Anima Leadership believes in a compassionate approach to racial justice: that means making issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion more accessible and understandable to everyone. Join us on the Anima Blog as we journey with you from diversity basics to advanced belonging framed around pop culture, current events, and more.
Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in a immersive discussion on breaking down polarization in the workplace.
Conflict by its very nature emotionally divides, forcing us to “choose” sides…but then who looks after the Whole? Yet being “neutral” is not the answer as this only maintains the unjust status quo when we seek to fix systems that carry the stains of racism and sexism. In this free online Anima Cafe, we explore developing polarity management skills to move beyond either/or thinking. Anima co-founder, Shakil Choudhury, explores what it means to be a “de-polarized” leader, essential for the workplace which continues to be influenced by the political divisiveness from broader society.
Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in a immersive discussion on framing conversations around difficult topics.
While the psychological safety of employees is essential, a workplace is not a therapeutic space…and learning to hold the tension between personal-professional is a key leadership capacity.
This free podcast will explore the reasons why psychological safety is a critical factor for both well-being as well as performance, and strategies for leaders to nurture it on their teams. We also discuss its very real limits, as many leaders—especially in the not-for-profit context— inadvertently get their teams “stuck” in emotional quagmires because of an inability to draw healthy professional boundaries. Shakil Choudhury, will explore this critical but deeply misunderstood topic. This the first podcast in a fall Anima series entitled Tools for Compassion & Justice Leadership.
Join Anima Leadership co-founder Annahid Dashtgard in a immersive discussion on framing conversations around difficult topics.
Another way of thinking about the leader role is one who tells the best, most engaging, most believable, story. If we don’t tell it, others will, and usually it’s the most negative version.
This cafe with Anima CEO Annahid Dashtgard, offers a framework for framing our messages so they get heard and get buy in, especially important in fostering trust in today’s diverse and increasingly polarized environments.
Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in a conversation on how to use a system-thinking approach to politic-proof your EDI efforts.
In an era of increasing political volatility, anti-EDI forces have been using social media and legal levers to successfully push back on progressive policies designed to advance historically excluded groups in both the US and Canada.
This cafe explores ways that leaders can politic-proof an organization’s EDI efforts by adopting a systems-thinking approach and de-compartmentalizing EDI by borrowing strategies to improve performance from other parts of the business. In doing so, leaders can limit their organization’s exposure to critics while supporting social justice goals.
Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in a conversation about navigating conflict and polarizing global events as a leader.
This cafe explores factors for organizational leaders to consider when real world events explode into the workplace whether it’s the climate crisis, the murder of George Floyd or Israel-Palestine. How and when do you decide to lean into an issue and when do you not? How do leaders balance competing factors including psychological safety of employees, organizational values and missions, finances, and the needs of stakeholders? While there are never any easy answers, this cafe helps identify key questions and issues their teams need to map out when responding to external crises and global events.
Join Anima Leadership co-founder Annahid Dashtgard in a conversation about finding purpose and joy in equity work.
What does it mean to work towards justice, inclusion, belonging and equal rights in this time where these topics are more and more polarizing?
Instead of being guided by clear analysis and data, equity efforts are increasingly being determined by whose opinion is loudest. Many of us are overwhelmed and exhausted in addition to having our own skin in the game, and unsure how best to proceed.
This session is a reminder and a reset of why it’s especially important in times such as these to stay connected to purpose and reclaim our joy.
We recommend reading the article: “Use Purpose to Transform Your Workplace,” Harvard Business Review (2022)
Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in conversation with educator, therapist, facilitator and author Dawn Menken.
If there’s one way to describe our current political landscape, it’s polarized. As both sides seem to pull further and further apart, how can we drive action across differences through inclusive leadership training? How can we create the connections and relationships we need to make change? And how can we empower bridge builders to lead us towards a more inclusive future?
Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in conversation with educator, therapist, facilitator and author Dawn Menken. Dawn has been working in the field of psychology and facilitator development for over 35 years and has written multiple books focused on improving social discourse and inspiring more meaningful civic engagement. Her latest book Facilitating a More Perfect Union: A Guide for Politicians and Leaders offers practical tips to anyone stepping into a leadership position, and has been read by politicians, government administration and other leaders from around the world.
This Café podcast is perfect for anyone looking to become a more inclusive leader, especially in situations where polarization is becoming more and more powerful. With more than 50 years of experience between them come and get ready to listen to a lively conversation about marginalization, connection, engagement and inclusion.
Develop your conflict competence, enroll in our Brave Conversations course in ourBrave Conversations course.
