Speaking Human-First

If you could create an ideal world, what would it look like? 

And how would you convince others to help you build it?

For Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party, the ideal is a world where differences make us stronger because embracing them means living in a constant state of humility.

A nationally recognized social movement strategist and community organizer for racial, social, and economic justice, Maurice Mitchell has spent a lifetime talking with people who don’t agree with him.

In our conversation today, we touch on following your personal north star in your work, acknowledging our differences when building solidarity, and why humility and curiosity are  key character traits if you want to change the world.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How coming from an immigrant family drew Maurice to community involvement and organizing
• Why Maurice believes we need more labels for our differences, not less
• How unacknowledged differences can actually break apart coalitions
• How Maurice and the Working Families Party build solidarity across differences
• How cultivating humility creates opportunity for collaboration
• Why we need to approach systemic change understanding it’s humans - not natural forces - that create and perpetuate systems  
• The importance of speaking face-to-face in creating social change
• How Maurice approaches getting beyond preaching to the choir and connecting with people who don’t already agree with him

Learn more about Maurice Mitchell:

• Working Families Party
• Instagram: @MauriceWFP

Learn more about Mary Knox Miller:

• Thought Leader Media
• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources:

• Building Resilient Organizations

How do we build a more equitable world?

A world where historically marginalized groups find equal footing with power-dominant groups. A world where everyone does the necessary internal work, and extends grace to themselves and others when mistakes are made.

Dr. Tina Opie and Dr. Beth Livingston wrote the book, Shared Sisterhood: How to Take Collective Action for Racial and Gender Equity at Work. In it, they offer a framework for creating a more just world: Dig, Bridge, Advance.

Working these steps invites discomfort and requires uncomfortable  conversations, but they are vital.

It’s time to get comfortable being uncomfortable, myself included.

Content note: Brief, non-graphic mention of sexual assault

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How formative childhood experiences of discrimination inform the work that both Dr. Livingston and Dr. Opie pursue today
• How the two built trust and became collaborators, laying the foundation for their Dig, Bridge, Advance framework
• Four cornerstones of building an authentic connection and building bridges with others
• Why it’s vital to distinguish between the armor historically marginalized people wear and the armor power-dominant people wear
• Why white women need to dig past their defensiveness in order to build connections with women from marginalized groups
• The importance of power-dominant groups acknowledging the truth of their history and their responsibility to do better now
• What Dr. Livingston and Dr. Opie view as the fundamental issues underlying why we struggle with equity

Learn more about Dr. Tina Opie:

• Website
• Instagram: @DrTinaOpie
• Twitter: @drtinaopie
• Connect with Dr. Opie on LinkedIn

Learn more about Dr. Beth Livingston:

• Website
• Instagram: @BethALivingston
• Twitter: @BethALivingston
• Connect with Dr. Livingston on LinkedIn

Learn more about Mary Knox Miller:

• Thought Leader Media
• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources:

• Shared Sisterhood: How to Take Collective Action for Racial and Gender Equity at Work
• Ida B. Wells
• Robert Cialdini
• Timnit Gebru
• Margaret Mitchell
• Dwyane Wade
• Gabrielle Union

Laura Zapata didn’t see anyone who looks, thinks, or talks like her in the renewable energy space, so she put herself there.

Co-founder and CEO of Clearloop, Laura helps small and mid-sized businesses offset their carbon footprint by investing in solar projects in American communities where the greatest economic and environmental benefits can be achieved.

