Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about entrepreneurship and the drive to put a “dent in the universe.” I’ve just launched my own consulting practice and spent a lot of time procrasti-learning by consuming books, blogs, podcasts and YouTube videos.
Aside from their inspiring, daring, contrarian and bold advice, the other thing that these thought leaders have in common is that they are mostly male and mostly white.
Yes, Gary Vee, I agree that you need to learn to love the process, grind away and work your ass off.
Yes, Tony Robbins, I agree that mastering the mindset is what makes extraordinary leaders.
Yes, Seth Godin, I agree that you have to learn to dance with the fear and do it anyway.
Yes, Brene Brown, I agree that vulnerability is where you find courage and power.
Yes, I agree that all of this advice is good AND I think that as women and people of color, we have to work doubly hard to silence the self-doubt and the fear of failure.
For us (and by us, I mean anyone who does not benefit from circumstantial privilege), the margin of error is so very narrow. We work twice as hard to get half as much.
We have not been raised with the tacit assumption that the world was designed for our benefit and convenience.
We understand that the stakes for failure are higher for us. Privilege is the assumption of your eventual success, rather than an expectation of failure due to your gender, your race or your socioeconomic background.
Privilege is jumping over a cliff with no wings, but knowing that there is a semi-soft landing if you hit the ground.
Privilege is seeing other people who look like you and have “made it” giving you advice that is relevant to your circumstances.
As I embark on this road of entrepreneurship, I would like to see more people who represent the full spectrum of differences representing the many different paths to success. I would like to see a broader definition of what success looks like. I want to see people who look like me and my friends giving sage advice about what it takes to make it because they have done it themselves.
It’s time for us to be our own heroes.
