“What’s Possible for Them is Possible for You”: White Supremacy and The Myth of Meritocracy in the Coaching Industry
By: Erin Monahan
Tags: Feminism, White Supremacy, Racial Justice, Meritocracy, Coaching

*You can also listen to this essay here*

Have you heard this before? “What’s possible for me, is possible for you.” Or I’ve also heard, “What’s possible for them, is possible for you.”

I hear this a lot in the coaching industry and not only is it just not true, it’s harmful and could lead people to feeling shame or blaming themselves for their circumstances or results. It’s also extremely ableist and doesn’t account for the fact that many people are neurodivergent and/or disabled (shout out and thank you to Dan for highlighting this while I was discussing this live on Instagram!)

I’m sure it’s not the intention when people say this, but this is the problem of “covert” white supremacy. (Also, intentions don’t matter, impact does). And I put “covert” in quotations because for the people are targeted by white supremacy it’s not covert. It’s only “covert” to us white people because we are enacting it on a daily basis, and it’s the way we’ve been conditioned to behave, to think, to talk, to treat people, etc. It’s so entrenched in our minds, (white people’s specifically), and systems that we say and believe oppressive things without thinking twice.

Saying, “What’s possible for them is possible for you” is like saying all you need to do is pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. It’s buying into the myth of meritocracy. It’s assuming we’re all starting from the same positions of power and privilege. And we’re not.

This is the week of the presidential election in the so-called United States, or occupied Turtle Island. I just listened to the latest episode of Hoodrat to Headwrap, Ericka Hart and Ebony Donnley’s podcast in which they talk about how you can’t vote fascism out in a fascist country — that’s just not how it’s going to work.

They talked about how slavery was abolished except as punishment for a crime, and how this country had to pass the 14th amendment which was supposed to give Black people actual citizenship, but this amendment, as Ebony Donnley explains, didn’t grant people the right to vote. There’s always been a history of violence to keep Black people from voting, not to mention poll taxes, literacy tests, and other barriers. And today these are still real barriers because how accessible is a voting ballot? That language is so convoluted it was hard for me as a college graduate to understand it. I had to talk to my mom on the phone about it to really understand the language before I went in to vote.

Plus, if you’re deemed a “criminal,” which just means you’ve been incarcerated in this unjust society, you’re stripped of your right to vote. And who is targeted by our “criminal justice” system? Black people. As Ebony Donnley points out, we’ve seen how crime has been racialized, and how the criteria to vote has been racialized, and this is where stereotypes come from like, “Black people can’t read.”Ericka Hart shares how all of this is wrapped up in eugenics, and how Black people are cast as the “undesirables.”

So, Black people are targeted and disproportionately accused of crimes, sentenced to jail, and then they’re stripped of the right to vote. This is not by accident. This is intentional. This is the way it’s always been. All of this in an effort to maintain white power and superiority.

So, what’s possible for them, may not be possible for you if you’ve been harmed by the systems in these ways.

And in this faux-democratic election we’re choosing between two racist, sexual predators who supposedly, according to our white supremacist logic, worked their way up, pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and moved up the ladder by their own volition and hard work ethic? No. The system is set up to put people like Biden and Trump in office. And it will continue to do this post-election because that’s the way our system was designed from the beginning when colonizers, my ancestors, first arrived on these stolen shores.

So, let’s talk about the myth of meritocracy in the coaching industry as we continue to experience this disgusting election season.

I’ve seen people who say “what’s possible for them is possible for you” also talk about how the coaching industry is unregulated. This discussion is really important and we need to be talking about the unregulated nature of the industry. But if you’re talking about the unregulated nature of the coaching industry, which has it’s pros and cons, you simultaneously better be talking constantly about white supremacy and how that’s present and embedded into the coaching industry just like it’s embedded into our systems at large whether you’re in the so-called US, or our bastard founding colonizer epicenter the UK, or Canada, or Australia. White supremacy is global.

The un-regulated nature of the coaching industry means white people are trusted as experts over Black people.

Especially as of recently, I’ve seen lots of white people, create coaching academies, accreditation programs, and also creating their own coaching certification programs without making anti-oppression a central, focal point in their programs. Where’s the curriculum of your certification program about social justice, about reproductive justice, about police abolition? How are you as a “leader” facilitating conversations about these issues within your containers?

Are these white coaches — are these “leaders” — adept at facilitating actual dialogues about these systemic injustices and how they show up in the coaching industry and beyond? You could be an expert in copywriting, sales, NLP, marketing, manifestation, which is all great and fine, and I’ve learned a lot from various coaches in those areas of expertise, but where are your skills when it comes to facilitating important, necessary, complex, and difficult conversations about white supremacy in the coaching industry?

So, for every coach who’s ever said, “What’s possible for them is possible for you,” I’m wondering, where’s your analysis of race? Where, how, and when are you talking about white supremacy? Are you even talking about this within your work? Or are you just focusing on gender because that’s more comfortable for you to tackle and discuss? I’m specifically talking to white coaches because this is our work to do.

⁣So, coming back to the myth of meritocracy, white supremacist ideology programs us to believe we live in a meritocracy where if you just work hard enough you’ll have a lot of money.

But we know better. We know this isn’t true.

So many people experience intergenerational poverty, and there’s also intergenerational wealth that gives people the ability to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” — which is an illusion.

There’s no such thing as pulling yourselves up by your bootstraps in a rigged white supremacist society that favors white people’s economic power and financial freedom.

So we need to throw the myth of meritocracy out the window.

Logically, we know this. But our brains and bodies still operate as if we believe if we just work harder, if we just fix that one thing about ourselves, or maybe if we just got that degree then we would finally be validated, accepted, and make more money.

Of course, I want to acknowledge that in our society when you have a degree you’re seen as more “respectable”/deserving of higher pay, and there isn’t the same level of pressure for white people to constantly produce as there is for Black folks due to racist stereotypes.

The myth of meritocracy has you working your business to burn-out, which can lead to fear and procrastination, which then feeds your disbelief in yourself.

⁣You might be looking at all the other “successful” creatives, healers, coaches, facilitators, entrepreneurs, and comparing yourself.

None of this is your fault.

⁣You are whole. You are perfect.⁣

There is nothing to fix.

You are enough.

⁣You are here for a reason and you have inherent skills, talents, and gifts that the world is ready to receive.

It’s crucial to examine the toxic programming we’ve inherited and to de-program our minds, so we can create new neural pathways. When we do this we learn to receive ourselves as we are. And we do this to show others how to receive us.

⁣When you’re in alignment with your truth and purpose this will have a ripple effect that not only benefits you, but also the collective, and the planet.

But you can’t be in alignment with your truth and purpose if you’re not analyzing the way that your’e showing up to conversations about white supremacy, or not showing up to these conversations. And you can’t be in alignment with your truth and purpose if you’re not analyzing your position and power.

So, as a coach myself I can’t promise that what’s possible for me is possible for you, but I can be with you through your process, I can offer my skills and insights, and support you on your journey to being your most informed, empowered, and powerful self. But there won’t be any false promises in my coaching programs.

This is just the beginning of this conversation.

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