with Pamela Muldoon
Anne and Pamela discuss Black Lives Matter and the impact of “Taking a Stand” as a business. The Bosses discuss the role of values, morals, and beliefs, and how they can be woven into a brand message. This moment in time is an opportunity to educate and grow. Look inward and decide how you, and your business, will interact with important issues.
As a white woman I am still working on educating myself on how to best support and amplify Black voices. I’d like to offer the VO BOSS podcast platform as a means to help do this, and invite POC voices that would like to submit their stories or statements on issues of racism. Listening to stories from friends and colleagues in the industry has truly moved and changed me, and I want to do my part to help educate and be a supportive ally. We will air the statements unedited on upcoming episode(s) of VO BOSS in their entirety. If possible, please keep statements to around three minutes long. Please upload an mp3 – FirstName_LastName.mp3 here at this link.
The first ten people to email me with their intent to submit and record at anne@voboss.com will have their stories aired, and we’ll add future episodes depending on how many submissions we receive.
The first ten people to email me at anne@voboss.com will be guaranteed to have their submissions aired, and we’ll add future episodes depending on how many submissions we receive.
If you have any questions or would like to talk, please feel free to set up a call with me here
Thank you, and I’m listening – Anne
Takeaways
Quick Concepts from Today’s Episode:
The combination of the perfect storm that has led to all this unrest has gotten people to think differently about taking a stand
It’s interesting that some find the idea of equality or treating people as human to be a political statement
Be a good human
How your company approaches morals, ethics, and values, is becoming a forefront issue
How do I get involved, what do I do, what can I say to make a difference? This is a tough, inner, looking at yourself moment
“I’m privileged that I can take a stand in my business, and if someone doesn’t agree with me, I can afford to let them go. I don’t look at it in dollars and cents, but I look at it as what I put out, I attract back to me. Not everyone is as fortunate as that. For me, if I didn’t get business because of it, that’s okay and I’m fine with that.” – Anne
I’ve always been on a platform for education – it’s in my blood and who I am. This moment in time is super educational and I’m committed to help educate on the issues I believe in. I’m all for moving forward, educating, and evolving.
This is a movement of equality, and your feelings bleed over into who you are as a business owner
Like attracts like. Don’t we want to work with clients who believe in a similar value system and equality?
This is an important opportunity to really think inward about your beliefs
Decide the mission and values that you want for your company
At the end of the day, we all have to look at ourselves in the mirror and decide how we are going to participate
Words are one thing, but actions are more important
Every day is an opportunity to take a stand with your brand
Every little step is a step forward
“My intent, desire, and commitment moving forward is to be more inclusive and to elevate BIPOC voices on the podcast.” – Anne
All of us as business owners should ask ourselves: “how can I incorporate my ethics and morals into my business in a positive way?” Once we do so, we can progress.
I hope all BOSSES out there feel empowered with more education and move forward with positivity and love.
Take a stand. Be a BOSS
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Referenced in this Episode
Direct links to things we brought up ++
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How to support Black Lives Matter
Recorded on ipDTL.com
Editing by Carl Bahner
Full Episode Transcript
>> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS. Now let’s welcome your host Anne Ganguzza.
Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I’m your host, Anne Ganguzza, along with my illustrious special guest cohost Ms. Pamela Muldoon. Hey Pamela.
Pamela: Hi Anne. [laughs]
Anne: How are you, Pamela?
Pamela: Illustrious. I’m good. I’m even better now that I’m illustrious.
Anne: You are illustrious. Well.
[both laugh]
Anne: Well, I will say though that the past, you know, week has been, oh gosh, you know, who am I kidding? The past, what, since the beginning – 2020.
Pamela: And it’s not even six months old. [laughs]
Anne: Yeah, 2020 has just been a year –
Pamela: You can just end right there, it has just been a year. [laughs]
Anne: A year, exactly.
Pamela: In six months. In five months. [laughs]
Anne: I think that in the past couple of weeks, you know, there has just been a lot of unrest in addition to the coronavirus, with the Black Lives Matter, you know, movement, and just unrest in general politically, all that stuff. So I wanted to talk a little bit today about the, about businesses and taking a stand, taking a stand and maybe the price of taking a stand or the cost of taking a stand to your business and – or even if that matters, right?
Pamela: Sure, yep.
