I am a big believer in reframing older messages. You twist a phrase, move a comma, look at something from a different angle and suddenly there is a new message. I have talked about this numerous times with my college colleagues and have written about the difference between investing and donating, and how that little shift creates a whole new conversation.
On Friday I was on a call when I received an email from my colleagues at the PWHL. It talked about initiatives for the Month of March, and it referred to this key month as “Women’s Empowerment Month,” not “Women’s History Month.”
Wow.
So I did a little digging and it turns out some leagues and teams and businesses…the Brooklyn Nets, the WNBA and some others have been using that phrase for some time, even while the official national declaration, which was done by the White House, is Women’s History Month.
Think about how valuable that turn of the phrase is. Empowerment does not leave the stories of the past out…it is more of a vehicle to now and into the future to not just celebrate how we got here, but to where we are going. It gives those…not just women, but people of every gender…the ability to pause, to celebrate and to ACT again for the good of all. It speaks not just to what has been done, but to what should be done to keep rearranging the furniture in the room for the betterment of all going forward. It gives people the literal POWER to act in ways big and small, and to learn…a teachable moment…for all going forward.
Now we have all, hopefully, learned about the value of women of all ages staying active and how sports played by women…another turn of a phrase that is important…keeps growing. We have seen brands continue to invest in the space…Ally, Dove, Aflac, TJ Maxx and many others…because it is good business, its not charity. We saw this week the media platform Togethxr announce they had sold over $6 million dollars in apparel for the “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” platform they had created. Impressive in one year. In today’s challenging times, when leadership seems to be shouting louder than ever, and “Bro culture” has many young women worried about their future, EMPOWERING becomes so key, and maybe more important than ever.
So as we head to March, one of my favorite months of the year, let’s think about Empowering and leaning in as much as honoring the trailblazers and looking back. It’s an important nuance that we can all learn from, and use that learning to grow together, be it brand, individual, league, media platform or sibling.
One little shift can move mountains.
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