Prime Time - Jane Fonda [109]
Her whole life, Johnnetta has been fighting against the isms: racism, sexism, classism. “And,” she added with fervor, “I also signed up in strong opposition to heterosexism, ageism, ableism”—discrimination against people who are physically challenged—“and any other ism. My way of looking at and moving through the world has been shaped by experiences growing up in the South in the days of legal segregation, participating in the civil rights and anti–Vietnam War and women’s movements, and, yes, by academic training in anthropology, women’s studies, and African American studies. Now I can bring all of the knowledge and experiences from Acts I and II together with what this Third Act has to offer and, hopefully, I can make a few more contributions in our ongoing struggles against all systems of inequality.”
For a number of years, Johnnetta was closely involved with the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute, founded at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina. When the institute was at its height of success, it annually convened the Chief Diversity Officers Forum. I had never heard of a chief diversity officer (CDO), but Johnnetta explained that more and more corporations are appointing CDOs to provide leadership for the necessary tasks of increasing workforce diversity and creating an inclusive culture that is welcoming to all employees. Such actions, Johnnetta pointed out, are necessary if a company wants to successfully compete in the increasingly diverse global marketplace. Attracting and keeping a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive culture is not only the right thing to do, Johnnetta said, it is the smart thing to do. In short, there is a business case to be made for diversity.
With Pat Mitchell in the mid 1990s.
Actually, Johnnetta’s Generativity is not only about encouraging diversity in the corporate world; she is passing on her wisdom and experience so as to build a younger generation of leaders. Power Girls, another program of the institute, brought fourteen- to seventeen-year-old girls from the United States and several other countries to Bennett College for a two-week leadership training program. “One way to have a vigorous and exciting Third Act,” Johnnetta said, “is to hang out with young’uns!”
A year and a half ago, Johnnetta explained, “I received my third F minus in retirement as I assumed the position of director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. And,” she added, “I could not be happier because in this Third Act of my life, I have the joy of bringing together my passion for African art, my knowledge of anthropology and African studies, my belief in education as a powerful instrument for change, and my responsibility to be of service.”
For some, having a purpose can mean getting better and better at what you’re already good at. I once saw an inspiring photograph of the bedridden Henri Matisse still painting from his bed, with a brush attached to the end of a pole. Winston Churchill’s last tenure as England’s prime minister began at age seventy-seven. Michelangelo was sculpting up until a week before he died, at eighty-nine. At age ninety, Albert Schweitzer was working with lepers.
Sure, it’s easier to keep doing what you love doing to the end if you’re your