Happy Juneteenth! Today, our team is taking time off to commemorate the holiday marking the emancipation of people who were enslaved in the United States. We have closed our office doors to take time to reflect on the progress that has been made and the long road ahead in combating the long history of racial injustice in our country.

Many Twin Cities organizations, community leaders, and small businesses will be holding events to celebrate. Check out these lists to find an event near you!

In addition to the importance of Juneteenth itself, anticipating it has us thinking about the evolving tradition of celebrating our history. Given the emerging acceptance of the reality that various groups of Americans had very different experiences as Americans, how do we find ways to understand and ‘celebrate’ our collective history?

Happy Juneteenth!

Earlier in this pandemic experience I wrote about resilience, inspired by front line health care workers, teachers and Olympians (link).  Almost six months later, I am renewing my reflections on the topic.  For individuals, for organizations, for societies:  we are needing to ensure resiliency in ways I don’t believe have been tested in my lifetime.

We are not only worried about how well our health care workers can navigate these challenging times; we are worried about whether the systems that employ health care workers can survive the strains they are now collectively under.  Do those systems have sufficient resiliency to not only endure but also actively adapt and prepare for a different future than the one they had been planning just 24 months ago?

We are not only worried about keeping children too young for vaccination safe; we are worried about the capacity of our schools and daycare centers to function effectively as both staff and students navigate daily reports of risks, exposures, changing protocols, all aimed at minimizing the chances of yet-another bout with a virus.   We were already grappling with acknowledgement that disparities in health, educational attainment and economic opportunity needed to be addressed in our society’s support for our children – the pandemic has laid bare those challenges even more dramatically.

In workplaces, restaurants, entertainment venues and retail establishments we have constant reminders that the calculus for risk in our lives has changed.  For the most part, we are handling it – and I give enthusiastic kudos to the officials — public health professionals, in particular — for their dogged commitment to our well-being.  That the advice keeps changing is frustrating, sure.  But we are fighting something that constantly evolves, making impossible what most of us really want:  sure things.  We want experts to tell us what is going to happen, and then we want to hold them responsible for results that shield us from harm.  Unrealistic expectations, it turns out, in a pandemic, especially one likely mishandled at the very beginning.  How we ended up without a nation-wide coordinated response will go down in history as a massive blunder.  But there is no going back – we must find resilience in our systems, in our institutions, in ourselves to move ahead and overcome this collective social experience.

So I’ll share again the ‘7 Cs,’ the offering from respected pediatrician Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg:  in 2013, he first published his construct to help parents assess their children’s development of resiliency.  I think it is instructive for we grown-ups as well, especially in these times of extraordinary stress:

• Competence: the skills to face challenges that confront us
• Confidence: belief in one’s ability
• Connection: sense of belonging
• Character:  sense of self-worth
• Contribution: opportunity to give back, to help
• Coping:  capacity and skills to handle stress
• Control:  realization of what one can control, what choices we have

As you continue to navigate these times, reflect on how the 7 Cs enable your journey.  Ensure your own resilience and that of the people, organizations and communities you touch.  God’s speed.

It seems we are entering a very challenging time, in terms of understanding where we fit in the world. The identities that guided our life navigation in recent years are coming under extraordinary pressure and the signs are increasing that at least some of those identities will not survive. For those leading organizations or communities, the work of bringing people together is getting harder.

Take a quick self-test: think for a few minutes and then write down the five or six ways you identify yourself to others. If you are like most people, at least one of the words will reflect how you relate to important people in your personal life, i.e. mother, daughter or grandparent. That may be the one identifier that isn’t likely to be under pressure, so hold on to that for dear life. (Although even there, if you or others in your family are coping with gender identity issues, be open to new terminology).

Racial identity has been and is being altered by both more explicit distinctions (Black Americans or Black Immigrant; LatinX or Hispanic; non-Hispanic White; Asian American or Pacific Islander) and by interracial parenting, which overtime will obliterate those historic distinctions. Ideological identity is being eroded by the inability of political parties to maintain big, inclusive tents: Democrats and Republicans are increasingly more precisely progressives, liberals, moderates, conservatives, neo-cons. We have historically offered up identities that reflect how we make a living: executive, employee, entrepreneur, laborer. In a world where more and more people have a lack of organizational loyalty, if not a ‘side hustle,’ we need to acknowledge that our relationship to the economy is very dynamic. I could continue the examples – but the point is that the push to honor our distinctions and disagreements is destroying the connective tissue between us. Can we simultaneously lift-up our differences and celebrate our shared fate? So far, the evidence is not all that encouraging.

