Move to the Edge, Declare it Center

Preface

July 7, 2016: Stand Up, Speak Up

I was reading a post by Ellen McGirt,¹ senior editor at Fortune magazine, called, “Why Employers Need to Talk about Shootings of Black People,”² after 24 hours of drifting in waves of despair about the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Her article highlighted the need for employers to go beyond the idea of inclusion to the more resonant emotion of compassion. She argued that when two Black men are killed by police, one at a traffic stop in front of his four‐year‐old daughter, employers must recognize that their employees, like much of the rest of the country, are likely to be deeply affected. I nodded my head with her clear, fierce, call to employers to go beyond their comfort zone.

And then I realized: “I'm the employer.”

I'm the CEO of Truss, a highly diverse, remote‐first software development company. My cofounders and I worked hard to make our company inclusive, using “radical candor”³ to address issues that many companies avoid. But news of these murders required more of me. First, as a Black man, I felt unmoored and vulnerable. There is no sign on my car nor a logo on my jacket that reads, “Don't shoot, I'm a CEO.” At the same time, part of my job as a CEO is to set a foundation so our employees can continue to do great work. My silence would be turning away from that responsibility. I needed to write a speech that acknowledged that while I'm a leader … I'm also a target.

This is what I wrote that afternoon to the ...