It seems as though there is more awareness about the need for DEI as student and staff demographics shift while gaps in learning access and opportunity become more widely known. Yet at the same time, we are in a moment in the education system as well as broader society, where we are experiencing a backlash to the recognition that some groups experience unfair barriers:
The pushback against “woke” content in educational institutions and workplaces;
The banning of books and even language supporting gay, trans and racialized stories;
The US Supreme court undoing affirmative action programs and other equity policies;
The discrediting of any equity education after the recent suicide of a Toronto principal.
It’s easy in times such as this to step back and shut up: essentially, to avoid upsetting the status quo. But if we wish education to be equally accessible to ALL students, now is the time that our efforts toward equity are needed more than ever. Here are three steps any teacher can take to tangibly support efforts toward more representative, accessible and inclusive schools.
Represent all of your students
Collect data, don’t assume. Send out a survey (or get your principal to) asking students or their guardians to share (if they choose) their culture, holidays celebrated, family members and racial/ ethnic identity…or better yet, complete an organizational audit to make sure you can collect and consider this information over the long term. With this information you can adapt curriculum, use inclusive language and represent student identities often rendered invisible.
For example: if you know you have two Muslim identifying students in the class, wish them Eid Mubarak, ask them if they would like a space to pray during Ramadan, and/ or share about the Eid holiday in class (perhaps a family member might like to come in).
Initiate conversations with colleagues
Change happens one conversation at a time, eventually accumulating in a tipping point moment. Suggest trans, Black, Muslim or other marginalized identity speakers for professional development days. Host a book discussion series with books like Deep Diversity: A Compassionate Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Equity which break down systemic discrimination into easily understood chunks.
Use challenging moments as case studies to discuss and learn from collectively. For example, if the n-word is used by a couple of students in the school, discuss as a staff what can be done to address it within the school culture as a whole. All words and behaviour happen in context.
Normalize mistake-making
As educators, we know that any learning process has to involve practice and that making mistakes is a necessary part of the process. Think about teaching algebra to students for the first time! The same applies to learning about students and colleagues who occupy an identity we are less familiar with. We will say and do awkward things, we may put our foot in our mouths, we may misstep—we need to be accountable for ways we could have done better, and then we need to let it go. Creating inclusion should feel inclusive not like a prison we fear being locked into. Compassion is the underpinning of all sustainable change.
What do I do next?
We know that change isn’t predestined: it’s a choice. An inclusive future is one where all students—not just those who are well-off, white and culturally Christian—have equal access to belonging, learning and success (in exactly that order). But teachers don’t have to become DEI leaders on their own.
Anima Leadership has over 15 years of experience working to help schools and other educational become more diverse, inclusive and equitable—and we can help you too.
As a seasoned change-maker and non-fiction author, Annahid has worked with hundreds of organizations and leaders to create more just and equitable futures. She’s a first generation immigrant woman of colour whose inaugural book—Breaking the Ocean: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion and Reconciliation documents her journey identifying and healing from racial trauma. Her latest book Bones of Belonging: Finding Wholeness in a White World is a set of poignant, humorous and timely stories translating everyday racism to ordinary life.
Annahid has a Masters in Adult Education and has trained in various psychological modalities to understand the root of systems change in human consciousness. She has spend more than two decades consulting, educating, coaching and writing on EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) issues across both public and private sectors.
Join Annahid Dashtgard, and Emma Lind for a conversation about the Leader Labs and some important takeaways and secrets challenges when addressing race and equity issues.
How do we avoid jumping to conclusions with each other? When is it important to listen versus hold our ground? What does it look like to step into uncomfortable conversations in order to advance equity in our organizations?
BIPOC Leader Lab creator and host Annahid Dashtgard and EDI Lab for White Leaders host Emma Lind discuss the secret challenges and strategies of addressing race and equity issues from the unique perspective of both BIPOC and white leaders. Drawing on lessons learned from the 2023 Leader Labs—one-of-a-kind cohorts bringing together equity leaders from around the world—Annahid and Emma will share impactful and applicable tips and tactics for transforming your own leadership practice.
This Café podcast is perfect for leaders of all identities looking to find a community of other leaders interested in creating a more inclusive and equitable future…with some expert support along the way. Listen now to hear how you can step into greater equity literacy—whatever your racial identity—to help bridge rather than break in these turbulent times.
Listen to this podcast to learn more about this essential reframing of equity, diversity and inclusion work and how to apply it to your own leadership development.