Today Laura is sharing her mission to bring more people into the conversation about climate action, her journey through multiple careers, and how leaning into her unique voice, ideas and lived experience has enabled success.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How Clearloop tackles the twofold issue of offsetting carbon emissions and bringing clean energy to underserved areas
• How Clearloop determines where they build solar projects
• Why renewable energy is a social justice and equity issue
• How Clearloop gets communities on board and involved in their projects
• How Laura’s varied career experiences shape how she builds trust and relationships as a CEO
• How Laura crafts communications that meet people where they are to bring them into the conversation about climate action

Learn more about Laura Zapata:

• Clearloop
• LinkedIn: Connect with Laura, Connect with Clearloop
• Twitter: @LZapataTN, @clearloopUS
• TikTok: @clearloopus
• Facebook: @ClearloopUS
• Instagram: @clearloop

Learn more about Mary Knox Miller:

• Thought Leader Media
• Connect on LinkedIn

If you could change how people think about an issue, would you? 

If that shift required you to be radically visible–to share your personal experiences and speak up on behalf of others, regardless of what people thought about you–would you still do it?

Disability justice advocate and disabled law student Britt Belwine wrestles with these questions regularly as she weaves together information, activism, and personal experience on her TikTok and Instagram feeds.

Britt was born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and has been managing its impacts on her body for her whole life. In 2020, after numerous surgeries and learning how to walk again – twice! – she logged onto TikTok and started talking.

In the three years since, she has amassed over 80,000 followers. But the number she cares most about is how many leaders, allies, and advocates she can encourage to blaze a path so that others don’t have to.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How the steady accumulation of experiences of being denied access and accommodations led Britt to speak up for disability justice
• Why Britt advocates for a broad definition of disability - legally and practically
• Why it’s important that allies work alongside disabled people, not attempt to speak for them
• Why Britt says that video and TikTok are such powerful tools for connection and education
• The questions Britt asks herself when considering what about her life she wants to share
• The experiences and education that prompted Britt’s enrollment in law school and advocacy for prisoners
• How facing her physical vulnerability and mortality has impacted Britt’s mission to do work that is meaningful

Learn more about Britt Belwine:

• My Elastic Heart
• TikTok: @myelasticheart
• Instagram: @myelasticheart

Learn more about Mary Knox Miller:

• Thought Leader Media
• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources:

• Dylan Mulvaney
• Imani Barbarin
• EP 1.1 Robert Livingston: Using Metaphor to Combat Racism

Why is it that when we introduce ourselves we lead with what we DO instead of who we are?

I dig into that question and others with Tara McMullin – a writer, podcaster, and business owner who is also a wife, mother, feminist, and so much more.

In her book and on her podcast, both titled What Works, Tara regularly delves into the hidden systems and structures at play in our daily lives with uncanny insight.

The result? An opportunity to move through life with eyes wide open.

Today, we’re peeling back the layers of capitalism and how it informs every part of our 21st-century lives.

We also talk about how recognition for her ideas has built slowly, why she's changed communication tactics over the years, and why it’s critical to choose a medium that fuels your creativity.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• The fundamental questions that drive Tara’s work and how she’s come to contextualize that motivating force with learning she is autistic
• How neoliberal capitalism has become the “air we breathe” economically, politically, socially, and culturally
• How our relationship to the market and labor informs how we see ourselves and why it’s so important to expand our identities beyond work
• Why a healthier, more whole life is not an endpoint, but a constant process of noticing and making more intentional choices
• The power of iteration and cumulative recognition in Tara’s career
• How What Works has evolved over the years and why Tara made the shift to a narrative format

Learn more about Tara McMullin:

• What Works
• Instagram: @tara_mcmullin
• Connect with Tara on LinkedIn

Learn more about Mary Knox Miller:

• Thought Leader Media
• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources:

• Jim Sinclair

Abby Falik is an award-winning entrepreneur and expert in social innovation and leadership.

With an aspiration to “only preach what I already practice,” Abby, her husband, and two young sons spent the last nine months traveling across the globe to embody her commitment to bridging the gap between theory and practice, challenging conventional wisdom, and seeking innovative approaches to make a meaningful impact on the world.

A former founder and CEO of a global nonprofit, Abby is currently an entrepreneur in residence with the Emerson Collective based in California, USA. She’s building a global movement to redefine the rite of passage between high school and college while encouraging all of us to ask ourselves, "What are we pretending not to know?"

