What I Didn't Know I Wasn't Seeing

 Coming with Me is a willingness to see more.

I entered this course believing strongly that people should be treated equally, that hard work matters, and that as a leader my responsibility was to support the person standing in front of me. Those beliefs are still coming with me, but they are no longer enough on their own. What has changed is my awareness of everything that may be operating around that person before I ever enter the conversation.

Intersectionality challenged me to recognize that social identities do not operate independently, and that privilege and disadvantage can exist simultaneously depending on social location. The discussions of meritocracy pushed me even further. I still believe effort, accountability, and mindset matter, but I now question who had access to the relationships, resources, safety, recognition, and opportunities that allowed that effort to become visible in the first place. That was an uncomfortable shift for me because it required me to examine explanations for my own success that I had carried for much of my adult life.

Coming with Me is also the distinction between inclusion and belonging. Throughout the course, I repeatedly returned to the realization that inviting someone into an existing system does not necessarily make that system equitable. This became increasingly clear through our discussions of gender, multiculturalism, reconciliation, and globalization. Whether considering whose leadership is viewed as legitimate, whose credentials are recognized, or whose knowledge is valued, I have learned to look beyond whether someone has been given access and ask what happens after they enter the room.

Perhaps most importantly, Coming with Me is greater responsibility as a leader. Awareness without action changes very little. I cannot assume that because a policy appears neutral, an organization values diversity, or I personally intend to treat people fairly that everyone experiences the same opportunities. I can listen, ask better questions, examine whose voices are missing, challenge assumptions I once accepted without noticing, and remain willing to change my own thinking.

I am leaving this course with fewer simple answers than I entered with, and I think that may be the point. Coming with me is the willingness to remain curious about what I cannot immediately see and the understanding that equitable leadership begins with continually questioning the conditions that shape another person's opportunity to belong, contribute, and succeed.