three truths. one week. still no freedom.
a reflection on liberty, leadership, and what we choose to hold
what you allow, you endorse.
silence is not neutral—especially in leadership.
especially in weeks like this one.
i’m Miller. i’m a recovering perfectionist.
i help people show up in the fullness of their humanity—
at work, in community, and in the everyday moments that ask us to choose practice over perfection.
this week, we are holding three truths:
– yesterday, we remembered George Floyd—and the movement work that followed
– today is Memorial Day—a holiday born from Black remembrance, now wrapped in flags and forgetting, often reduced to performative patriotism
– tomorrow, we remember Tony McDade—a Black trans man killed by police in Florida, just days after George, nearly erased from public memory
this isn’t just a week of uncertainty.
it’s a mirror.
a measure of what this country chooses to remember, what it rushes to forget,
and who’s expected to carry the cost—again.
freedom ain’t free—but shouldn’t it be?
who pays the price for performance?
who gets to rest in peace?
who’s expected to lead through disruption, survival, or burnout?
systems built on extraction will always choose control over care,
urgency over understanding, forgetting over truth.
but care is not weakness—it’s a strategy.
and it’s one we’re reclaiming.
we don’t need perfect leaders.
we don’t need all-powerful leaders.
we need present ones.
liberated leadership isn’t about having the answers.
it’s about holding the reverse flow—tension, feedback, conflict, contradiction, care.
it’s about staying in the room when things get heavy.
it’s about listening when grief speaks.
it’s about making space for ourselves and each other to be whole—and to be in practice.
this is the kind of leadership that’s been modeled for generations—
in healing circles, at kitchen tables, in movement spaces, church basements,
and the everyday moments most systems never bother to see.
a question to sit with:
what are you really making space for?
maybe it’s urgency. maybe it’s honesty.
maybe it’s power. maybe it’s presence.
but only one of them will hold you.
a tool for the week:
this week, i’m sharing the 12 liberatory design mindsets—
a powerful set of practices that invite care, complexity, curiosity, and collaboration into how we lead.
📽️ [watch here]
liberatory design isn’t just a framework.
it’s a living, flexible process—and a set of daily leadership habits that help us interrupt patterns of harm, make space for new possibilities, and move through complexity with intention.
rooted in design thinking, systems change, and people-first values,
these mindsets are useful in strategic planning, facilitation, community work,
and anywhere you're trying to lead with more humanity and less performance.
they’re not just principles.
they’re practices.
for teams.
for organizers.
for people trying to lead in ways that don’t recreate what we’re trying to repair.
this space isn’t built for perfection.
it’s built for practice.
for presence.
for people.
reflect and return when you need.
this space won’t rush you.
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