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How Abby’s core value of authenticity drives her approach to practicing what she preaches
• Why Abby, her husband, and two young sons immersed themselves in communities across the globe
• Abby’s vision for a connective, empathetic, and resilient orientation for leaders committed to solving problems
• Why youth education should include creativity, risk-taking, and innovation instead of a high-stakes race to college
• Why the transition between childhood and adulthood should become a global rite of passage
• Why relational currency is vital to the spread of creative ideas and solutions

Learn more about Abby Falik:

• Website
• Learning on Purpose
• Connect with Abby on LinkedIn
• Instagram: @abbyfalik

Learn more about Mary Knox Miller:

• Thought Leader Media
• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources:

Saving Time, Jenny Odell

Social psychologist Robert Livingston has been studying the science underlying bias and racism for 20 years. But it’s his mastery of language that empowers and inspires.

Dr. Livingston wears many hats. He serves on the faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, teaching leaders in the public and private sectors how to lead more inclusive organizations. He is the award-winning author of The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth About Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations. And he is a diversity consultant to Fortune 500 companies, public-sector agencies, and non-profit organizations.

But the road to recognition hasn’t come easy. Listen as Dr. Livingston offers hard-won lessons learned in becoming a public figure.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How Dr. Livingston’s youth in a predominantly Black neighborhood shaped how he responded with intellectual curiosity to racism as a young adult
• How the myth of a post-racial America has emerged and altered the dynamics of racism in the last 15 years
• An introduction to Dr. Livingston’s P.R.E.S.S model for making profound and sustainable change
• The psychological, structural, and historical underpinnings of inequality
• How Dr. Livingston uses metaphor and storytelling to distill complex systemic issues into easier-to-understand concepts
• Dolphins, ostriches, and sharks in the social landscape and why DEI efforts need to be tailored to each group 

Learn more about Dr. Robert Livingston:

• Website
• Connect on LinkedIn
• The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth about Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations

Learn more about Mary Knox Miller:

• Thought Leader Media
• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources:

• 13th
• Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman

So, you’ve got a world-changing idea. A new way to think about an intractable problem. A framework for understanding people, the planet, or, maybe, the space between our ears.

But getting that idea heard? Well, that’s a challenge.

It’s especially challenging for big thinkers and subject-matter experts. For people like you(!), who are passionate about their ideas but perhaps, less experienced in getting others excited about them.

I’m Mary Knox Miller, and I have over 20 years of experience in communicating ideas. Originally trained as a photojournalist and videographer, I’ve traveled across the globe to document realities from all walks of life. I’ve interviewed world-renowned practitioners and researchers, placing their humanity front and center.

More recently, I’ve been partnering with socially impact-driven leaders on the frontlines of change. I’ve helped academics, researchers, advocates, and practitioners translate their complex ideas into simple concepts. Then, I watch in awe as they connect with their audience.

What do they have in common?

They’ve learned to speak human-first.

They don’t only communicate what they know. They infuse ideas with personal stories while acknowledging the dignity of all life experiences. They craft messages that mean something to the people who hear them.

On my new podcast, Speaking Human-First, I interview thought leaders from across industries and disciplines. I explore all the ways they’ve bridged the gap between solo thinker and public persona – without losing their sense of self.

I uncover specific strategies you can use to communicate your own world-changing ideas. We’ll look at techniques like metaphor, explore the origins of crystal-clear ideas, and think about how to show up in ways that play to our strengths.

My goal is simple. I want to embolden every listener to speak up and contribute to the human cause.

Join me as I learn alongside thought leaders across industries and disciplines by subscribing to Speaking Human-First wherever you listen to podcasts.

And if you know someone with a world-changing idea, encourage them to give it a listen!

Learn more about Mary Knox Miller:

• Thought Leader Media
• Connect on LinkedIn