Change is rarely simple. Sometimes, it’s catalyzed by discomfort—by pressure, frustration, or the realization that what used to work no longer fits. But if we’re paying attention, change can also offer a powerful opportunity to reflect, realign, and step forward with greater clarity.
We’ve written a lot about the landscape of DEI in the past few months. There’s no pretending that the current administration is not forcing DEI organizations to recalibrate. A few months ago, I also wrote about acceptance as a precondition for transformation. And while that still rings true, I’ve come to see that—especially when we’re talking about people and organizations—acceptance is really a precondition for agency. Our ability to create change relies on our willingness to see things as they are, without distortion or denial, so that we can imagine and work toward what they might become.
At True North, we’ve guided organizations through moments like these for years. Now, we’re living one of our own.
A lot of the work that’s fallen under the DEI umbrella has focused on repair—responding to harm, addressing breakdowns, or reacting to crises. Not all of it, of course. There have always been practitioners and organizations who’ve led with intention and care from the start. But for “DEI organizations”, the pull toward the reactive can be difficult to hold in balance. While “triage” is a necessary service, it doesn’t describe the kind of work we, at True North, want to spend most of our time engaged in.