Even on a global basis, geo-political perceptions are evolving. Who are our allies? Who are our enemies?  The fact that so much of the economy operates on a global scale means it isn’t as easy as it used to be to understand who is ‘with us’ and who wishes us ill. Even more bluntly, who is ‘us’?

Meanwhile, ironically, the concept of ‘belonging’ is gaining traction. We want to be in connection with others – as human beings we crave connection and the security of community. But how to move ahead with confidence that our belonging circles are real, sustainable, interested in our future? How to reconcile our heightened sense of identity with our desire to belong?

The work of creating connective tissue has perhaps never been more challenging, as each of us are searching for where we belong but also holding communities accountable for respecting and reflecting the different journeys that have brought us to where we are now.

And so, employers, brands, and elected leaders are all facing this challenging time. Who do ‘their people’ think they are? And how best to create the opportunities to belong?

I believe a key to our collective success is the concept of co-creation. Not hierarchical power-relationships; not submission to historical ideas of control. Think improvisation, think jazz. Think about building bridges. We have all the potential of our collective journeys and the learnings that come with those realities. Let’s see what is possible. I love the potential of community. We belong.

I learned about the history of Juneteenth more than twenty years ago, when it was first recognized in Minnesota, and was respectful of the idea that it was an important day for some of us. I honestly was not sure how to think about my own relationship with it: was my ‘celebrating it’ appropriate? Or did that just illuminate my ignorance of the historical reality that declaration of the end of the Civil War was yet another painful example of systemic racism? Nothing to “celebrate” for a white Northerner, perhaps, was my thinking.

I am very happy to report that Friday, June 18 is one of the official holidays of our firm this year, because Juneteenth falls on Saturday. Like Martin Luther King Day in January, making this date an honored day in our institutional calendar feels very right. It is a way to advocate that we all have a shared history…and a shared fate. It is also true that for way too long my ancestors didn’t experience the same American life that enslaved and newly emancipated Americans experienced. Fact is, I had ancestors on both sides of the Civil War: immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and the Midwest fought for the North; others in Virginia were part of the Confederacy (full disclosure: I am a ‘shirt-tail relation’ of Robert E. Lee).

In addition to the importance of Juneteenth itself, anticipating it has me thinking about the evolving tradition of celebrating our history. Given the emerging acceptance of the reality that various groups of Americans had very different experiences as Americans, how do we find ways to understand and ‘celebrate’ our collective history?

I used to love the February rhythm of first celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (February 12) and then George Washington’s (February 22) – in large part because my birthday was in between, so I almost always a got a long weekend as a gift. But it was also a chance to reflect on their contributions to our common milestones as a nation. Now it is a single holiday – Presidents Day – primarily celebrated as a shopping extravaganza. Unrelated to their extraordinary contributions to our history, we now lift them up by celebrating consumerism.

Other mainstays of the calendar from my childhood have likewise been evolving away from recognition of history, sometimes because they raise politically-charged issues (Columbus Day, because it celebrated what is now understood as the beginning of the dispossession of land from Native North Americans, has become Indigenous People’s Day, but it is no longer a national holiday) or because they recognize achievements no longer universally viewed as positive (Labor Day, which celebrates the organizing of workers into unions, is now celebrated by most as summer’s end – and more shopping). We are, almost unconsciously, dismantling important stories from our history without considering the consequences of losing those stories.

Making Juneteenth a major holiday is a step in the right direction, it seems to me: lifting up the stories that some of us lived through as a way to bring the rest of us along and gain a more comprehensive understanding of our collective history. I will be using the day mostly to learn more about those years just after the Civil War and how they were experienced by Black Americans. And when Indigenous People’s Day comes around in October, I will spend it learning more about the disturbing history of broken treaties between our national government and the Native Nations across the country.

Celebrating may not be the right word to use in association with these dates, at least not for everyone, at least not yet. Recognizing them as shared parts of history is likely more accurate, with hopes that as we all learn more, we can come together in celebration in the future. Even as we continue to strive for that ‘more perfect union,’ we must find moments to celebrate together the progress that has been made so far.

Happy Juneteenth, America!!!

One year ago, more than 400 Lake Street businesses were damaged or destroyed in the civil unrest that erupted in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. During this time, the Tunheim team was privileged to support Lake Street Council as it grappled with communication challenges including hundreds of local, national and international media requests and the launch of a massive recovery effort. Lani Jordan recently caught up with Lake Street Council Executive Director Allison Sharkey to see how the community is faring one year later.  

