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- Choosing values over profits, and a favor
Choosing values over profits, and a favor
What if there are lots of valid ways to measure success?
Kay Coughlin
June 25, 2024
June 25, 2024
Over the weekend, I saw a post about how hard it is to run a “successful” business without compromising on your values and ethics. And I felt that so hard.
As it turns out, we’re taught that the only metrics that matter are: ever-increasing dollars, numbers of registrants, rate of renewals, rankings on lists and recognition in journals. And sure, these can be useful metrics sometimes.
But imagine for a moment how different the world would be if we saw caring about humans as a worthy metric. If what we chose to focus on was making a difference to one human at a time, or being a human who is a member of a truly supportive communities.
This is coming up for me now because I’ve made a significant shift in my own business in the past year (more on the specifics of that in future messages). A handful of amazing people helped me to see that while I truly thought I was being inclusive and justice-focused with my work, I wasn’t.
So, for the past year, I’ve been laser-focused on finding ways to reach leaders who we marginalize (and by “we,” I mean “me,” also 😞), especially those who are in social justice. This is what led me to experiment with my new “buy one, gift one” business model.
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I’m not kidding around about this. Here’s how this works:
If you need business coaching and you have a heart for social, racial and economic justice and equity, please email me.* If you have the means to pay, this is your chance to get coaching AND share your privilege with a leader who just doesn’t have the money to invest in coaching right now.
If you need coaching but don’t have the resources to pay, you can receive “gifted” coaching; email me to find out more (no humiliating hoops to jump through or applications to fill out, I promise).
And if you don’t need coaching right now but you want to support the gifting fund, go here to make a contribution.
Much more on all of this to come! But for today, please know that I’m deliberately expanding my definition of metrics and success to include YOU, as a human I care about.
AND NOW, the favor…
On Thursday, you’re going to get an email ad from me, telling you about Beehiiv. Please click on it. Every click could net $1 for me, and all ad revenues will go directly into my fund to give the gift of coaching. That’s right, just by clicking on that ad, you can fund social justice. Plus, I really do like the Beehiiv platform, so I’m happy to ask you to find out more. So I can receive their money 😁
I’ve never done anything like this before so I’m taking a chance. But if it will help me gift more coaching to social justice leaders, why not try? Especially since this is a way I can continue to experiment with my new business model, and stay aligned with my values and ethics.
Here’s to finding ways to do business that’s aligned with social justice,
Kay Coughlin, business and leadership coach for non-profits and social justice organizations