October 22nd – Fire and Silence: Why this book at this time?

Many BIPOC and minoritized leaders are under-served in the workplace context, caught between academic tomes spouting complex theoretical lingo out of touch with practical realities, business books written by and for other white leaders or self-help books with no analysis of power.  In this café, Annahid Dashtgard shares her journey working and facing the gaps in various sectors, identifying the key threads essential for BIPOC leaders and how to tie them together.  This session names these key pillars, meant to challenge and subvert the norms our systems are based on.

November 19th – Fire and Silence: Navigating Lateral Violence   

Particularly for BIPOC and minoritized leaders, this café addresses the reality of facing backlash from other minoritized peers, especially the more influence we gain.  Referencing recent examples from popular culture as well as from the workplace, this café addresses common reactions of jealousy, embarrassment and competition from our peers and how to navigate these without compromising who we are in the process. How do we navigate behaviours meant to pull us away from our purpose and ultimately from the big picture vision?

January 21st –Fire and Silence: Changing the Game

The last in the series of cafes addressing topics in the upcoming Fire and Silence book, this café addresses how racialized and other minoritized leaders, because of our experiences, have the perspective and capacity to change the way power is used in our systems to hurt rather than help, exploit rather than build.  Changing the way power operates means being aware of power and learning to use it well in the workplace context, particularly learning to hold multiple identities and ambiguities in how we lead. We need to lead beyond the binary, being brave enough to see and voice multiplicities, making the tent bigger and bringing more into the fold.

You can now watch our previous cafés on our YouTube Channel.