Despite the fact that organizations and teams are becoming increasingly racially diverse, race has become one of the most polarizing topics to discuss, leaving many otherwise competent leaders struggling to respond adequately. Because organizational inclusion efforts can only go so far as leaders themselves are able to go, Anima Leadership created leader labs for BIPOC and white leaders to develop their leadership skills in like-identity environments, recognizing the challenges are different depending on one’s racial identity. The BIPOC Leader Lab meets every week for six months, while the EDI Lab for White Leaders meets monthly for the whole year.
The conversations from 2023’s labs have been deep, rich and transformative…and full of applicable insights for leaders of all identities. Here are some of the best.
BIPOC Leader Lab Secrets
Most of us feel nervous about sharing our experience
Because of the shared and ongoing experience of not being believed, scapegoated or plain out rejected, leaders of colour are often hesitant about speaking up about the ways in which we experience discriminatory behaviors and policies. The more elite the level of leadership position we occupy—which usually means we’re surrounded by more white leaders—the more likely we are to encounter this pushback.
We can’t be waiting for the invite to come from white people because white supremacy is not built to issue invitations for people of colour. Instead, we need to develop assertiveness. Finding a way to enter the conversation is an important and innovative skill set to survive and also transform organizational cultures. The more we use our voices, the more we open the door to those coming behind us.
We want diverse and fluid cultural norms (rather than default whiteness norms)
We don’t want to merely inhabit white norms (read: perfectionist, non-relational, quiet, politie) in order to be effective leaders. It’s not about white supremacy culture being inherently bad, but where are the places to give up the stage and allow different norms (ways of doing and being) to also take centre stage?
We commit to the parts of ourselves which are differently coded and stand up for them: eg. assertiveness, slower pace of doing, listening deeply, etc. The more diverse intelligence is shared, the stronger the whole system becomes.
Code-shifting is a survival tactic
Code shifting from our own authentic way of being and communicating in our culture of origin to white supremacist culture can feel necessary, but also exhausting. Being unable to show us as our whole selves means that we are also not able to be the best leaders we can be.
We ask that others who don’t understand our insider cultural norms either ask or respectfully leave us alone. For example, African American vernacular may be something not everyone understand—but it’s also not for everyone.
We struggle with racial and other forms of bias as well
We each have work to do unlearning different forms of racial bias. For example, South Asian and East Asian and Indigenous folks need to name and unlearn anti-Black racial bias. While this came up in our conversations as an edgy topic, it was also powerful to to name in an interracial group. These are not conversations we feel comfortable having in white-dominant space and part of why the BIPOC Leader Lab was so powerful.
There’s also a common misconception that just because someone is racialized they are racially literate! Life experience is important but does not equal expertise. Even BIPOC leaders can benefit from comprehensive racial equity training.
We are much more than (just) victims
The gifts of facing systemic oppression often include greater sensitivity to power dynamics, greater resiliency (especially around issues of power and marginalisation) and sharper skill development, key skills for leaders of all identities. This was also an important conversation in the BIPOC Leader Lab, and one we can’t have in white dominant spaces where we’re often left defending or proving that we face marginalisation in the first place.
Seeing what we gain and develop along with what we lose is important in owning our agency and honing our skills as BIPOC Leaders.
EDI Lab for White Leader Secrets
Trust the process and don’t try to “fix” too early
Real change requires strong relationship, but white supremacy values product over process and solution over relationship. Large institutions have prioritized compliance with human rights rules over substantive change. There is a longstanding pattern of white-bodied people reinforcing their identity through rescuer/victim dynamics.
We need to approach race and racism from a different tempo and objective. Centering relationships and collaborative models of problem solving is the path towards transformative praxis.
Learning to repair is key to strong relationship
Experiencing rupture or tension in a relationship can sometimes feel like a painful surprise—evidence that we’re wrong or hopelessly flawed. Fearing conflict with BIPOC colleagues can impede the development of authentic relationships. It’s important to remember that white supremacy culture is conflict incompetent. Disagreement can be mistaken for aggression or rejection in white supremacy culture.
Instead, white leaders can focus on becoming conflict resilient. Expect conflict. Expect that relationships will rupture. The key skill is to learn how to repair, voice your own vulnerability, hear feedback and learn to make commitments to strengthen relationships moving forward.
The dominant culture does not model conflict resiliency. White supremacy gets stronger when we fail to openly address conflict. Anti-racism requires us to model conflict competence and relational resiliency.
Reject perfectionism in your expectations of relationships
White folks can sometimes fall into a trap of seeing their personal and working relationships with BIPOC folks as a reflection of their anti-racist prowess. That can unintentionally reinforce a kind of objectification in relationships, where BIPOC colleagues are symbols of our own personal development rather than our friends and colleagues. Signs that this could be happening include instances of trying to “impress” BIPOC colleagues or taking conflict in an inter-racial relationship extra personally.
