By Scott Steward
People-First Economy Online Summit (https://peoplefirsteconomyonlinesummit.com). A menu of speakers for the reader to reflect on and choose from. The online seminar is now only accessible through subscription. The speakers are mostly concerned with intentional inclusive economy that turns away from waste stream fossil fuel dependence.
Ryan Honeyman, “White People: Let’s Talk about White Supremacy” Ryan Honeyman is a consultant and coauthor of The B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good.
People First is an economic summit and the subject of white supremacy is important, but isn’t white supremacy an extreme about violent racism? After listening to the presentation you might appreciate that the question just asked likely comes from a place of not wanting to jostle our internalized mannerisms of white solidarity. Along with creating a people first economy needs to come the reconciliation of genocide and slavery that built the present economy. More whiteness needs to be addressed than you know. We get closer to racial parity when we see personal growth as the greater achievement, when being outspoken about anti-racism is a norm, when we routinely redirect our children away from society’s racist default settings. Justice is not a neutral position and having full faith and credit embedded in all people of the People First economy means being uncomfortably principled about dismantling racism.
What do I do? Ryan and Tiffany suggest to “look at yourself and in doing that have grace with yourself as you might see some things you don’t like.” Pick up a book like Ibram Kendi’s “Stamped from the Beginning; Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.” “There is no progress if we are not thinking about what’s actually happening in the living experience of others.” Ryan’s bonus: Exclusive Podcast Interview with Tim Wise, Activist and Bestselling Author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son.
Nilima Bhat: “Shakti Leadership for a People-First Economy” Nilima Bhat is a visionary, speaker, facilitator, and coach in the fields of Personal Mastery, Leadership, Gender Equality, and Wellbeing.
“Do we do power over or power with?” We lose power when we wish to be liked, or validated or accepted. Without addressing the wholeness of our masculine and feminine energies, we continue to create lose lose for ourselves and others. There are good and bad qualities of masculine and feminine and each of us can shift toward good qualities where our present authentic power is expressed. Nilima makes an example of her own Shakti dynamic, “the only real dance I have to do is move out of being needy and judgmental and move to being compassionate and self-care.” 
Everyone’s male and female strength and weakness pair is different, but the restoration of authentic leadership is the same, a win win reality.
“As leaders of the new economy we first have to get present and tap into that creativity.” Presence brings us to a place of equanimity where there is a creative power “to innovate conscious outcomes.” We need to tap into our higher self, our authentic self, and it is in this agency that power comes from Shakti. To come into your full power you need to come into your whole person. The two sides are Shiva and Shakti. We need to heal the split within. A conscious leader is a whole person, an equitable person. Where power is administered from equity, there is right action. Nilima’s bonus: “The Presence Practice” 10 minute guided meditation.
Laurie Lane-Zucker Impact Entrepreneurship, Impact Investing, and the Impact Economy Mr. Zucker is Founder and CEO of Impact Entrepreneur, LLC.
Laurie walks between academia and philanthropic institutions with the mission to “support a global movement of impact entrepreneurs who are building on “impact economy.” Working on this and related missions since the 1990’s, Laurie has focused on systemic change. He uses Steve Waddell’s “Stanford Social Innovation Review” (Spring 2018) definition of transformational change. Transformational change “happens at a the level of deep reflection regarding the purpose of the system and with the intent of renegotiating power dynamics as a means for re-envisioning the system itself.” Day 6’s previous speaker Nilima Bhat also spoke to power dynamics as being key to addressing large system problems, although her focus was on the inner-self power dynamic.
Laurie wants to move beyond capitalism “yes or no” and quotes John Fullerton (Capital Institute) “the world needs to move beyond the standard choices of capitalism or socialism.” For the sake of having any chance keeping pace with the climate crises, Laurie advocates for “integrated financial strategies” that combine philanthropic, grants, low interest loans and loan guarantees to get the $1 trillion in philanthropic funds flowing into impact investment. A key problem with philanthropic funding systems change is that “it (philanthropy) was not designed to change systems, but rather to fix the potholes in the current systems.”
Laurie expands on the priorities that were derived from the “Philanthropy Transforming Finance: Building an Impact Economy” 2018 Rockefeller Institute Report. If you are not wonkishly enthusiastic about institutional financing then go directly to the bonus podcast which is a refreshing and unfettered conversation with John Elkington about the stakes and the mistakes of getting, the now 30 year, old triple bottom line correct. Laurie’s bonus: a fireside chat with John Elkington – Recalling and Updating the Triple Bottom Line: Laurie Lane-Zucker’s Fireside Chat with John Elkington
Our what?
Define “reconciliation”.
How do you know what I know?
And what do you mean exactly by ‘addressing whiteness’?
Agree about the personal growth part, but what do you see as the definition of the achievement of the apparent goal of ‘racial parity’.
It’s the norm from some people, it will never be the norm with racists.
That sounds good, but can you give a concrete example of directing children away from society’s default settings?
Agree with everything written that she said. Maybe I need to tap into my Shiva and Shakti to find the compassion to deal with my feelings of repulsion towards the blather from first speaker.