World Pride Sydney! Our city is finally alive, bright with colour and has significantly transitioned from drab to bright, bold and electric.
These last few years, the world has spun in different directions. As a result, communication and emotions felt polarised and chaotic.
I listen to people's stories most of my workday.
Communication has changed. The art of encoding and decoding verbal and physical cues has slowly eroded. The beautiful nuances of language should be treasured, not discarded.
World Pride Sydney has highlighted how much society has changed in the last few years and how we have passively accepted it. In the past ten days, Sydney has changed and is vibrant. People are smiling, companies have jumped on the LGBQT+ rainbow, and our communication and behaviour have changed. We are conscious of being inclusive, not judging, and our Tribes unite.
Rainbows REPRESENT the acceptance of everyone - LGBQT+ - tall, short, young, elderly we are included.
The Pandemic polarised communication styles and empowered poor behaviour.
Cancel culture was normalised.
The nuances of language were quickly eroded. The ability to encode and decode body language and verbal and physical cues was lost.
Last year, much was written about the "Great".. resignation, quiet quitting....... But, again, the "Great" provided an excuse for not being accountable for poor behaviour.
Cyberbullying and social media bullying became the new tool for dividing society. Unfortunately, sitting behind a screen and defaming someone without considering the impact on their mental health is normal.
Andrew Tate has amassed a fortune polarising "masculine behaviour" at the expense of women, girls, and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Social Media apps' algorithms influence behaviours and groupthink is driven by gender and age.
Global companies are terminating up to 30% of their global workforce by email.
These are all examples of communication without compassion, empathy and the nuances that destroy culture, diversity, inclusion and society.
World Pride has reopened my eyes to what our society was only a few years ago. Since I was a child, Sydney has been proud to be the cheerleading squad for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Today, we need to take action and be courageous.
We must say STOP and start treating everyone as humans, not robots.
Diversity and Inclusion are the fundamental rights we have been working towards as a society. Yet, this one-dimensional communication style and toxic behaviours that have evolved in the last few years have created a scary new path, which is the antithesis of Inclusion.
We all want to belong. We all crave safety and being part of a Tribe.
Courage is your greatest Superpower. So let's stand together, be courageous and speak up to create a safe and caring Tribe.
Let Rainbows shine bright across our society forever.