UnLeadership

59Leaders Intervene

Julie S. Lalonde, is an internationally recognized women’s rights advocate, public educator, speaker, and trainer with a focus on bystander intervention and community care. Her clients include the Canadian Armed Forces, Premier Justin Trudeau, and L’Oreal Paris. Her memoir Resilience Is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde won the 2020 Ontario Speaker's award and was named one of the best books of the year by CBC Books and the Hill Times.

(Highlights from our interview, recorded June 12, 2023.)

EVERY HUMAN BEING HAS A story, whether it's a really funny one they tell at a party or a traumatizing story that explains their core. There is something beautiful about the foundational concept that people are always learning and unlearning, that we can change our minds. I work in education because people do better when they know better. You have to create a path for people to redeem themselves. Communication is at the heart of my work. I am fascinated by how people communicate discomfort, whether they are being harmed or uncomfortable with the harm they are witnessing. The bulk of my work is teaching people how to communicate what they already know to be true. Something might be wrong, and you need it to stop. It could also be the elephant in the room that we need to name.

We unpack how people communicate their needs and other people's needs and how to do so in a way that has the desired impact. My advice is always to say something, and it's ...