needs to be used as a trigger for a movement of all people across all industries for weeks, months, years and decades to come.
We need to collectively buy into this as a purpose - in whatever sector we apply our trade, it is our collective responsibility to seek ways to pursue equality. Eventually, eventually, greater equality should lead to greater conscious and subconscious understanding that we are absolutely different, but absolutely equal.
In the same way we can use the pandemic to reform our approach to the environment long term, we need to use the George Floyd situation to reform our approach to subconscious and conscious racism long term.
In our personal capacity we can all campaign. Saying that we need to acknowledge white privilege and racism is a good start. But it can be dangerously close to ‘trendy’ and ‘fluffy’. We can all take further steps. In professional capacity, we can action change that will [eventually] lead to long term impact.
In the startup space there are a few things we can do. There should be a new wave of angel networks (like Cornerstone), angel investors, family offices and VCs that a) focus exclusively on black founders, and b) established investors (of varying fund sizes and that invest various stages of business) that shift focus slightly to actively choose higher percentage of black LPs, venture partners, associates - black decision makers. They need to actively seek out black-owned businesses to invest in and fuel. This has to be an internal KPI. Something that everyone agrees is the right thing to do to move the world forward. A purpose.
It’s much easier said than done. South Africa has tried for two and a half decades to institute institutional black-economic empowerment, but it falls apart when the government enforce it without appropriate organization and buy-in. This is not a top down approach.
This should be done bottom-up, private sector operators and investors instituting this by choice. Not easy. It needs excellent businesses that tick the right boxes. Pre-seed and seed finance is crucial to give these startups the chance to flourish. It needs commitment to the cause
In startups, first key hires should actively seek more diversity. When employee number is more than 5 people, enforce an internal rule that the business will never be more than 60-40% split in both gender or race. Again, maybe not easy, but what’s the point of life if we don’t have purposes to strive towards?
There are obviously 1000s of flaws to my suggestions. That’s good, we should implement change, experiment, learn that our hypotheses are flawed, and actively improve on them over time. The only way we will prevent ‘accidents’ like Geroge Floyd or Oscar Grant, is by changing the power dynamic in society. It’s by socioeconomic equality. It’s by getting the right voices in the rights places and slowly, gradually, righting the wrongs of centuries of human history. What can you do within your job, your role as a leader, to institute change in your company to do your part in moving the world forward?
