What Business Can Learn From Those Who Kneel — It’s Likely Not What You Think

Texas is known for having a history of race-related issues. Amidst all of the newsworthy stories over the last couple of weeks, one story stood out as the inspirational deeper truth that provides us an image for what the future may hold.

In Houston, a group of caucasian Christians leaned on one knee and asked for forgiveness in front of a community of African-Americans. This repentance, as they described, was truly one of the most profound moments I’ve ever seen in the history of my life.

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What can we learn from this moment of forgiveness? Inside us all, there is a deeper core, a pure and honest truth that humans are flawed. If we have the humility to recognize that no one person can lead an extraordinary life free from mistakes, we have the ability to forgive.

This week, I saw a conference using the phrase, “Flawless execution” in the title. This itself is flawed. Business Professionals are not flawless. And it is unfair to continue to promote the age-old archaic expectation.

The advancement from a fixed mindset to one of growth recognizes that in fact, we are full of mistakes, errors, and lessons learned. As culture and society become more transparent, we embrace this vulnerability and move towards a state of acceptance rather than the facade.

This is the advancement of culture that people are yearning for. Your employees, your customers, and your partners, all want to be accepted for who they are. Change occurs when we feel, see, and hear them.

The reaction of the community of African-Americans is the most profound part of the video. They then forgave.

Imagine if we could bring this learning back to our professional communities. The ability to humble ourselves down to forgiveness.

This week, I apologized to my best friend of two decades for an insensitive joke that my Italian-American Grandmother made about her race over and over. She forgave me.

Today, I asked forgiveness from an employee that I was brief with. Today, I asked forgiveness from myself for falling short in ways that are unlike me.

Ryan Holiday writes relentlessly on removing the ego. In our need to persevere, we often delay our own healing.

I believe these challenges are giving society and business communities the opportunity to be better; to reimagine a world where people feel fiercely loved and seen.

In our unique ability as species, we have the consciousness available to us that no other species has. Let’s use it to rise above injustice, inequality and hate.

May this serve as a message of hope that being respectful of others and learning to come back to what is most important may very well be the best silver lining to all of our current vicissitudes.

In love and respect,

Hilary Corna