Anne: But just taking a stand as a business entity, what does it mean and how can it affect you? I’ll tell you what, I know that I typically am very quiet on social media. I have always said don’t get into government, don’t get into politics – don’t get into government, politics, or religion when you’re talking on social media because your potential client might, you know, be seeing that, and it might, you know, just, you might lose business because of it. But I will tell you what, the combination of, and I think you’ve mentioned to me earlier, the perfect storm which has led to all of this unrest, I think has really gotten people to think differently about taking a stand. I mean I posted something in one of my Facebook groups for Black Lives Matter and I was thinking of it in a simply humanitarian way, just to be a good human, and this is how I feel, and it all of a sudden turned into political comments galore on the thread. And I had some people saying thank you for taking a stand, and for me, I was like, wow, I was not even thinking of it that way. I was just —
Pamela: Little did you know you were being this activist, Anne.
Anne: Little did I know. I was just thinking I was being a good human. I don’t know, Pam, what are your thoughts on – and I know you work with a lot of the different companies. I have seen other companies come forth and take a stand on this. What is your thought?
Pamela: I think it’s an important time, right, and it’s interesting that we have found kind of what you are alluding to, that you were brave. There is this perception that there is bravery around supporting humanity. [laughs] What does that say about just life in general right now? Just the way things have kind of percolated over the past few years, right? It’s interesting that we find the idea of equality or just simply treating people as human to be a political statement. And unfortunately for some, it really is – it falls into that category although that was not your intent. Right?
Anne: No, and it’s interesting that you said it was not even thinking that, when I posted Black Lives Matter in my group. It wasn’t even that, it was for goodness’ sake, people!
Pamela: Of course!
Anne: This is important and how can it not be? And I literally, call me naïve, people that know me, I never, ever in social media expressed a political view or religious point of view just because I have always cautioned people about that. For me, I don’t mind taking a stand when it comes to being a human being. And I don’t know. Pamela, do you think that the events have led up to this where businesses are now reconsidering because – there has just been a lot of things happening in 2020, that I think people’s emotions are just…
Pamela: How your company approaches morals, ethics and values I think are becoming more of a forefront issue than ever before. Right? We touched on this in a previous episode a little bit when we were talking about the coronavirus effect on branding, and companies and marketing. Even then there was already a sputter of this with how the payouts were being dealt with, right, certain companies were getting the payouts and the backlash they were getting, etc. So the value conversation started to kind of percolate with that activity, if you think about it, right? Then this comes to the forefront, this horrible incident of, you know, George Floyd’s murder in Indianapolis. I’ll be straight up honest with you, Anne, I’m from Minnesota. I lived in Minneapolis for over 25 years. In that area where the first target started on fire, I lived there for a year and a half. I know that area well and I have been sitting here in Nevada just for about a week and a half just how do I, kind of to your point, how do I get involved? What do I do, what can I say? Where can I make a difference? This is a tough inner, really looking at yourself moment, right? I also think that regardless of whether you come forward or not, it’s just a matter of how do I – I think we have to look at it personally, like you said, Anne, right, I personally felt this was – of course I support this. This is a movement of equality and that bleeds over into who you are as a businessperson, an entrepreneur, business owner, etc., and it’s important to be okay with that. I really believe that. And you know, if like attracts like, if we look at that concept of attracting, you know, clients and partners, don’t we want to work with clients and partners that also believe in a similar value system, in a similar –
Anne: Well yes.
Pamela: – way of life for all humans?
Anne: I think you bring up a great point there. And I made that point not too long ago that yeah, kind of the like attracts like. And I would hope, first of all I’m privileged and fortunate that I can take a stand in my business. And so if somebody takes a look at that stand and feels that they don’t agree with me or they’re not in alignment and they don’t want to work with me, I can afford to have that happen in my business. And I don’t even necessarily look at it in terms of dollars and cents because I have always looked at my business in the sense where I put out what I want to attract back to me. And so I don’t necessarily even have to deal with people that are not going to – or that are going to either have issues with my stance on certain issues or the way that I drive my business. I don’t usually have to encounter it, so I feel very fortunate that that is the case. Not everybody is as fortunate as that.
