108. The Inconvenience of Inclusion

What if the real obstacle to racial inclusion in your business isn't your busy schedule, your fear or your lack of training? What if it's something we've been culturally trained to avoid: inconvenience itself?In this episode I share a question I asked one of the members inside our ALLY membership. Does inclusion ever feel like an inconvenience to you? Her answer is one you'll want to tune for. It surfaced a gap I have been observing in the online coaching industry for years.There's a gap between intellectual understanding and lived experience. You can read several books on anti-racism, listen to a number of DEI podcasts, write a beautifully worded inclusion statement on your website and still be miles from doing the actual work of racial inclusion in your business.I draw on the work of two scholars whose writing has shaped how I see this country and this work. Australian journalist Ruby Hamad, author of White Tears/Brown Scars and Wiradjuri journalist Stan Grant, author of Talking to My Country. Together their work reveals what gets in the way of inclusion practice in the online coaching industry and what closing the gap actually looks like.Inside this episode I share:Why so many DEI statements and inclusion statements in the online business world cost their authors nothing, especially in the age of AIThe "protective layer" Ruby Hamad describes, and how it keeps well-intentioned white women stuck at the intellectual layer of anti-racism workThe booking link reflex, and how the online coaching industry has weaponised boundaries into wallsWhat Stan Grant's writing on the Adam Goodes booing crisis reveals about the difference between agreeing that racism exists and being on the receiving end of itWhy your imperfect, inconvenient practice is more sustainable than any polished performance of allyshipThe permission slip you need to start closing the gap today, even if you do not feel readyThis one is for the values-led online business owner who knows there is more to inclusion than a paragraph on the website, and who is ready to find out what that actually looks like in practice.How I Can Personally Support You:If you're realising you need a way to stay connected to this work consistently, to be in community with others who are on the same journey, to have a space where the learning deepens rather than dissipates, that's exactly what we do inside REPRESENTED.REPRESENTED is a ten week racial inclusion program for values-led online business owners. Find out more and join the waitlist 👉🏾 https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru