Remember when LinkedIn was dry, boring, and you really only logged in when you wanted to find a new job? At least that’s how it used to be for me. I didn’t see a lot of diversity or vibrant self expression until recently. Maybe that’s because I wasn’t following the right people. “This isn’t Facebook” was the common complaint I’d see in the comments of any post that strayed outside of so-called “professional” lines.
“Professionalism” is a social construct based on white supremacy norms.
When I joined my firm’s equity leadership team and took on the employee experience manager role, I started paying more attention to LinkedIn and purposely following people and organizations doing DEI work, and my LinkedIn feed started to become so much more vibrant and interesting. I’ve actually started to spend more time on LinkedIn than Facebook.
A lot of folks who are in roles focused on happiness at work, employee experience, and office culture talk about the importance of bringing one’s whole self to work as a way of improving company culture, but the implications of doing so vary greatly depending on whose whole self we are talking about. What if my whole self does not fit in with what is considered professional? I’m thinking about folks who are BIPOC and/or LGBTQI+. There has been a lot written about this. Feel free to consult the Google for a variety of articles and posts that cover the topic of how professionalism is linked to racism, sexism, and homophobia.
I am elated to see people bringing their whole selves to LinkedIn and calling out white supremacist, sexist, homophobic culture in the workplace and beyond. These are crucial conversations, and LinkedIn is the perfect platform for it. Of course you see the usual defensive responses from primarily white folks in the comments who just can’t with all of these outspoken people calling out racist behaviors (please don’t be that person!), but more and more voices are coming through loud and clear with the message that the future of work is changing. And I think that is awesome!
White folks, this is an amazing opportunity for us to really listen to the voices of BIPOC people. It is long past time to stop centering ourselves and our feelings and just listen. Our experiences as white people are NOT the universal default. Just because we haven’t experienced something ourselves doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen to other folks. Just because certain jokes, comments, assumptions, etc. don’t offend us (and let’s be honest, often they SHOULD), doesn’t mean that others aren’t harmed by them. (See: microaggressions)
Same goes for cisgender and heterosexual folks; your experiences are not the universal default either.
It’s time to listen. It’s time to step outside of our comfort zones, throw out our notions of what is “professional” and appropriate to talk about in the workplace, open our minds, and really listen.
To start, I highly recommend following these outspoken advocates for equity on LinkedIn:
And if you have other recommendations for who to follow on LinkedIn, please drop their profile link in the comments!
The Admin Unicorn 