3 Things Being a Dad Taught Me About Successful Conflict Resolution

I never became LL Kool J, Big Daddy Kane, Heavy D, KRS ONE, or Kid and Play (for the uninitiated, these were notable rappers of the era). I never was picked up by a record label. I never was featured on “YO MTV Raps” and talked to Fab Five Freddy or Ed Lover. It wasn’t until years later did I finally have my breakthrough. My chart topping jam was very simple. It was a song that was only one verse long. Though you probably haven’t heard it, let me tell you the story when this banger finally dropped.

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Julian Newman
Martin Luther King Jr. Day: The Stone of Hope

The day was August 28th, 1963. It was a warm 80 degree Wednesday in Washington, DC. During what has been called the greatest demonstration of freedom in the history of the world, an illustrious cadre of speakers with people like Mrs. Medgar Evers, Diane Nash Bevels, Rosa Parks, Gloria Richardson, John Lewis, Rabbi Uri Miller and Mathew Ahmann, and singing by the likes of Mahalia Jackson. In addition to these speakers, there was a 16th speaker by the name of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization established in 1957 dedicated to redeeming the soul of America through non violent resistance.

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Julian Newman
Stand With Me: 3 Allyship Actions

None of us can do everything. But all of us can do something.

It doesn’t have to be your lived experience.

It doesn’t have to be your neighborhood.

It doesn't have to be your family.

It doesn’t have to be you.

You don’t have to be one to stand with.

Stand with them. Stand with me. Let me stand with you.

Let’s stand together.

We all fall when we don’t.

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Julian Newman
Transformation Triple Point: 3 Essential Elements of Change

The reason why some of the movements have stalled, and after much ado it feels more like nothing than something, is because learning (books, movies, documentaries, etc) is only one of the essential elements of change. Our learning allowed us to wrestle with the concepts and theories of injustice, but conceptual and theoretical change can’t change anything.

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Julian Newman
Beware the Food Chaos: 4 Ways to Shrink Bias-Spots

Is there anything necessarily wrong with soggy cereal?

Not necessarily (sorry mom!).

What becomes wrong when we attribute negative value to a person who violates one of our invisible rules. We do this unintentionally and automatically. It happens in a flash without even a second thought.

These surface judgments feed into stereotypes and prejudices.

They become our reflexes.

They become our daily defaults.

They become our biases.

And to these biases we are largely blind. We can be so blind to these “bias” spots that we will passionately deny they even exist. This leads to the paradox of bias-spots.

They more we deny them, the bigger they get.

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Julian Newman
5 Ways to Cure the Virus of Racism

Though racism is always rooted in prejudice, the act of being prejudiced isn’t always racist. It can be racially insensitive, racially unaware, but not necessarily racist. The best way to understand racism, is to use this simple formula:

Prejudice + Power = Racism

Racism is the the dynamic where prejudice is weaponized and creates destructive impact.

It is a weapon that influences systems, policies, and behavior.

It becomes institutional eg: American criminal justice system, national health/wealth disparities, countrywide education gaps, etc, then it becomes invisible.

As time passes, it’s taken for granted that this is just how things were meant to be.

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Julian Newman
Cosmetic Inclusion: The Story of the Tortoise and the Hare

Buzzwords like: Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, Empowerment are all the rage right now.

We use them at conferences, conventions, and company gatherings.

They are fast. The are cool. They are popular.

The good news about the expansion of inclusive terminology is that it shows that we have made progress over the last few decades.

The bad news is that in far too many instances, right words take the place of right action.

Illustrating diversity on a website, changing brochures, or hosting a training has value.

But if that’s where the cultural intelligence strategy ends, then the initiative for inclusion is more cosmetic than catalytic.

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Julian NewmanComment
Branches + Roots: 3 Habits of Culturally Intelligent Companies

While it’s easy to become frustrated with the latest marketplace gaffe, it is much more important to address the foundation of the problem, rather than simply the problem’s product.

Said another way, we must enlarge our focus from primarily viewing branches to carefully examining roots.

If a tree has bad fruit, we can remove fruit and branches, but if our tree has a root problem the bad produce will return. Bad produce is the symptom, bad roots are the problem.

Good intentions about branches isn’t enough. It’s time to act and change at the root level.

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Julian Newman
Is Your Company Trapped in Jurassic Park?

Many companies are living in Jurassic Park.

Homogeneity, organizational silos, and lack of collaborative leadership engagement are just some of their characteristics.

And just like the dinosaurs, they are quickly going extinct.

But diverse teams that are comprised of different perspectives, origin stories, skill sets, and mindsets aren’t just surviving the changing world, they are thriving in it.

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Julian Newman
What the Internet Can Teach Us About Human Connections

With the exponential expansion of bandwidth anything and everything now seems possible. Ironically while we have this expanded technological bandwidth, this same technology creates a more compartmentalized world. 

Paradoxically, as we are electronically linked to different people, cultures, and colors we are also digitally divided. 

We erect digital walls of separation that keep us segregated. 

Connected through machines while being disconnected as people. 

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Julian Newman
Company Cultural Collisions & What To Do Next

What is true in all of these instances is that until their was external cultural outcry (customers being treated unfairly in grossly overt way, complaints from consumers, social media backlash, etc), there was little to no awareness of the lack of cultural intelligence that caused the collision in the first place.

And unlike the car industry that is coming up with new technology to make drivers more safe (hence things like distracted driving monitors), we keep having these cultural collisions in the corporate space.

But what if we could devise a system to better avoid the pain, expense, and inconvenience of cultural collisions?

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Julian Newman
What is Water Privilege?

Privilege is a hot button these days.

Conversations about privilege can cause frustration, create online arguments, and strain personal/professional relationships.

It even more intense when you place certain descriptors in front of the word privilege.

But in conversations I’ve had all over the country in boardrooms, classrooms, churches, and auditoriums, I’ve become convinced that most of us just don’t understand it.

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Julian Newman
Press Pause (And If You Forget Please Press Rewind!!!)

I have a confession to make.

I was alive when cassette tapes were cool.

New Edition, Bobby Brown, LL Cool J, Guy, Bell Biv Devoe, Guy, Heavy D and more.

You’d go to the record store to pick up the brand new tape of your favorite artist, pop it in your car stereo cassette deck or snap it into your Sony Walkman (With EXTRA BASS!) to listen to scorching hot new music.

And if you didn’t have the cash to buy it from the store, you could grab a set of blanks and dub it from someone who did.

Dubbing was fine art.

You had to make sure sure the tapes were synced right, rewound tight, and ready to roll.

You had to hit play and record perfectly.

You had to watch carefully to make sure tape didn’t twist, turn, or jam.

A twisted tape was the absolute worst.

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Julian NewmanComment
Principle of Two Truths

The effectiveness of our influence as leaders in these rapidly changing times is often how well we leverage the principle of two truths.

Two truths principle means the ability to hold two equal truths in tension without invalidating one or the other.

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Julian Newman
Respect Due

“You don't have to like each other but you will respect each other.” - Coach Herman Boone, Remember the Titans

Whether a weekend warrior at the local gym or a professional athlete, if you’ve played competitive sports you know what it’s like to go hard.

I mean really hard.

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Julian NewmanComment