Interestingly, a fair number of large companies seem to be pivoting away from the loaded DEI term: Under attack, DEI quietly transforms - The Washington Post Anecdotally, I'll mention that I may have hit a breaking point on the HR-speak at work. We were recently instructed to avoid the term "good fit" when describing a potential new hire. You see, "good fit" might imply that we have preconceived notions about what we value in a candidate, including a preferred race, religion, gender, or personality. Instead, we were asked to describe a strong candidate as a "cultural add." Can you imagine losing your job and having to explain in your first interview that you were let go because you used the dreaded "GF" word?

I've been pretty supportive of the recent membership changes, but I gotta say - I have some serious reservations about coed troops. Middle school may have been the 3 worst years of my childhood, but Scouting was my refuge at that time. It was nice to go on outings with the boys in my troop without having to worry about impressing anyone. By high school, I was more self-assured and wouldn't have minded participating in a coed troop, but I do worry that we're denying our boys (and girls) a growth opportunity by integrating them at this stage in their development. The march toward school 2.0 continues.

Well, ok.. you have a point. I didn't want to get into program weakness details because I see this as a big picture reframing that will allow us to get to that with good windhorse. Of course, we do have to actually get to that, and I could be mistaken. But check this brand new marketing video out - this is like a US version of Scouterna's We are raised by adventure video. This is our wheelhouse, we can "sell" it, and people want it. And I'm sure my unit isn't the only one that can deliver (age-appropriately) almost everything in that video to anyone that signs up today.   

I feel like the name change helps remove a distraction, the constant complaining from folks who still felt like the name "Boy Scouts of America" was some kind of mandate that girls not be allowed. Removing the basis of that argument ("Boy" in the main organization name) means there is no argument anymore. It's part of the org name, it's codified into the primary brand identity. It's done, we can (finally) move on from having to defend the contradiction in the name.

Well, let’s drive forward.