Target. Converse. Mielle. Starbucks. The Washington Commanders.

Different companies. Different controversies. Different communities.

But there's a question underneath moments like these that I can't stop thinking about: How does something make it through the room?

Major organizations don't operate with one person making every decision.

There are executives. Marketing departments. Creative teams. Agencies. Consultants. Legal teams.

Review processes. Multiple opportunities for someone to look at what's being created and ask:

Wait. How could this land with the people we're asking to support this brand?

And yet, sometimes the consumer becomes the person raising that question after the campaign, product, or message has already reached the public. So maybe the deeper conversation isn't simply about what went wrong.

Maybe it's about what is happening inside the rooms where decisions are being made.

When the consumer becomes the final approval process, why does the public sometimes identify cultural or historical concerns after something has already traveled through layers of corporate review?

Who's in the room versus who's being heard because representation means something different when people also have the freedom to challenge an idea, disagree, and raise concerns.

Creating cultures where dissent has value : what changes when questioning an idea isn't treated as being difficult, but as part of making the work stronger.

Putting consideration at the center why understanding the human beings who experience your brand should be reflected in the culture, systems, and decisions behind it.

Why does the consumer so often become the final approval process?

Did someone see the concern before it reached the public? Did someone raise it?

And if they did, was their voice taken seriously?

Because if you're asking people to become consumers of your brand, there's something that comes before the transaction: You have to consider them as human beings.

SHAPE YOUR SOUL. SHIFT YOUR WORLD. COME HOME TO YOUR POWER.

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