Hey there!
Before we dive into this week’s reflection, I want to let you know that I have 3 spaces opening up for Visionary Business Sessions starting in July.
These sessions will help you deprogram from the Business as Usual Paradigm and activate your business plan for social + cultural evolution. Click here to sign up.
Okay.. on to this week’s radical reflection!
“All that you touch you change. All you change, changes you. The only lasting truth is change.” (Verse 1.1-6)
-Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower
This quote from Octavia Butler’s book, Parable of the Sower, reminds me that we don’t have to play by the rules of an antiquated system to create radical change.
Parable of the Sower is Octavia’s 1993 speculative fiction novel about Lauren Olamina, a teenage hyper-empath living near Los Angeles, in the 2020s.
The story takes place in the midst of extreme climate change, social collapse, and the failure of the so-called “Justice System” in the United States.
The main character’s ability to adapt to change shapes her whole world… and saves her life on more than one occasion.
It feels as though Octavia offered up these words so we would remember our ability to be catalysts for radical change…
And that we have to be intentional in the changes we make.
Especially in the midst of the current global pandemic, social uprisings, and political turmoil.
When we are intentional in the way we express our values, we become catalysts for radical change.
When we lead with empathy + our vision for change, we deliberately shape the culture we’re dreaming of.
But this requires some serious deprogramming.
The current dominant system has conditioned us to feel helpless + powerless to be catalysts for change.
We’ve been taught that the only way to create lasting change is through the very system that keeps us stagnant.
As change makers in the business space, it is our responsibility to deprogram from the harmful Business as Usual Paradigm that is complicit in upholding systems of kyriarchal oppression. (Kyriarchy is the intersection of patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy. H/t Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza)
We have to activate our businesses so that the impact we make is actually aligned with our radical vision for change..
We have to infuse every aspect of our lives with our visionary values…
And we have to build a culture that will serve and support future generations.
So how do we activate our businesses as change agents?
For me that looks like finding the balance between tranquil flow + emergent strategy…
Between careful discernment + deliberate action…
Between ecstatic pleasure + radical change.
In Parable of the Sower, Octavia reminds us that the world will continue to change us as long as we are here…
And that we are responsible for creating the change that will make our world worth living in.
This is why I work with business owners who are committed to creating radical social + cultural change with their work…
This is why I offer services that will help you deprogram from the Business as Usual Paradigm…
We need more folks dedicated to bringing their work into deep alignment with their radical values and their vision for change.
And I’m here to activate that intentional change with you!
Love + Liberation
Lauren Elizabeth