The key to key notes

Visionary's annual conference: Rainbows, Disruptions and Transformations is coming right up and I'm currently preparing my key note speech (errr, eek!). They've asked me to talk about my work on lived experience so I've been looking back at the research and the final report from earlier in the year. Here's the original report. Since then, I've been pleased to see more acknowledgement of some of the issues I highlighted, for example, the ways charities exploit those with personal experience of their causes, rather than helping them. People are even developing tools to address this.

In my talk I'm planning to tell some stories from my charity work and the wonderful people I've met over the years who had far more experience of the issues than I did, yet I was the senior paid staffer and they were volunteers. It's that upside-down power dynamic that inspired me to do the work in the first place.

Interesting and useful links 🖇️

Top five things to think about when recruiting for diversity

I thought this was an interesting read about the first women's liberation conference, at Oxford University in 1970. It's very interesting to read the programme and think about how things have moved on, or not.

There's a new Queen of Barbados! 👑

Learning points 🎓

I was in a discussion the other day about identity politics and it suddenly struck me that there are some parallels with lived experience advocacy which hadn't really occurred to me before. An issue I often see is people only focusing on their experience of an issue, rather than being supported to connect it to the wider picture and policy change.

Day of the Week 📆

18 October is World Menopause Day.

It was good to see employers ranging from the Civil Service to Betty’s Tea Rooms discussing a health matter which affects more than half of the population yet is either treated with silence or jokes.

Great interview with Billy Porter. Loved this line:

When provoked, it’s not just the sense of a middle finger that springs up, but of him summoning an army.

What am I watching? 👀

How we need to remake the internet

Where Jaron Lanier argues that the internet is destroying us

“It takes a long time to build love, it takes a short time to ruin love”

What am I listening to? 👂

At least one of my regular readers (I'm looking at you Zoe Amar 🤩) was interested to hear Duran Duran's new album, Future Past, which was released today to mark 40 years of music. So here you go: Apple or Spotify

I've loved them for 40 years. Through the highs and the lows. And they're keeping me going at the moment, if I'm honest.

Joy-giving things 😍

So I'm not sure if this story gives me joy, exactly, but I was certainly very moved by Little Amal, who's made her way to the UK from Gaziantep in Turkey. She'll be at the South Bank Centre tomorrow.

Have a lovely weekend

Lucy

PS You might spot me in the audience at Jonathan Ross on Saturday 💃

If it’s your first time reading this newsletter, find out more about me here.

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world, particularly in the workplace.

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ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

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