Lake Street is starting to get its vibe back. This week I was at our office inside the Midtown Global Market, and in front of the market, the patio at Eastlake Brewery was hopping.

The rubble from last year has been cleaned up. Looking out from those patio seats, however, in one direction you’ll see a new building under construction and in the other you’ll see a grassy lot that used to be a store. What you probably won’t realize is that behind each of those grassy lots, community organizations and entrepreneurs are figuring out how to rebuild. Some of the projects being dreamed up are quite exciting, from a theater connected to a restaurant, to a co-working space for Black creative entrepreneurs.

Our community was so blessed to received support from over 70,000 contributors. First, we set up a committee of community representatives to determine funding priorities. We invested $7 million in emergency relief grants that allowed businesses to make repairs, replace equipment and inventory, and reopen. Another $1 million has been invested in grants and forgivable loans to help owners plan how to redevelop their properties in line with community values, and to keep property in local hands. The remainder has been allocated to fund redevelopment projects, attract customers and other critical needs.

When the first damage happened a year ago, we put up a fundraiser page, thinking we could raise a few thousand dollars to support businesses. We were shocked when We Love Lake Street went viral, pulling in $11 million in a matter of weeks. We previously had four staff and a budget of $500,000 a year! We immediately had to learn – through trial and error – how to be a disaster relief organization, how to be a foundation and how to be a community spokesperson in national media. We were so fortunate to have the support of prominent local companies like Tunheim who volunteered their expertise in areas like PR, financial management, and construction.

Absolutely. Our community has a LOT of hard work to do to eliminate the disparities that plague Minneapolis, but the verdict certainly did relieve a lot of the tension we all felt and allowed us to turn our focus to bringing customers back.

Customers! Sales are still down due to COVID-19, changes in work patterns, and people’s uncertainly about whether Lake Street is open for business. We are helping business owners update and maximize their online presence so that people know they are open. But we also need everyone to commit to supporting small businesses on Lake Street, as well as the businesses that you love closer to home. Without all of us, they may not be here next year.

The community was initially really concerned that demolished properties would be sold to investors from outside the community that would build higher-end buildings our local businesses couldn’t afford to rent. That hasn’t happened so far. Most owners, many of whom are immigrants, really want to rebuild and provide space for local entrepreneurs. A big challenge, however, is that it’s really expensive to build a new building. To recoup your costs, you’ve either got to charge high rents, or lower your construction expense. We are working to reduce the cost of rebuilding through subsidized financing from federal and state agencies. So far, however, no federal or state funds have been allocated for rebuilding. We need to see a commitment of support by the end of the summer to stay on track.

When COVID first hit, it was nerve-racking, but also rewarding, to spend so much time at home with my kids, baking and gardening and doing puzzles. Then the civil unrest hit and my responsibilities were suddenly so great – I haven’t baked a loaf of bread with the kids since!

One upside is that I have really developed as a leader this year. That includes new skills and confidence in everything from financial management, to coaching employees, to public speaking (thanks to Tunheim for the training!).

Most of all, I am in complete awe of our business owners. They have been through incredible stress. But they haven’t given up. They keep showing up, determined to support their employees and customers. We need to be there for them, too.

Allison Sharkey, Lake Street Council Executive Director

With COVID-19 vaccination numbers growing daily and COVID-19 restrictions starting to be lifted, many see the pandemic as nearing its end. However, for those suffering from long-term effects of COVID-19, the end seems nowhere in sight. The symptoms some people are experiencing for weeks or months after recovering from the disease is a syndrome called long COVID. Researchers estimate 10% to 30% of people who contract COVID-19 develop long COVID after recovering from the disease.

Those suffering from long COVID experience ongoing combinations of symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, body aches, coughing, joint pain, chest pain, intermittent fever, difficulty concentrating, headaches and even continued loss of taste and smell. Others also report the mental impacts of prolonged symptoms, which include depression, anxiety, changes to their mood and sleep, and a mental “brain fog” that won’t lift. In all, people suffering with long COVID can have up to 200 different symptoms.

Team Tunheim is working with CaringBridge, a global nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey, to raise awareness about their new virtual support center connecting and supporting those suffering from long COVID.

Recently, we interviewed the CaringBridge team to discuss their new virtual support center, the importance of social support and sharing health journeys in healing, especially for those experiencing long COVID.

CaringBridge has the vision of a world where no one goes through a health journey alone. And social support, gained through an online site like CaringBridge, is one of the most important factors to healing and achieving positive health outcomes.

