Welcome & Introduction
This month's blog features Katherine's favorite podcasts, our July ad, 2022 Workplace Diversity and Inclusion D&I Calendar, The United States Supreme Court, and Denver Pride 2022.
What’s going on with S4SB?
Katherine Almy
Summer is usually our “slow” time if you can call it that. The truth is, we’re always pretty busy, but things do feel a bit lazier for us around this time of the year. And slow times are a great time for reflection. Recently, I’ve been reflecting on all the podcasts I hear about and how I’m not tuned into them at all. I catch interesting talks here and there and am oftentimes inspired by something I hear, but I haven’t been actively making it a part of my life. So, I’ve decided to look around and subscribe to a couple of good podcasts. I started with Adam Grant’s Work Life. I heard a talk he gave about procrastination that gave me a new perspective on my son (who invented procrastination). I started following Adam on Instagram, and his posts are usually short words of wisdom, since I often relate to and find good meaning in his posts, he seemed like an obvious place to start with my podcast adventure.
I’m also really interested in Shankar Vedantam’s Hidden Brain. I usually hear an ad for his show, and it sounds interesting, but I’m not in my car at the right time, so I miss the show. With the podcast, I can listen to it when it works best for me. He recently spoke to Leidy Klotz about his book Subtract. In a nutshell, he’s talking about the fact that it’s difficult for us to wrap our brain’s around the benefits of less, even when scaling back is the obvious answer to a problem. It’s not that scaling back is always the answer, it’s just that it’s hard to recognize it when that is the answer. Klotz gives the example of building a Lego bridge with his son. They ran into a problem when the two supports for their bridge were at different heights. Klotz’s response was to add a brick to the shorter column, but before he had found the right size to add to his column, his young son had already solved the problem by removing a brick from the taller column. He hadn’t yet internalized our societal belief that more is always better.
Running your own business is exciting and I think most of us small business owners wouldn’t have it any other way, but it can be overwhelming. Listening to Klotz’s theories made me wonder how often a stressful situation could be made more manageable by scaling back, instead of trying to add more stuff to the mix. It’s something to think about if your business is stressing you out.
July Ad
Charlie Maupin
I don't usually share my ads on here,
but I couldn't resist - look how cute! Feeling inspired by the summer time and eating
watermelon, check out our July ad! Also, a friendly reminder that we do offer one-on-one consulting services. Feel free to give us a call if you want more information!
DEI Discussions & Community Opportunities
2022 Workplace Diversity and Inclusivity D&I Calendar
Charlie Maupin
Recently while I was browsing through some DEI articles, I stumbled upon this awesome calendar that shows important diversity and inclusion calendar dates. Here’s the link to check it out! This calendar may serve as a reminder that many of our traditional holidays have a back story that isn’t told correctly in our traditional history classes. There are also many holidays that small businesses should acknowledge, and this can help remind us all!
The United States Supreme Court
Katherine Almy
While I am not surprised at the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, I am deeply saddened by it. Not only am I concerned for young women in this country, who now have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers, but I am also very troubled by what this action means to our democracy. I am troubled by the extremely low confidence the populace now has in the Court, which for most of my life has been the voice of reason and a source of hope when other branches of the government seemed out of whack. I am very concerned about what the future holds, as the Court seems poised to start dismantling other rights that have been hard-fought for. These are unprecedented times, and I don’t have any answers or plan of action.
I did, however, find some solace in this New York Times article by Robin Marty, author of The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America. If you’re wanting to find ways to fight back, and support women’s rights, check out the article here.
Recently, a pregnant friend told me this was her third child, and after this, she was done. “No more kids,” she said. As if she had the right to make that decision about her life. This is what’s at stake. Fortunately, for her, she lives in California, where she does still have that right. But as of June 24, 2022, millions of people no longer have the right to decide that three children are the perfect number for them. Or two. Or none. The size of their families will be determined by law. No matter that you can’t afford to give another human being a good life, or that your first two children are a handful and a third would not get the attention they deserve, or you’re not cut out for raising children, or you don’t believe it’s right to bring children into a world with climate disaster in process. It doesn’t matter what you want for your life. It’s not your life anymore. The courts of this land will decide what your life should be like. Whether you go to college or raise children. Whether you pursue your career or raise children. Whether you live a quiet life with an only child or raise several. It’s not up to you anymore.
Denver Pride 2022
Charlie Maupin
This year I got the opportunity to go to Denver Pride with some of my close friends. I was very excited to go, and then once everything with Roe v. Wade happened, I was concerned that it was going to be rioting and wasn’t sure how I felt. I was worried that the pride event, which is supposed to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, was going to turn into something else. We went anyway, with plans that if anything went out of hand we would leave. While we were there, I wasn’t surprised to see a bomb squad at the event. It actually made me feel safer that they were there. It ended up being a whole lot of fun, and I am so glad that I get to support this community as an ally!
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