Facing Inequality: Our Most Powerful Weapon

In this short video, Newfield Network’s Global CEO, Veronica Olalla Love, responds to systemic inequalities and our ethical responsibilities.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~ Nelson Mandela

The recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, coupled with 400 years of slavery and racism in the U.S., exposes a long history of extreme insufficiency in addressing racism, discrimination, and systemic inequality. Today, we see a massive global response to this longstanding pain. No more can we tolerate the repeating mistakes of the past.

We believe we have an ethical responsibility to learn so that rather than repeating the mistakes of the past, we rectify the past as much as possible and we proactively step forward into designing a new future. A future that holds each life as worthy and sacred. A future that puts an end to systemic injustices that are committed against people based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, or any other demarcation.

We believe we require a different kind of learning, a new kind of education. A learning that takes into account our wholeness. A learning that is based on respect and dignity. A learning that enables us to have new ways of being in relationship with each other.

For many of us, education was about having answers, it was about debating to prove our point, it was about persuading someone to buy into our perspective, or it was about imposing certain beliefs. Rarely have we been taught how to let go of certainty, how to hold paradox, how to listen deeply to another, or how to be present with each other when intense emotions arise. If education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world, then isn’t it vital that we examine the quality of our education, the essence of our learning, as quoted above from Nelson Mandela?

One of Newfield’s fundamental principles is that learning happens through conversation. What is conversation? The word conversation comes from Latin and means “to turn about with;” in other words, to change together. When we truly engage in conversation, we listen and receive the words, the perspectives, and the worldview of the one speaking. We allow our own perspective to be broadened and amplified by another. In this way, diversity is an asset. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “a riot is the language of the unheard.” What world would arise if all voices were truly heard? What if we recognized that listening was a doorway to understanding, to collaboration to co-creating?

It takes courage to listen. It takes courage to reflect, to learn, and to try something new. We may make a mistake; we may not get it right. Yet, if we remain frozen, if we remain paralyzed by our fear, our silence and our lack of action will lead us down the same path we have already traveled. It is time for courage. It is time to choose deep listening over speaking. It’s time to choose reflection rather than reaction, to choose conversation over isolation and separation.

What new ways of being, what new actions, and what new possibilities will we discover when we engage in profound listening and deep conversation? What new ways of contributing will we uncover when we respect each human being as dignified?

It is time we come together in solidarity, look deep within our hearts, reflect and enter into new conversations that generate meaningful new actions and new realities. We have entered a time of opportunity for new conversations and for moving beyond the limits of what we have known. Together, it is possible to wield our greatest weapon – education.

Newfield Network’s Commitment

“When more of the same isn’t an option a new field of learning is required.”

Newfield Network is committed to creating spaces for our global community where we can come together and engage in conversations to catapult humanity into what’s possible. We are committed to listening deeply with respect and care. And we are committed to learning from each other to discover and co-create a new world of possibilities.

We promise to:

• Notice when we are in reaction mode
• Observe how we listen, and the quality of our listening
• Reflect on what matters most to us and ensuring we are in alignment with that
• Take actions that are rooted in our deepest care

We invite you to:

• Notice when you are in reaction mode
• Observe your relationship to listening
• Reflect on what matters most to you
• Take actions that are rooted in your deepest care

About the Author: 

Veronica Olalla Love, M. Ac., NCC, PCC is the Global CEO for the Newfield Network. She is also an international facilitator for the Newfield Network Programs and is the lineage holder for the Newfield Network’s ontological coaching tradition. In her unique and passionate style, Love invites us to remember the depth of potential we have as evolutionary beings.