My Values + Feminist Business Practices
My Values +
Culture-Making
Business Practices
believe...
that we are all culture makers and that we can use our culture making power deliberately, to create new realities for ourselves and our world.
Here are a few of the ways I try to do that in my own LIFE AND BUSINESS
Profit + Money
- I offer payment plans and I don’t charge any extra fees or interest for accessing payment plans. I think it is unjust.
- This is a business. I advertise. I market. You're going to see social posts and emails about my offers
- I don't pause the business or my marketing when there are tragic world events or crises and I push back on the expectation that I should.
1) My team still needs to get paid and my family still needs to eat
2) It is revealing that so many people expect that of independent small businesses (especially of women entrepreneurs) but not of blue-chip companies who are vastly more capitalized.
- I have a LOT of financial responsibilities — children, elders, extended family, team— so I need to earn a lot of money. I do this unapologetically.
- If any of this upsets someone, I am not for them
How (and When) I Offer Critique
- When I’m critiquing, I strive to name patterns, not people
- Because my focus is on patterns, not people, I will not comment on online controversies nor will I participate in "public humiliation spectacles"* on social media.
- I do not respond to attempts to discipline me if I'm quoting someone you disapprove of
* My thanks to Dr.Christine Marie for the language of "public humiliation spectacle" and "media misinformation/misrepresentation campaigns"
How I Respond to Tragedies, Wars & World Events
- When there are mass tragedies, my first efforts are direct and relational, which means they're often publicly invisible. I strive to offer my time, support, care and resources behind the scenes the people in my spaces who are most impacted by events. Just because something isn't visible on social media doesn't mean it is not happening
- When there is a crisis that is outside my zone of leadership & expertise -- which means I don't have useful analysis to contribute -- I deliberately get quiet so that I do not contribute noise that can obscure valuable signals from actual experts. In cases like this, my form of contribution is to signal-boost those experts rather than strive to overlay my voice or platform onto the situation (I'm not here to build clout off tragedy)
- I strive to only comment on events where I have leadership to offer AND, importantly, 'skin in the game'. To me, skin in the game is RISK. Is there a risk to me for getting involved? That's when I SHOULD get involved. If not, there's a risk of posturing, performing, or virtue-signalling and generating noise that obscures the voices we actually need to hear from
- I'm Canadian, so I usually don't have 'skin in the game' to comment on US politics. By that I mean there's no risk to me for comment and only reputational upside (clout). Armchair commentary on something where I have no analysis or risk, I get the reputational benefits of looking virtuous and righteous at no actual cost to me. And often, when Canadians comment on US culture/politics, we often end up acting smug and erasing our own failings from view. And, no. Once again, I'm not here to build clout off tragedies, signal the appearance of change or simulate change; I'm here to be effective in the places where I can actually be effective
- I am not a newspaper. I do not have the expertise, resources, bandwidth, or team to publish regular updates and commentary on the ever-intensifying crises impacting our world and communities
- I do not issue statements or position papers on international events or wars because (a) that is outside my zone of expertise & analysis and (b) because I am not an institution, Prime Minister, President or an elected government representative. I don't have the ability to directly intervene in world events -- but they do and it is literally their job to represent our will. That's the most effective place to direct our change-making energy: Let's call them. Email them. Write letters to them. They have a responsibility to legislate in our interests. Let's make sure they do that
- I do NOT stop selling during social crises because bills don't stop coming. It is not reasonable to expect indie providers with the least access to capital to stop their livelihoods in times when we need them most
- I specifically don't comment on mass shootings in the US because
- Again, I have no skin in the game
- Because I'm not a citizen, I have no ability to influence US legislators
- Research shows that the more media attention the massacre gets, the higher the likelihood that there will be a copycat shooting within 7 days. My silence is an attempt at harm-reduction
Solidarity, Self-Preservation,
and Culture-Making
- I believe in signal-boosting and sharing the work of the people influencing me (Citation is a culture-making practice; I’ve even footnoted a sales page!). There is so much brilliance in our community and it’s a joy to be part of it
- I do not to use mental/social triggers in high-risk sales situations
- I do not engage in money-shaming as a marketing tactic (or any kind of tactic!)
