Our stand for social justice

A Letter from The Get Real Project’s Founder

Updated May 2025

I created The Get Real Project in 2014 out of my personal commitment to kick conventional business wisdom to the curb and transform how people work together as a result. In June of 2020 I published this page and called it “Our Stand for Racial Justice.” More recent world events—and more specifically events calling new levels of attention to social injustice in the U.S.—call me once again into this purpose in new and more meaningful ways.

What I stand for is evolving at an accelerated pace. In 2020 I started to see compelling connections between critically important topics like unconscious bias, White privilege, systemic racism and the vast majority of nearly everything I had written on trusted advisorship. For one thing, extraordinary work relationships must be conscious relationships, which specifically requires raising the level of consciousness of privileged professionals like me. Today, I see more clearly than ever that making authentic connections across all kinds of differences is so very important for organizations—and the people within them—to thrive. My commitment to racial justice hasn’t changed; it has expanded and will likely continue to expand.

The buck stops with me. I hadn’t publicly talked about race and racism until 2020. Now in 2025, it’s even more important to look at the many ways that people experience being marginalized and how I, from my privileged position—as a White heterosexual middle-upper class woman—can make a difference. I am aware that I get to choose not to have the difficult conversations about race and other forms of oppression, which can be a stumbling block in my ability to establish trust-based, authentic relationships. All of this, at times, has me colluding with a system that hasn’t worked for Black people for hundreds of years, and for many others for equally long.

I can make a difference. I get to choose allyship over collusion, so I’m doubling down on my commitment to speak out because this may be the most defining historical moment in my own lifetime, and there is something far more important than any of my own concerns or fears or inertia. I have a long-held commitment to facilitate masterful work relationships that make space for people’s spirits to come alive. That includes all people’s spirits, not just some people’s spirits. And as a privileged person in the corporate world, I have a significant part to play when it comes to social justice: speaking out, helping all voices be heard, making sure people are treated with respect and kindness.

I’m committed to having us show up and be different. Trusted advisorship is and always has been an inside job—even more so when it comes to relationships across race and other differences. The same is true for trusted leadership. As the founder and leader of The Get Real Project, I am committed to continually stepping it up, and to inviting my team to join me in this transformation.

We have work to do. We’ve made progress here at The Get Real Project toward these ends. We’ve expanded our core team beyond our White women norm, and we’re more thoughtful about things like offering a diverse set of coaches for our Mastery programs. We’ve created inclusion checklists for all our workshop leaders and virtual producers to follow. We’re intentional about calling out trust accelerators that acknowledge different cultural norms. We’ve piloted an “inclusive trusted advisor” program which we’re now re-working to include an updated curriculum and post-COVID in-person time for greater connection and deeper learning. We’ve replaced some of the images on our website to include more people and identities.

And there’s plenty more to be done. Biases are undoubtedly still embedded in our work. I will continue to take action as thoughtfully and swiftly as possible to uncover and address them. If there were ever a time to get real about that, it’s now. In fact, many will rightly tell you it’s long overdue.

I’m on the case. I’ll keep you posted. I welcome your feedback. And I hope you will join me in making a difference for all.

Andrea P. Howe
Founder, The Get Real Project
Co-author, The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook