by Alex Dorsey, Platform Impact Founder and Director
Platform Impact Leaders Fellowship (Platform Impact) is a year-long journey for a small cohort of mid-career nonprofit and social change leaders of color. It is where inward searching and transformation guide outward vision.
During facilitated in-person and virtual retreats, peer leadership circles, and executive coaching sessions, leaders do the deep work of clearing a space in the dense forest of their lives. In this space, leaders examine their origins and complexity of identities, their potential, questions about who they are becoming, and their impact on the world.
Leaders identify what is essential to claim or release as they cross new thresholds of leadership, personally and professionally. They experience insights and breakthroughs that allow them to claim more of their authority and influence. One fellow said, “it has been a transformative journey in terms of how I perceive and embrace my own influence. Prior to this fellowship, I was aware of the influence I possessed but often held back from fully embracing it. I approached it conservatively and, at times, felt uncomfortable wielding it. However, this program has provided me with the tools and insights to step into my own power with confidence. I now leave with a greater sense of self-assuredness about the positive impact I can have because of who I am.”
Platform Impact requires slowing down and offers support in establishing new patterns of mindful reflection and thoughtful action. Radical welcome, holding paradox, deepening trust in oneself, and building trust with others is central. Leaders’ openness, honesty, and courageous vulnerability open the door for their growth and the cohort’s growth.
Another Platform Impact alum speaks to it like this, “I wish this program could be mandatory for every leader of color in positions of authority…My biggest takeaway is that you cannot be a transformative leader if you have not done the work to transform yourself from the inside out. The depth of unlearning that needs to happen for every leader but especially for leaders of color can only happen in a space dedicated to that work with others on the same journey.”
The Roots of Platform Impact
My connection to this work is deeply personal. It is informed by my growth, successes and failures in leading diverse organizations as a woman of color and my observations consulting and coaching executives and leadership teams.
I was also fortunate to experience a leadership program based on the Center for Courage & Renewal Circle of Trust principles and practices in 2012. It offered periods of rest and renewal, which led to my answering a call to create and hold transformative spaces for leaders in transition. It also helped me identify gaps in programs often not designed by or for leaders of color.
In 2017, after facilitating a group of philanthropic leaders, the convener asked about my vision and how it might benefit from support to grow this work in the world. After a time of inquiry and discernment, I designed Platform Impact through the generous support of the Angell Foundation.
It is inspiring and humbling to witness Platform Impact’s launch of a now a fourth cohort! My co-facilitator, Hyeon-Ju Rho, an executive coach, and I receive the symbiotic gift of nurturing Platform Impact leaders’ growth and being nourished by their growth. And we are encouraged to see their work ripple out to influence their organizations and the communities they serve.
One fellow says, “… the retreats have been transformative. They not only gave names, concepts, and structures to practices that reinforced my leadership approach but also greatly enhanced my ability to lead with authenticity and empathy in real-time situations… I am deeply grateful for the profound impact it has had….”
Finding Our Way to Commonweal
The need for intentional healing spaces is vast, so those of us given to hold these spaces with aligned values and practices often find each other. I’m grateful that Angela Oh, a Commonweal board member and Platform Impact alum, encouraged me to consider Commonweal as a fiscal sponsor. After several conversations with Oren, Vanessa, and other team members, it was apparent that Commonweal is a very different type of entity and great partner for Platform Impact. It is a dynamic, intelligent, and heart-centered ecosystem that reflects a wholeness beyond the sum of its parts.
Commonweal invites belonging in ways that can hold life-giving tensions and questions in the community, and healing and wholeness are heard, felt, and sensed. And like Platform Impact, Commonweal is a radical encounter…a place where individuals can come home to themselves and be renewed in their service to the world.