The Subversive Power of Being Human at Work

"I used to think my work was practical. I teach leaders how to listen, really listen. I coach people to say the hard thing. I help teams slow down long enough to notice bias, power, and patterns before defensiveness takes over. I encourage people to take walks during the workday, to ask better questions than the ones they've been rewarded for asking, and to choose curiosity over certainty. For a long time, I thought of this as skill-building, leadership development, and even emotional intelligence."

"We live inside systems that prize speed, precision, efficiency, and control. Systems shaped by white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy teach us, explicitly and implicitly, that worth is measured by productivity, that authority flows from dominance, that emotions are liabilities, and that slowing down is a failure of discipline rather than an act of wisdom. And by the way, we cannot escape these systems. But, perhaps, we can resist them by being deeply human."

Deep listening, asking difficult questions, and slowing down reveal and resist systemic norms that prioritize speed, precision, efficiency, and control. Systems shaped by white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy measure worth by productivity, equate authority with dominance, and treat emotions as liabilities. Under stress, nervous systems default to familiar habits of control and certainty, making relational skills hard to practice. Short-term focus and beliefs that these practices take too long undermine long-term trust, health, and sustainability. Prioritizing curiosity, presence, noticing bias and power, and investing in people builds more collaborative, innovative, and resilient organizational cultures.

Read at Psychology Today