Success Is Yours To Define

We’re not naïve. We know that for many people, being your authentic self has long been a political act. But when we hit publish on our post about invoking your agency, we couldn’t have known how timely – and depressingly radical – that call to action would be.

In that post, we focused on how keeping the peace – as in keeping yourself small – does not in fact create peace. It creates tension, resentment, and anger. Remember, speaking up and being your authentic self cultivates fulfillment, understanding, and healthier relationship. We also made an appeal that we need everyone being themselves and putting themselves out there.

So, as it turns out, we went live with that message just as political and business leaders decided to go all in on making DEI the boogeyman. They, essentially, ramped up the whole notion that being your authentic self is unwelcome. And with that whiplash-inducing demonization of, you know, people being themselves, we started to hear feedback from readers that we’ll summarize with this fictional, amalgam quote:

“Yes! I want to be my authentic self. I want to push back against all this anti-DEI craziness. But, um, I don’t invoke my agency because I have little confidence in my agency and what I stand for.”

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