As the Tokyo Olympics get ready to commence under conditions very different to those we’ve previously seen. But – what you see isn’t always what you get. The Tokyo summer games are officially entitled the 32^nd Olympiad (or XXXII for fellow pseuds and pedants). However, they’ll only be the 29^th to take place, after the Olympiads of 1916, 1940 and 1944 were all cancelled due to World Wars.

What does this have to do with race, I hear you ask?

Well, in the echo chamber this would probably be an obvious point, but, since we live in a world where people hate on other people entirely based on the amount of pigment in their skin; a gentle reminder not to judge by appearances, or engage in deductive reasoning. You can define this as being woke if you like, or just being human if you prefer. Or don’t label this at all. See how we had 3 options for one thing there? Variety is the spice of life, remember.

If you’ve spent your life in a world saturated with primacy of male and pale in the media, in successful roles, in your face, you, like me, probably need some tools to help get yourself out of those inadvertent habits – whether it be genderising toys or expecting to see a white man in certain scenarios.

We’ll come back to this theme in a later edition of this blog – but your starter for 10 over the next few days is to choose 2 or 3 publications that you usually read (online or traditional print media), and count how many pages until you see a face that isn’t Caucasian. If you don’t think this represents society – tell the author or editor.

Make Me A Plan, and this Philosopher-In-Residence and Principal Planner believes that things like this may be inadvertent, but are always wrong – so bring it up and help to clear it up.

After all, the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Next fortnight, I’ll be musing On Emotions  - you’ll have to set your calendar reminder to find out which ones!

Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this topic you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning

PS If you want some other free tips for your business life, check out the Working Well blog – out fortnightly on Wednesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Productivity Expert, Penny Le Kelly. Browse the latest edition here: https://www.makemeaplan.com/news/whats-the-best-thing/