The pandemic has already separated families and friends and limited social interactions. When you layer on a complex health journey like long COVID, it’s a recipe for disaster if people don’t seek out their support network for care and connection. Science indicates that meaningful relationships and connections matter, especially during a health journey. People need to know they matter. It’s healing.

CaringBridge users have found over the years that in the presence of the unknown, love and support can be a lifeline. As long COVID patients work with their doctors—who often are still learning more about the syndrome—the support of community is so important.

Science indicates that meaningful relationships and connections matter, especially during a health journey. Families used CaringBridge like never before in 2020, and still today, when patients are isolated with COVID, friends and family are desperate for news. Providing meaningful social support and connection throughout a health journey is the soul of CaringBridge.

But as we’ve seen since 1997, over hundreds of thousands of health journeys, the need for connection and community remains, long after a crisis phase. After stroke, serious injury, premature birth—and now long COVID—it can be a longer road toward wholeness. And no one should have to travel that road alone.

Additionally, through CaringBridge.org/covid, CaringBridge has a created an online resource for people impacted by long COVID, including a survey, resources and stories of others who have experienced the syndrome.

If you suspect your symptoms may be long COVID, see your physician right away to rule out other issues and assess treatment.

Since most physicians don’t have experience with long COVID, consider getting care at a long-COVID specialty clinic to help assure you are getting the best treatment.

Connecting with other long COVID patients in a virtual community is an important way to stay abreast of new health information and a way to get emotional support as you navigate your health journey. Visit CaringBridge.org/covid to learn more.

If you believe you have or had long COVID, please take CaringBridge’s long COVID survey to help shed light on this syndrome.

Of all the imagery, demonstrations, dialogue and destruction unleashed after George Floyd died, nothing impacted me more than those simple words from his young daughter. The pride and the hope captured in that short sentence has powered a global body of work for twelve months. I wish we could celebrate more clear progress toward dismantling systemic racism, but for now, we can at least acknowledge that the challenges cannot be put off any longer: it is time to grapple with the consequences of racial discrimination, on a scale not really attempted for more than 50 years.

We need to approach this work with both urgency and patience; with compassion and diligence; with grace and accountability. I suspect the energy needed to maintain these tensions will sap us, individually and collectively. We are going to need to push each other, but also carry each other sometimes. I believe we need lots and lots of practice learning to talk about this work, so that good intentions do not get tripped up by unintentional poor word-choices. There have been decades of talking past each other on topics of race so we should expect challenges in really understanding what needs to be said, what needs to be heard, what needs to change.

But my hope, my prayer and my commitment is that by the time George Floyd’s little girl grows up, she can celebrate changes in a more equitable world.

Nine months ago I wrote about the chances of 328+ million Americans accepting personal responsibility for fighting the pandemic. At the time, a well-orchestrated response was not in place and there was a great deal of fear about how best to fight COVID-19. Adding to the anxiety was the civic unrest unleashed weeks earlier by the death of George Floyd and the impending presidential election. That that sense of disarray now seems so long ago is a kind of reassurance that we have come a long way.

Then again, the only thing that has really changed is that we’ve gotten vaccines approved and shipped around the country in an extraordinary show to federal power and capacity (thank you to both the Trump and Biden administrations). The next steps – on both the COVID front and in terms of the health of our democracy – will require a return to the topic of personal responsibility. We need to get enough people vaccinated to create immunity; we need to re-establish confidence in the stability of our democracy, from elections to public safety.

One important insight for me since that posting back in August of 2020 is the guidance from our President. Joe Biden’s inaugural address included this statement: “Through civil war, the Great Depression, world war, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifices and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed. In each of these moments, enough of us — ENOUGH OF US — have come together to carry all of us forward, and we can do that now.” I remember gulping for breath when he said those words, so encouragingly, from the Capitol steps. Can enough of us come together? I genuinely hope so.

So it is time to respond to a Call to Action, people. Mask up when it is still appropriate! Get vaccinated! Support small businesses that are finding a way to keep going! Accept that the impacts of this pandemic have not fallen equally on each of us and be supportive of the need to lift others up!

I must confess that I am not feeling confident. I sincerely hope that people of the United States of America prove me wrong. Let us come together in our collective self-interest and get the U.S.A. past this horrible challenge of a pandemic. We CAN do this….will we?

The continuing pressure of pandemic restrictions and worries, the omnipresent atmosphere of dissonance in our communities and the dysfunction in our politics: all of this collectively has led me to wondering about the forging of steel.  I am, of course, no expert on the topic, but have toured through a few factories and they left a strong impression.