Pamela: It’s not like every conversation you have, especially you know in the voiceover business for example, you’re applying or you’re auditioning for something and it’s not like you’re filling out a questionnaire of what your values and morals are. Right? [laughs] These are, it’s not necessarily like that. But I think this is a really important opportunity. I don’t care if you’re an individual, independent, freelance type artist like a voiceover talent, or if you have an agency, or you’re production house or a company that’s, you know, large company looking to hire any of our talent. This is an opportunity to really think inward of what is it that we really believe. You know, I have a business coaching background and one of the areas I used to work with clients is the mission and vision statement process. Maybe this is an opportunity for all of us just to take a step back and really think what is the vision I want for my business, and my company, or the work that I do, and to your point, like attract like kind of concept, it will happen without being, worrying about the politics of it.
Anne: Is this not the same as, you know, a company with a diversity and inclusivity statement in their, you know, mission statement? Is that not something that you know businesses do? I mean that’s a thing. They create a mission statement, and they, and that part of that is you know diversity and inclusion or at least that’s the way it’s been for the past few years. Is this not just an extension of that?
Pamela: I think in some ways it’s an extension, but to our earlier part of the conversation, it was this perfect storm of protest, right, and of course the eight minutes, 46 seconds is going to be with us for the rest of our lives, and we all got to see literally, see this play out. And it changed people. I know it changed me. It changed people. And that’s not a bad thing. Right, Anne? I mean, it’s horrible what happened, but this act is going to – remember when the black lives movement, Black Lives Matter movement was happening earlier in the decade, right, there’s something different, right, about this time. Part of that, we talked about the Covid or the coronavirus piece, when you’ve got millions of Americans unemployed, they have a little more time on their hands to get involved and to be involved. I think that’s why we’ve seen so much with the length of it when we’re moving into the, going to be the third week by the time we are recording this. And it’s forcing all of us to relook at our own American history and look at discussions and watch. It’s just changing. And we were deciding whether this was really taking a stand. Right? I want to touch on that a little bit, because you know, taking a stand is a powerful statement, and I think because of the intensity of this moment, it fits. At the same time, your intention was not taking a stand, you were being a human being.
Anne: Yeah, exactly.
Pamela: Right?
Anne: There was no political motivation at all in terms of that, and it’s funny how it turned into that. And I had a, you know, I also had a second, another post that I had put on my own personal timeline, and then also that became very political, and I kept trying to tell people on my thread, this is not political. This is not political. And ultimately I had to take the thread down because it became political. Whatever stance I ever had that said I, you know, no politics or religion, it happened. And I was OK with it because for me I think you know now things have shifted for me as well. They always shifted, they have been evolving and shifting for a while, but I think this was yet another evolution in my business where I am making adjustments in terms of what I’m OK with, what I’m putting out there and the people that I’m going to be working with.
Pamela: I think it’s okay. I mean, at the end of the day we all have to look at ourselves in the mirror, and decide how we are going to be a participant.
Anne: Exactly.
Pamela: For me personally, I tend to be a get in the mix kind of person. My son actually lives just a few blocks from where all the initial rioting happened. I didn’t sleep at all that first week. He’s in Minneapolis. I’m in Nevada. The reason that’s kind of important to this conversation is because I joked with him about a week and a half later, I said it was probably a good thing I wasn’t there because I would’ve been in it too. I would have been in the mix too. Because I do, you know, my heart is right there with them. And so I have been struggling sitting here in Nevada with, am I being – I’m not in the mix. So am I still moving forward? So I think that’s where having a business and how we start to treat or change or associate with values and morals of others inside of what we do as a business owner, that’s a way for us to also move forward in a positive way and to help make change.
Anne: Absolutely, and I think that what is wonderful about this in terms of that, that can be incorporated into the business, is the educational component of things. I have always, always, always been on a platform for education. I think it’s in my blood, it’s who I am. I think that moving forward, this can be, this is super educational and I’m committed to doing my part to help educate regarding the issues that I’m going to, I guess, take a stand or believe in, absolutely. I mean, what else can I say about it, really? For me if I didn’t get business because of it, that’s okay. You know, I’m absolutely fine with that, and I am all for moving forward and progressing forward and educating and evolving.
Pamela: Absolutely. You know, I think what you intended as just – I don’t want to minimize it by any stretch, as just a simple statement of solidarity basically, and it may have turned into something political. Remember that those that made it political, to them it was a political statement.
