It’s September. The month that officially welcomes fall. Kids are going back to school. Vacation season is coming to a close. Summer Fridays are a fond memory. The fall events calendar is heating up. There’s a familiar sense that one season is ending, but another is just beginning, with all the promise of a fresh page on the calendar.
As the pace of business accelerates after summer, I find myself thinking more intentionally about what it means to move forward. Not just for ourselves or even for one another, but for the communities we care about. How do we expand our mission? How do we bring more people in? How do we use our relationships, experiences, ideas and influence to widen the circle and make it more sustainable? More impactful?
My goal this season is to fall forward. With velocity. And I want She Runs It to fall forward with me.
Fall forward isn’t a concept I invented. Denzel Washington famously used the phrase in his 2011 commencement address to the University of Pennsylvania graduating class. His message was about taking risks and accepting that failure is inevitable. Rather than searching for something to “fall back on,” he encouraged graduates to fall forward … to take the risk, learn from the failure and keep moving toward something.
I’ve always loved that idea. But lately, I’ve been thinking about it a little differently. Falling forward can certainly mean helping one person take the next step. Open a door. Make an introduction. Recommend someone for a stage. Encourage her to advocate for a promotion, take on a new challenge or simply take better care of herself. I’m here for that.
But it can also mean asking ourselves what we can do as a vibrant and growing community that we simply can’t do alone.
There are thousands of people who have tremendous pride in She Runs It, who love this community and want to see it grow. Every one of us brings something different to it: relationships, ideas, experience, influence, access, perspective. Imagine what happens when we put more of that collective power to work paving the way for more women to lead?
Being part of a community means being an active participant in it. Show up. Turn on your camera. Engage in the conversation. Make the introduction. Offer an idea. Open your network. Invite someone new in. Offer encouragement when it’s needed and constructive criticism when it can help. Keep the lines of communication open, even when the conversation feels difficult. True connection is all about leaning in and making a contribution to the whole.
That’s the kind of community I want She Runs It to be. One where we’re ambitious about our own futures but equally invested in one another’s and in the future of the organization we share. Growing She Runs It and making it stronger means more people benefit from everything it has to offer.
So as we head into this new season, my challenge is simple: let’s fall forward together. Let’s see what happens when all of us lean in a little more and put the power of this extraordinary community to work. Together, there’s no telling how far we can go.
