I have been with IS IT A BIRD for a decade, and what a ride it has been. I have worn many hats within the company, starting as an intern and eventually becoming co-CEO, alongside my great colleague, Sune Holm Thøgersen.
Early in my career, I found it puzzling when senior colleagues seemed detached from the complexities my team and I were facing. We worked together every day and shared the same conversations—both formal and informal—yet at times, it seemed, they couldn’t see what we were seeing.
As I have shifted roles and responsibilities within the organisation, one realisation has stuck with me: Our ability to see what is around us often changes with the level of privilege we hold. Privilege has a way of creeping up on you unnoticed. It is easy to overlook, and often, you won’t even feel it.
Privilege isn’t a feeling. Freedom is.
Privilege feels like freedom, which is why it can be so challenging to confront once you have it. You are reluctant to limit—or even question—your own freedom. In my current role at IS IT A BIRD, I can feel that sense of freedom sneaking up on me. Don’t get me wrong, I have responsibilities and worries, no doubt about it. But I also feel empowered. Autonomous. And sometimes, that scares me. It makes me wonder: What might I be blind to now?
The more senior you become, the more knowledge you accumulate. At least, this is a widespread assumption. But, it is an assumption that comes with a risk of overlooking and becoming blind to the perspectives you no longer hold. And the areas of knowledge you are distancing yourself from.
The Power of Not Knowing
“Sometimes, the more we know, the less we see around us. The best leaders don’t have the answers; the best leaders have really good questions, and they use those questions and their own intelligence to bring out the genius in the people around them.”
—Liz Wiseman, author of the book The Power of Not Knowing
Acknowledging the limitations of our perspective, even in our senior, privileged roles, is the starting point for building an inclusive culture.
I am privileged in some ways. I think most of us reading this text are privileged in one way or another. And a question that is occupying my mind, and one I think we could all benefit from asking ourselves, is:
Which perspectives have my privileges shut out of my sight? And who should I talk to and engage with for a more complete picture?
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