Forging steel is about the shaping of solid, strong metal through processes of high temperatures, hammering and other forms of intense pressure.  Sound like anything we have been experiencing?

And there is clear purpose in the forging of steel:  because of its strength and the potential to creatively shape that strength, steel has become a foundational part of myriad aspects of our lives.  From a simple nail to the awe-inspiring spans of our most famous bridges and buildings, steel not only makes things possible, but makes them strong and long-lasting.  All that heat, all that hammering, all that pressure results in something that we can have confidence will endure.

And that is what we must start to envision for our futures:  what can come out of this recent period of misery and high pressure?  What does the human equivalent of forged steel look like?  What can it accomplish?

Certainly, we have need for new bridges – both literally and figuratively.  Forged steel and its human equivalent will be absolutely necessary.

We have need for new kinds of structures – both physically and organizationally.  Forged steel and its human equivalent will again be essential.

It seems to me that the human equivalent of forged steel must have some of the same qualities as the physical metal.  To come out of the process strengthened, not weakened or broken; to have the capacity to be shaped by the process, into forms and purposes well-suited to meet the challenges presented, some small-yet-essential purposes like a nail, some awe-inspiring like a bridge-span.

Can we find enough forged steel within ourselves for the challenges ahead?  Will we recognize those essential properties in ourselves and in those around us to build a strong, inclusive future?  How to begin assessing where our own forged steel is best suited to a new purpose?

Certainly, forged steel isn’t the only supply we need to rely on:  plenty of the work ahead involves elements with very different properties.

Creativity born out of vivid imaginations, enabling us to collectively envision our future.

Empathy rising out of spiritual connection and faith, enabling us to commit to shared fate.

We have a lot of work to do together.  But we have been getting prepared for it through the forge of the recent past.

Take stock of your own changed properties and begin to imagine how your aspirations have evolved.  Reflect on the extent to which your assessment of shared fate has been strengthened.  Be ready to be part of building what comes next.

Spring is in the air…a massive legislative package has passed through Congress, checks are on their way to people who really need them…and as a result, many of us are starting to talk and think about ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’ of COVID-19. Though there remain serious risks and challenges to overcome, it seems right that at least some of our civic and public leadership are pivoting to focus on where we go from here.

I have written before about my belief that we can do better than in previous recoveries: from the burst of the dot.com bubble; from the Great Recession, just to name the two most recent recoveries. In both those cases it must be acknowledged that the policy and market choices made drove economic and social stratification even farther into our society. A percentage of us not only recovered but became wealthier (or at least more secure); a very small number of us created a whole new level of wealth, harkening back to the stratifications created in the emergence of the industrial age. But too, too many of us were on the losing end of those recoveries: wage growth was less than the rising costs of health care, post-secondary education, housing and access to technology. The frustrations of working hard but losing ground toward economic security must be acknowledged as key contributors to what we are now experiencing around us: alienation, anti-government affiliations, violent crime, drug overuse…the unhealthy coping consequences go on and on.

We must do better coming out of this pandemic if we intend to ‘lift all boats.’

It will not be easy – and in fact, it may create extremely divisive dynamics that will reverberate for a generation. We have learned that recovery on Wall Street doesn’t mean recovery for so many businesses, communities and families. We need to find new ways to define what recovery looks like and discover new paths to get to that aspiration. And as much as we will need transformational leaders in the public sector, we will also need acceptance of transformation in how businesses and civic leaders use the power and influence they wield.

Examples: How should we address the intractable challenge of funding post-secondary education opportunities, at a time when preparing the next generation of workers and leaders for a fast-changing world could not be more urgent for employers? Who should be working to ensure that employees of health care providers and insurance companies can afford their own premiums and deductibles? Who has responsibility to reverse the trend of executive compensation in publicly traded companies that has created such distance between top executives and their first-line employees that being on the ‘same team’ is fiction? There is a long list of systemic changes that confront any aspirations for equitable recovery.

Those of us who have come through the last recoveries in a strengthened position need to be prepared to be investors in the future of all our fellow citizens.  I confess to be impressed and inspired by the outlines of the Biden administration’s plans, even though I cannot quite yet imagine how much more I will be asked to pay to support it.  But I am encouraged by the sense that, perhaps, we are starting to be honest about the real nature of the challenge that we face:  our economic strength as a nation has been achieved on a fundamentally unfair playing field, creating fault lines and vulnerabilities that we must address.  There have been parallel efforts in the course of our nation’s history, moments when leaders rose up to acknowledge inequity and reset the rules, striving for fairness.  It is our turn.  Let’s get ready to build a more equitable and sustainable future.