…within individual cultural groups.
Words can also create an inadvertent definition of accepted norms or beliefs held by a cultural group.
In turn, that message (although inadvertently) is then communicated to others – the outsiders.
Thereafter, not due to any fault of the outsiders – they now believe an inaccurate perception of a population.
“Words are containers for power” — Joyce Meyer
Words to self-marginalize, such as “empower” and “too” push my buttons.
A lawyer told me awhile back, “You have the power, so use it”. We were looking to him to “empower” us in our decision-making. That was a defining moment in my life.
A prominent lady commented, “We too, are America”. I wrongfully jumped down her throat about her statement.
The undertone of her comment really pissed me off.
To me, it communicates wearing misery as a badge of honor. Or an un-won civil war mentality.
Now those wars have already been fought and won.
The biggest risk in business when working in Mergers and Acquisitions, is the period of time post-acquisition.
Whether or not an acquisition makes sense on financial reports or every other model of due diligence, becomes irrelevant if the merging of two distinct corporate cultures fail (or refuse to merge).
This is where I believe we are at in American history.
We all are responsible in doing our part to make sure that the ultimate merger does not fail.
We need to pivot from fighting, pivot from misery, pivot from civil war – we won – all of America has won.
We have reached this pivotal milestone. The acquisition has been transacted.
I, for one, do not want to go down in history as an Indigenous Woman that failed when the baton was handed to me in this relay race we call life.
Words. Words will define what we do in this “post-acquisition” moment in time.