Being conflict resilient doesn’t mean every inter-racial relationship needs to be super close. It’s okay to disagree. It’s okay to have a professional relationship that is more functional than affectionate. We need to temper our expectations of relationships with BIPOC folks; consider how having varying levels of closeness with colleagues is actually a sign that you’re in authentic relationship. Not every relationship with BIPOC colleagues will thrive. That’s okay. Keep going.
This also applies to the relationship with ourselves and our own learning process, and allowing ourselves to make mistakes as we work toward racial equity and justice.
Our relationship to the land is central to our anti racism
White supremacy culture values capital over community. White-bodied folks in North America in particular have been groomed to self actualize through home ownership. We are told that pioneers are our ancestors, we sometimes recognize street names as those that also adorn our family trees. Our relationship to the land is the context in which we have been trained to judge success, security, belonging, and national identity. Cultivating a relationship to the land beyond the idea of private property and capital is part of an anti-racist praxis.
Anti-racism and anti-colonial work is ongoing
We need to redefine our timelines. So many of us have been trained to itemise skill sets and accomplish in the name of credentialization and mastery. Anti-racist anti-colonial work is about a redefinition of the status quo. It is a central focus of our professional practice, not unlike budget review and quarterly planning. We need to build in room for failure, and we need to expect to never be finished this work.
Emotional fragility will be part of the process. This may feel hard but minoritized identities have been far more exhausted and for far longer. We can do hard things. Onward.
An invitation for all leaders
Creating equitable and inclusive work environments is no longer just a nice thing to do, it’s an organizational necessity: do you have the knowledge and skills to foster diversity and build inclusion in your work? If you’d like some support, consider applying to join us for the 2024 BIPOC Leader Lab or the EDI Lab for White Leaders.
As a seasoned change-maker and non-fiction author, Annahid has worked with hundreds of organizations and leaders to create more just and equitable futures. She’s a first generation immigrant woman of colour whose inaugural book—Breaking the Ocean: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion and Reconciliation documents her journey identifying and healing from racial trauma. Her latest book Bones of Belonging: Finding Wholeness in a White World is a set of poignant, humorous and timely stories translating everyday racism to ordinary life.
Annahid has a Masters in Adult Education and has trained in various psychological modalities to understand the root of systems change in human consciousness. She has spend more than two decades consulting, educating, coaching and writing on EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) issues across both public and private sectors.
Emma Lind
Senior Educator
Emma is a scholar-practitioner with a stubborn interest in how identity plays out in our relationships with others, and with ourselves. She’s moved by what we can learn about ourselves and the organizations we build by exploring what goes unsaid, unnoticed, unseen and unaddressed.
Emma has spent the better part of the last twenty years teaching and researching whiteness as a way of being and knowing, but it wasn’t until moving into fat activism that she really found the heartbeat in JEDI work. Her PhD (Carleton, 2021) focused on whiteness, settler colonial identity, and urban life, and her current teaching and writing is primarily on weight stigma in health care.
When we inhabit a body that marks us as “other”, we know what it feels like to have our bodies and our identities prodded, poked, scratched, and marred by a world that was not built for us. It can be painful, which leaves us with the choice to suffer this world or to change it. So, what can we do if we decide to change it?
Changing harmful patterns, especially around race, means doing something that can be terrifying: stepping bravely into difficult conversations around race. This can feel like a trial-and-error process (though it can be easier with expert EDI training). We need to learn to pick our battles, expand our viewpoints, and accept that sometimes we’ll get it wrong. We also need to learn to apologize, repair relationships, and move forward after embarrassment. Most importantly: we need to learn that we are not alone in struggling to have those brave conversations and wanting to make change.
What does it mean to have a brave conversation around race, and why does it feel so hard?
When we have a brave conversation around race, we step into potential discomfort and sometimes conflict to name, engage and change harmful racial patterns. This can look like intervening in a moment of bias or discrimination, openly naming an inequity that is being ignored, asking for something that requires vulnerability, or accepting that you have made a mistake (to name a few).
Talking about race and racial inequity, especially in North America, can be scary in today’s polarizing landscape. When we engage in conversations around race, our unconscious minds flag that we may be entering a zone of conflict, and we may feel or act in a variety of ways, including:
Defensiveness or shame at being wrong or not knowing something;
Feeling more empathy for sameness and fear towards difference;
Trouble seeing other people’s point of view;
Fear of breaking normative cultural rules and values;
Difficulty advocating for ourselves.