- If I cite or mention someone's work, it does not mean we know each other. It doesn't mean they even know I exist nor does it mean that they like me or approve of my work. Nor does it mean I endorse them unequivocally or that they endorse me. It means that there's a particular cultural thing that I'm trying to talk about and an idea or project of their's is relevant and I want to give credit where credit is due
- If I quote an idea from someone you object to, I am not obliged to respond to attempts to discipline me or silence me. If your concern is that there's been a call-out of this person, or you are responding to generalized claims of harm and are worried that I don't know about it: I probably do. I may have access to different information than you have or have come to a different conclusion than you have. We need to be able to tolerate differences in perspective rather than aiming for homogeneity and purity (neither of which have ever been liberatory)
- Please never substitute my judgement for your own. We don't have to agree or even like each other to respect each other's work.
- I do value good-faith critique and feedback from my co-travellers and will take the time to process it, learn from it, and integrate it (thank you!!!)
- If we know each other, I welcome your critique, feedback and correction. Call me! Email me! Text me! (If we know each other, you have my deets)
- If we don't know each other and you feel compelled to discipline me or sabotage my work, that's weird. I reserve the right to treat that as the unwelcome behaviour of an intrusive stranger and take protective measures. Instead, if my work is not for you, I invite you to unfollow me
- I won’t tolerate attempts to erase me or my work nor will I accept intellectually dishonest or personally malicious “arguments”. I believe in my body of work and I will protect it, and myself. That’s part of being a culture-maker.
When I hear someone say "I’m not ready for a relationship" or "I’m not ready to be a good partner", for example, I think, being in a relationship is how you learn to be a partner and how you learn to love.
Relationships and marriage are people-growing machines. In relationship is always life-altering. You can’t learn to swim on land.
So of course you’re not ready for the thing you`re scared of and the thing that needs doing. Nobody is.
Even when you think you’re ready, you’re probably wrong.
When I decided to have children and got pregnant with my first child -- the magnificent Sophie Umaringa, teenage leader of rallies -- I thought I was ready.
And then, when she arrived as a cosmic privilege and burden, an eternal marvel and responsibility, a whole person with a buffet of needs and demands, and an instant and continuous attenuation of my own selfishness, I knew – and I know every day – that I was not ready.
I was and am wrenchingly unprepared.
I am not an instinctual saint equipped with The Answers but a desperately loving and flawed person who is striving to rise. Striving to be the mama this young culture-maker needs. Striving to become the kind of person and leader and learner our new world needs.
Ready is always, always, ALWAYS the wrong litmus test.
The real question is:
Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get ready?
Because we get ready by *doing* it.
not ready but willing,
Kelly Diels
#LevelUpYourLife #MotivationalSpeaker #Mindset #Creative #BuildingYourLegacy #WeAreTheCultureMakers #SlowProductivity #MeaningfulWork #SustainableBusiness #Speaker #Writer #UseYourLife #SelfDevelopment #LeadershipDevelopment
Apr 24
An epiphany from late 2018: I was scrambling to find time for a new collaboration.
Witnessing this in live action, my collaborator, PK Mutch (Petra), said to me, with been-there-done-that sympathy, "That`s what women do -- we scale horizontally."
I immediately recognized that this was why my business wasn`t working the way I wanted it to -- but I didn`t know how to fix it.
A few days later, I went out with a colleague I`d worked with a long time ago at a huge telecom. She started talking about the new `vertical` she was managing.
Suddenly it all clicked.
The telecomm as a whole had lots of services, lots of clients and lots of offers, sure; but each vertical HAD ITS OWN TEAM and its own content. It was a unit unto itself.
That`s how they got traction in each of those verticals and how the company as a whole did well. By focusing on one client and one offer.
What I had done, in my own business, was the opposite of that.
I had one team (me) but many verticals. Several different client profiles, several different offers.
For years, my biz strategy was to constantly invent new programs and offers --and create all new launch material to go with them. ⠀
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I was always inventing and overworking.
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As a result, I never quite got traction on ANY of my offerings, so I was always scrambling for cash AND constantly on the verge of burn out.⠀
That`s why my business wasn`t getting the momentum I was hoping for, and why I was personally exhausted. I wasn`t concentrated in ONE vertical; instead, I`d scaled horizontally across many.