Anne: Yeah.
Pamela: And it may say more about their reaction to it than it does about your intent.
Anne: Oh absolutely, absolutely. Yeah.
Pamela: That’s, you know, it is what it is. People have their opinions, but I think the idea of our country, our world moving towards any form of equality, and that we as human beings should all be treated equally to remove that as a political idea and have it be just a human societal way of life, what a wonderful world that would be.
Anne: Right? Absolutely.
Pam: [laughs]
Anne: So most forward in terms of, you know we have been talking about content marketing, do you feel that it’s necessary, or do you think, like what are your thoughts about how to incorporate this into our business, if it is, you know, taking a stand or is it something that we need to put into play and make visible to others, or is it something that sits on a mission statement on our website maybe or maybe not at all? What are your thoughts?
Pamela: I think about this a lot. Because you don’t want to, you don’t want to just follow what everybody else is doing and then it just doesn’t mean anything anymore, right? And I think that’s the danger of just the statement. We have seen in the last, I think especially in the last, was it, blackout Tuesday, right, that happened, we saw a lot of companies putting out statements around inclusiveness and their stand, and they believe that equality is X this and that, you know, all those different things. And I think those are important at least in terms of putting something out. The bigger question is, and I think we’re seeing this as leaders are asking the question, yeah, words are one thing, but actions are something altogether different. Right? So in terms of content, some of the ways I have seen organizations approach this is for example you are a podcast host, really including different points of view. Maybe you did not do it consciously in the past – again, like attracts like, right? Maybe you did not do it consciously in the past, but that is one way I have seen a number of different business and brands who have, say, a podcast out there, bringing in inclusive language, inclusive guests, those types of things.
Anne: Right, right, which is, which we have done, and actually one of my next series is going to be incorporating some of that in terms of giving a platform, an educational platform. So that is my, that is my intent and my desire and my commitment to do that.
Pamela: Yeah. I think it’s those activities, right, it’s those small little steps forward. It doesn’t mean we weren’t – we were intentionally not doing that before, but our eyes have been opened in a different way so now we get to intentionally include and ensure that we are being much more 360 degrees with what we do versus just 180 and things like that. I’ve also seen conversations with brands speaking about, you know, ensuring that their partnerships, because content includes a lot of partnership opportunities as well, their partnerships fall in that same line, looking for inclusivity and finding ways to incorporate those conversations. I think the jury is still out in terms of how content is going to continue this. I think our hope is that we don’t just do it now and then three months from now it starts to – you know how we get. It’s kind of like working out. We go back to our old routine. Right? It feels different. It feels different. I don’t think it will.
Anne: I’m hopeful in keeping things open absolutely for this because it is something I believe in and I hope that it is something that will move forward for positive change.
Pamela: Absolutely. It’s a positive step in the right direction. Kudos to you, Anne, for being the activist that you didn’t know you were.
Anne: And it’s not even that, really. It’s just, I want to say that it’s not about me, and again just trying to be a good human. I will be putting forth into action, as I am committed to it, moving forward. I think all of us as business owners can make that decision in terms of, is this something that I can incorporate, this stand, this belief, this mission statement, is it something that you can incorporate into your business, and will it affect you in a positive or a negative way? I am committed to having it affect me in a positive way, and I think that if we move forward with that attitude, it can help us.
Pamela: And to your point, positive way, every little step is a step forward. It doesn’t have to always be this big, expensive change in our business or in how we decide to lead our companies. It’s those small steps that incrementally will make a difference for sure.
Anne: Well thanks, Pam. I hope all of you BOSSes out there, you know, feel empowered to be able to take a stand in your business and have it move forward through positivity, love and education. Great discussion, Pamela. I mean, we could go on, we could go on forever on this one.
Pamela: I know. [laughs] I think it touches all of us in a different way. So I think it’s important, and I’m glad we had a chance to spend a little time with it today. Thank you.
Anne: OK, everybody. Go on out there, take a stand, be a BOSS, and we love it, and we will see you next week. Big shout-out to my sponsor ipDTL. You too can communicate and connect like a BOSS, and find out more at ipdtl.com. All right, guys, have a great week, and we’ll see you next week. Thanks.
Pamela: Bye!
Anne: Bye!
>> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host, Anne Ganguzza, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast-to-coast connectivity via ipDTL.