We can use the rider and the elephant metaphor to better understand why this happens:
The rider represents our conscious mind (which houses logic, reasoning, and abstract thought), and the elephant, a much larger part, represents our unconscious mind (the part that houses emotion, reactions, and gut instinct). Researchers believe humans don’t need to have a bad experience with a snake to fear it. It is passed down in our DNA. Thousands of years ago, when our ancestors saw an unfamiliar object on the road, they did not have the time to think – is that a snake or a stick? They had to respond and had to respond quickly. Their fight/flight response would kick in.
The fight/flight response lives at the elephant level, bypassing our rider to allow for quick decision-making. Reactions to snakes and spiders happen at the elephant level, but so do reactions to conflict.
Today, the topic of race can feel fraught with potential conflict, and our elephants notice this. When we engage in conversations around race, our elephants are often activated, moving into fight or flight to prepare us for conflict. However, this limits our ability to have honest, vulnerable, and meaningful conversations and, in turn, limits our ability to break harmful racial patterns.
Why bother having a brave conversation around race?
Over the last few years, Anima Leadership has run trainings, seminars, audits, and coaching sessions to support people in developing their equity skill set. Especially after the murder of George Floyd, many white allies came to us to educate themselves and set out to make change.
However, over the last year, this group, many of whom previously approached this work with passion and vigour, has started to fade. In feedback surveys, we have seen a trend of white allies suggesting this work is too uncomfortable for them now and that they are making a choice to walk away.
Equity work is hard. This is true. Having conversation after conversation about racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, transphobia etc. and how to stop it is hard. It is tiring work, and it involves an emotional commitment. But walking away from it does not mean the systems of oppression disappear. Our white allies can step back because they have the option to do so. Many of us, myself included, can not. We must keep having brave conversations about race because racism still exists.
What do I do next?
When our elephants are constantly activated, it can be exhausting. We cannot permanently exist in a state of flight or fight, but we need to remember that our elephant has a rider, and we want to strengthen the connection between the two. We can train our rider to notice when our elephant is activated, and in turn, we help ourselves to ground, recenter, and be present during conversations around race. The three key pieces for your rider to explore are:
Understand your “elephant” better Learn what activates or triggers your elephant (e.g. behaviours, words, actions, scenarios), and learn how this activation feels in your body so that you can identify it more quickly (e.g. sweaty palms, racing heart, spiraling thoughts).
Identify practices that allow you to support your elephant Find the ways that allow you to return to the present moment. This looks different for everyone and can range from taking a walk to deep breathing to physical touch
Practice and prepare Deep listening, de-escalation training, knowing how to provide constructive feedback, and exploring how identity and history contribute to conflict are all things your rider can practice to offer your elephant support.
This is an invitation
To the communities of colour who cannot leave the racial justice space because we are physically coded “other”: this is also an invitation to you to take care of your rider and your elephant. So often, we are thrown into brave conversations about race just because we exist in non-white bodies. In those conversations, many of us have learnt to sever the ties between our rider and elephant so that we are not perceived as too emotional. We do this to stay safe – at work, school, and public spaces. But the elephant still exists. If we do not foster a relationship with it, it can overpower us, leaving us burnt out and hopeless. We deserve to make choices born of both the rider and the elephant.
To our white allies who have taken a step back, take this time to build the capacity of your rider to care for your elephant. Think about how and why you needed to leave, set new goals for yourself, and consider who you need to rebuild and repair relationships and trust with. Then, come back into the racial justice space—because the door is still open if you are brave enough, and it’s a step we need to take collectively to achieve true inclusion in the workplace.
JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) Educator
Rebecca is a life-long learner and educator with a passion for creating healthy communities. As a first-generation immigrant and cis woman of colour, she wants to understand how our identities engage with each other and with the world around us, and to create spaces where people of all identities can thrive. She has spent the last 10 years in non-traditional educational settings developing and facilitating harm reduction, community engagement and JEDI work.
Join Annahid Dashtgard, and Shakil Choudhury in a conversation about equity, diversity and inclusion.
Anima Leadership co-founders Annahid Dashtgard and Shakil Choudhury host an interactive conversation about this tricky moment in equity, diversity and inclusion work.
Topics include where we are in challenging times, how we can navigate these changes together as a community, and how Anima Leadership can offer some extra support.
For more about taking a harm reduction approach to EDI work in these polarizing times.
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Compassion and Justice leadership in Polarizing Times
January 21st, 22nd and 23rd
Anima Conference 2025
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