A Message from PCMA Board Chair Stuart Ruff-Lyon

To Our Business Events Community:

Author: Stuart Ruff-Lyon       

The events surrounding Mr. Floyd’s death are a chilling reminder of how much work we all still have to do around discrimination, human dignity and respect.  The demonstrations at home and in communities around the world are a cry for us to move from talk to action.

It is time for all of us to step up and take a stand.

Despite all of the inclusion and diversity conversations, social injustice and systemic racism continue to plague our communities. PCMA and its Board of Directors stand in solidarity with the Black community and are resolute in the fact there is no more time for talking – it is time to make some real transformative social progress.

As individuals, we need to be better. As leaders, we need to be better. As professionals, we need to be better. And from PCMA we need to be laser-focused on where we can have the greatest impact.

It starts with us, being accountable, looking at our own actions, taking responsibility and having the courage to act.

In the weeks and months ahead, through PCMA’s Ascent initiative, we will bring the CEOs together who have signed the CEO pledge we launched some two years ago to review progress, make improvements and establish clear milestones and how we will measure results.   We will also work with our Boards and members to ensure they are engaged in the way forward including PCMA’s commitment to unconscious bias training.

And, while the current social climate, frustration, anger and the feeling of defeat may seem insurmountable and incurable, I am confident that if we turn dialogue into action we can achieve a just society.

We must do better. It starts with us, every one of us.

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