Lessons in Intentional Culture

Public Action Drives Private Values.

I’ve long believed that the most meaningful parts of life are those we deliberately design. We are always building a culture, and what we commit to externally is the clearest reflection of our internal values.

This hit home when I served on the Alumni Board for Davidson College. One of our crucial discussions we had centered on a powerful commitment: publicly acknowledging the Native Americans whose land was taken and whose grounds we were on, and establishing a permanent memorial for the enslaved people who built the campus.

It was a conversation of profound importance, a strong, public action to face a difficult past. To see my college take such a stand reinforced everything I value. This was a promise, a clear signal to every incoming student: We stand for telling the whole story.

This commitment culminated in the powerful bronze sculpture, "With These Hands: A Memorial to the Enslaved and Exploited." It transforms a simple area of the campus into a space for deep contemplation. Davidson elevated a painful truth into a permanent, powerful presence.

Though I missed the dedication, the universe delivered the lesson elsewhere. I visited the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York with MOMA’s Black Art Council for Hank Willis Thomas’s final walkthrough of his exhibit, I AM MANY. Thomas is the artist behind the memorial at Davidson. While there, I had an opportunity to hear him discuss his creative journey.

The most potent moment was seeing a small, intricate miniature of the colossal hands that now stand on Davidson’s campus. Seeing the piece in that reduced scale, removed from the public setting, provided a deep appreciation for the intentionality behind the monumental work. The miniature felt like the very essence of the memorial, the concentrated idea from which the immense, public truth sprang.

This instant solidified my belief that the decision to acknowledge, to reflect, and to celebrate is how we create opportunities for psychological safety and belonging. When we make public declarations of our best values, those actions resonate everywhere. They weave themselves into our personal stories and elevate even the simplest encounters.