The World Is Not Waiting
The Nonlinearity of Accelerating Action
By Nicole Joseph-Chin
LINKAGE Q1 (2025) - ACCELERATE ACTION
T
he International Women’s Day franchise selected the 2025 theme of “Accelerate Action” which could mean different things to different people in the context of women’s empowerment and leadership. By quickly taking action on the many things that keep women back, we can work together to develop the capacity for women to learn, leverage growth and lead, which will certainly help in our mobility and advancement within the working environment.
In recent years, and especially following the pandemic, the merging of our social and professional lives became significant. It showed us how we could transform by adapting the way we manage our mental health, our families and lifestyles as we work from home, giving us the ability to bring balance to our new way of life. This could give us the ability to focus on what is important in both our professional and personal spaces, thus providing the opportunity to take full control of our futures.
It has become necessary to act with a sense of urgency when it comes to gender issues as the world is not waiting idly by for a Fairy Godmother to come along and make things happen for us. However, it is important to understand that while we race to our goals, that we must be wary of the possibility of misjudgements and errors that could be made along the way.
Here are some of the particularly important ways that we can now push our efforts toward achieving equity, accelerated and crafted by a sense of urgency – the world is not waiting and neither should we.
➢ A Call To Gather – this is a call for women to believe in the power of collective inspiration and use it wisely, ensuring that we invite men to not only become our allies, but become partners in understanding the value of urgency for the future of leadership in the Caribbean and globally.
➢ Appreciate Urgency – we have to engage in collective understanding of what constitutes urgency for ourselves and the world at large. It can be further placed into categories, for ease of measuring the success of our efforts.
➢ Eliminate Silos – it is in our best interest to be aware of the ways in which silos delay growth and progress. There is room for more collaborative experiences and much better results.
➢ Nonlinearity Towards Progress – sometimes the path to goal attainment may not fit the traditional mould and there may be doubts about the effectiveness. One needs to remember, however, that there is immense value in the unfamiliar, and that the end results can be surpassingly positive.
➢ Change Agency Blueprint – never before has there been a need for more collective engagement towards successful outcomes than in the current global climate of business. It is urgent that we adopt change agency as a blueprint to attain gender equity.
➢ Positively Disruptive Influence – challenging norms that undermine the advancement of women leaders seem to lead to situations of compromise, isolation and victimisation. Intelligent approaches to challenging the status quo, however, that are both strategic and emotional. They can be vehicles to encourage equity in the long-term. While not always easily achieved, especially in the Caribbean, it is one of the key ways to constructively engage in brokering positive change.
➢ A Cause for Social Experimentation – taking action and making small steps are what constitutes courageous leadership. Long gone are the days of looking on from a distance, it is more acceptable to show support and solidarity with well thought-out steps toward urgent change. Some of those steps can be engaging in policy development in the workplace that has a focus on women’s health, advocating and supporting an employee who has a challenge, or promoting an employee on potential rather than focusing on qualifications.
➢ Social Currency and The Multiplier Effect – investing in equitable participation of women and girls in education, business, sport, governance, and other fields traditionally dominated by men and boys is a great way to build and amplify social value and a sustained benefit. Traits like compassion, empathy, forgiveness, stewardship and the art of apology can strengthen impact and bring about collective change.
➢ Business For Good – accelerating gender-equity action with urgency will empower women to excel and lead change where it is most needed in organisations and provide them with a competitive advantage. Their reputations as visionary organisations with an empowering culture will encourage people to be excited to associate with them or become an employee or volunteer in the pursuit of this common good.
➢ Quantitative Responses – research has shown that there are quantitative responses around supporting women in leadership, relevant to overcoming biases and changing social constructs. However, the real measurement of actions that are aligned to change comes with making efforts to have visible and tangible results that can be readily shared.
➢ Lenses of Care – when women are respectfully encouraged to establish boundaries and attend to their femininity and values of womanhood, the perception of care is easier to grasp. Women in turn must embrace their unique, innate feminine attributes and not shy away from what they feel are difficult conversations around women’s health and wellbeing. It is their personal choice to be childless, unmarried, or determine their own sexuality, which should not affect their presence on boards and in and quarters of executive leadership.
➢ Collective Dialogue For Equity (pay gap) – inviting peers and those who support equity, to join in the dialogues and advocacy around the gap in pay helps to foster solidarity. It opens the doors for fair renumeration and acknowledgement of worth and value where women can feel better appreciated and recognised.
➢ Scheduled and Unapologetic Self Care – women have to overcome the elements of guilt and shame that are associated with taking time off and putting their care first. They also need to ensure that self-care is scheduled with frequency and diligence, similarly to how dedicated appointments are made for motor vehicle and appliance checks. When a woman prioritises her self-care and it is known to her family, loved ones and peers, she will be respected, supported and encouraged to continue.
➢ A Shift to Urgency – we must decide that now is as good a time as any to make that shift towards urgency. We must acknowledge that while urgency always has a connotation of being something that is related to speed, it is also about being careful and accurate.
➢ Keeping It Simple – although we may become impatient when pursuing these changes, we need to remember that tangible results are never far away. Recording even the smallest of achievements is a great strategy for keeping momentum and to stay motivated.
Accelerated Action comes down to a matter of wanting to thrive, to do better so we can then all be better.
There is an opportunity, while reviewing the theme of 2025 IWD, to approach the conversation about equity with new perspectives while still being true to our values and our missions. It’s crucial that in our efforts we manage our everyday activities well, in order to get to a place of equity, respect and advancement.
Invest In Women – Change The World
I am a beneficiary of numerous high calibre institutional investments. Being frequently called upon to implement impact-led programming has allowed me to reimagine and incorporate gender-centric interventions that will position and equip women for a future of vast possibilities. On my global impact-leadership journey I gained first-hand perspectives of what it means to apply urgency to the things we wish to change in the world. I have also been able to pay it forward, apply innovative thinking to interventions, design blueprints for the pursuits of successful application of urgency, design impact leadership models for diverse communities and teach novel methodologies around results-oriented acceleration of action in real-time. If we accelerate action within the parameters of urgency, no one will be left behind.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicole Joseph-Chin is a globally recognised international award-winning Social Enterprise Founder, Women’s Empowerment Advocate, Powerhouse in Social Currency Advancement, Innovator and Social Impact Strategist. In 2018 Nicole was named amongst 100 Women Leaders of Vital Voices. Nicole is the Inaugural CEO in Residence of the University of the Pacific – California and is a US State Department IVLP Fellow and Government of India ITEC Fellow. Nicole delivered the Feature Address at the 2025 AMCHAM Women’s Leadership Conference
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolejoseph-chin/