Erase the "Risk", Lose the Future

A few weeks ago, I read a post about the silent takedown of bold leaders — especially women in organizations. It wasn’t new information. But it hit differently.

Why? Because I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it. I’ve sat in rooms where courage was called "confrontational".... passion was mistaken for aggression... where brilliance was punished for not bending to power. And I’ve watched institutions quietly remove the very people who were trying to help them evolve.

The cost? It’s massive — and not just in severance packages, recruiting fees, or lost momentum. The real cost is cultural. It’s emotional. It’s in the slow erosion of trust, belonging, and purpose.

This is personal to me.

It’s why I talk about my grandfather. Fred Thomas was a generational athlete, a Black trailblazer, and a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force — at a time when being excellent and Black was met with resistance, not reward. He paved the way, but his name was nearly forgotten.

That’s not just sports history. That’s a pattern.

Today, we’re still watching bold leaders — especially Black, Brown, Indigenous, queer, and intersectional ones — get iced out, pushed out, or written out. And too often, boards and executive teams don’t ask why.

If we say we care about leadership, then we can’t only track performance metrics. We need to track patterns of exclusion. Of silence. Of retention.... or lack of it.

We should be asking:

• Who leaves your organization… and why?

• What’s the pattern around those departures?

• Who’s thriving, and who’s quietly surviving?

• What kind of leadership are we actually rewarding?
  

If you're building a future-facing workplace, these questions aren’t optional. They’re foundational. Because if you’re not protecting the bold, the honest, and the visionary — you’re not protecting your future. If your legacy depends on silence, it’s not a legacy worth leaving.