Walking Within Wisdom #31 - Nathaniel Smith - B:CIVIC 9/19/19
What would society look like that views everyone as an asset and no one as a liability? ~Nathaniel Smith
Amid the craziness of Denver Startup Week and the The People-First Economy online Summit, I stopped ALL of that… Thanks to the dearest Heather Bender Baker, I attended the B:Civic 2019 Summit B:Bold: Elevating Social Responsibility! This event always brings together some of my most favorite people and I was so very grateful to catch up with so many friends. There was so much WISDOM today and sadly I wasn’t doing much walking (only 2.2 miles this morning while listening to the People First Economy summit and going to an early session about women’s coworking MS.FITS + MS.CHIEFS: at Startup week, all of which I expect to write about in future walking posts :-)...
Today I had the good fortune to listen to and meet the closing keynote speaker at B:Civic, Nathaniel Smith. Smith is the Founder and Chief Equity Officer at Partnership for Partnership for Southern Equity http://psequity.org/ HE WAS JUST AMAZING!!!
Mr. Smith started his talk by explaining that “all medicine does not taste good” and if you are looking for someone that is going to do that, you have the WRONG person for the job… I am here to tell you he was the perfect person to give us all a bit of medicine.
Partnership for Southern Equity’s mission is: (PSE) advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of metropolitan Atlanta and the American South…. Using its strength in its ability to connect, educate, and empower diverse individuals and organizations to encourage just, sustainable practices for shared prosperity, PSE has stood at the forefront of promoting balanced growth and shared prosperity throughout metropolitan Atlanta and the American South.
He inspired us to be courageous and make an economy that works for everyone. Nathaniel explained that the racial divide has become a generational divide and we will never be able to import all of the people we need for the workforce of today, then showing us a map of “upward mobility” explaining that the American Dream is gone and we need to start hiring from “within”. “We have to stop being comfortable being comfortable” he said and went on to present amazing statistics how racial economic inclusion is GREAT for our economy (he has all kinds of amazing Colorado statistics)
He challenged us all to not just consider a Corporate Social Responsibility agenda we must create a RACIAL EQUITY AGENDA! Smith is proposing nothing short of a new covenant for inclusive prosperity…
He concluded by asking a couple of questions…
What would an economy look like that treats ALL EQUITABLY?
What would society look like that views everyone as an asset and no one as a liability?
How do we create a PEOPLE CENTERED ECONOMY?
Thank you Nathaniel Smith, I am so grateful for all you are doing in the world!
