(Don't) Stay In Your Lane

Photo by JC Gellidon on Unsplash

A platform is a byproduct of success.

What I mean by that is that success in any given field results in not only the usual rewards (economic gain, career progression, industry recognition, etc.), it also provides us with a voice. We’re sought out by our community and those interested in, and impacted by, our work. They want to hear from us, and are ready to give us the opportunity to speak, to be heard.

In other words, we earn a platform. 

Our specific reach may vary - in some instances, it’s our local community, while in others, depending upon what we do, it could be the broader world. Regardless, we have a platform, and an opportunity to speak to whatever we decide we’d like to speak to.

Some decide not to utilize that platform. Others decide to use it to speak about their work, and only their work. Still others recognize that they have an opportunity to share a broader message - about the world at large, its inequities and collective problems. 

Of course, the choice is personal and entirely down to what we are comfortable with, how “out there” we want to be. But I do think that if we have a platform, we should use it in some way. I don’t know if I’d call it an obligation, rather it’s an opportunity.

An opportunity to inform, to educate, to improve. The scale of it doesn’t matter - the point is to drive change. And the platform provides a pedestal not available to others who are in need. 

To be able to do so, though, requires a personal sensibility that goes beyond ourselves, beyond our own needs and requirements. We need to believe in something bigger than ourselves. 

Others can choose not to listen and ignore what we have to say. That’s fine. That’s their choice.

But I don’t believe we need to ‘stay in our lane’. 

I was reminded of this in comments that the soccer player, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, made about basketball star, Lebron James, and how he shouldn’t comment on politics, how he should simply focus on his sport. (It goes without saying that Lebron disagreed with that point of view.)

To me, the reason Lebron does what he does is because of what I said earlier. He believes in something bigger than himself, he knows he has a platform where he can agitate and be heard. He knows he can use this to drive change. And he does. And years after we are all long gone, he will be remembered for the incredible good that he did, the lives he changed, and the change he brought to our worlds. 

All because he took the opportunity to use his platform.

Because he decided not to stay in his lane.