As lawyers, we understand the art of reframing an issue, yielding a fresher, clearer view of intractable challenges. As the old saying goes, “when a door closes, a window opens.” Or, to put a finer point on it (attribution disputed), “[w]hen one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
So it goes with DEI in our organizations. Traditional diversity strategies have become both politically and legally fraught in the face of robust backlash. Disarming our inherent, unconscious biases can seem unattainable. And the mantra “become comfortable with discomfort” is an elegant turn of phrase, yet hard to sustainably achieve.
And that’s the power of reframing. What if we take a step back, remember what we seek to accomplish, and then consider different approaches to get there? The following three posts explore opportunities to reframe the particular issues at hand, hopefully opening different doors to where we want and need to be. Stay tuned.