And I was only one person!
So how do you stop scaling horizontally?
You create a signature piece of intellectual property that becomes the centre of your business.
A signature program is a way to do less while making more.
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I`m Kelly Diels, an expert on Culture Making, Thought Leadership and IP. I teach culture-making entrepreneurs & creators how to develop a substantial body of work that changes EVERYTHING – your life, your industry, our world.
Apr 23
Marketing, social media and deliberate self-promotion aren’t a distraction.
They’re activities that add up to a winning and significant body of work.
They`re not a distraction from ideation. They ARE your ideas.
Here are 3 counterintuitive but KEY activities for Thought Leaders to commit to for putting their ideas out into the world, developing their body of work and moving forward in their business:
1. SOCIAL MEDIA.
It`s not *just* about getting attention. Social media can be a lab for cultivating your ideas, so put snippets of ideas out on social, every day.
2. NETWORKING.
Having conversations with interesting people -- even preaching to boring ones -- provides creative stimulus and opportunities to forge creative connections and embroider your ideas.
3. WILD IDLING.
True thought leadership & meaningful bodies of work require unstructured leisure time and “wild idling.” (h/t @LianneRaymond)
ONE MORE TIME, WITH FEELING:
Self-promotion is not a distraction from your body of work.
It’s part of how you create meaningful work that matters. It`s an idea-growing practice.
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I`m Kelly Diels, an expert on Culture Making, Thought Leadership and IP. I teach culture-making entrepreneurs & creators how to develop a substantial body of work that changes EVERYTHING – your life, your industry, our world.
#BodyOfWork #MakingAnImpact #ThoughtLeader #ContentStrategy #LevelUpYourBusiness #CreativeEntrepreneur #CreativeEntrepreneurship #IntentionalBusiness #BrandingIdentity #SocialMediaForBusiness #SocialEntrepreneur #IntellectualProperty
Apr 19
Are you wrestling with Imposter Complex? This might help. #impostersyndrome #impostercomplex #thoughtleadership #creativeentrepreneur #intellectualproperty #bodyofwork #WeAreTheCultureMakers #deepwork #slowproductivity #visibility #edwardsaid #orientalism #culturalexile #yourdifferenceisyourstrength www.kellydiels.com
Apr 18
Dear Multi-Passionate Maker,⠀
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Maybe you don`t have Shiny Object Syndrome.⠀
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Maybe you`ve been studying & practicing all of these modalities because you`re developing a rich body of work, across time.⠀
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(No maybe about it.)⠀
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Multi-passionate professionals often get told that they`re "scattered" & need to focus.⠀
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They then internalize negative messages insisting that their orientation towards lifelong learning, curiosity & creativity is a barrier to success.⠀
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IT`S NOT.⠀
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It`s how we build the deep work & creative solutions needed for these urgent times.⠀
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Often, when I work with multi-passionate professionals, it`s wildly obvious to me that they`re collecting tools, synthesizing across traditions -- and making a whole new thing! -- in order to solve complex social problems.⠀
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They`ve been gathering all.the.tools.⠀
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You know what all those tools add up to? ⠀
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A practice. A way of doing things. A framework. Your unique process.⠀
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***You have a methodology.*** ⠀
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So let`s build language for it and NAME IT, specifically.⠀
Naming your method makes it tangible AND SALEABLE.⠀
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Now it now gets a lot easier to explain it to other people...⠀
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...and becomes more obvious why they might want to work with you :)⠀
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Once you name it, you substantiate it. ⠀
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****Including to yourself.****⠀
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Now YOU can see how everything you`ve trained in has led up to this, has prepared you for this work.⠀
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Because, dear Multi-passionate Maker, you`re NOT spinning your wheels or getting distracted by shiny things.⠀
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You`re growing the solutions & institutions of the future.⠀
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Let`s make sure you`ve got the language to describe them. ⠀
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love + justice,⠀⠀
Kelly⠀
#SurfaceYourMethodology #IntellectualProperty #DeepWork #BodyOfWork #SlowProductivity #ThoughtLeadership #ThoughtLeader #MeaningfulWork #WeAreTheCultureMakers
Apr 18
