We Can’t Achieve Social Change Without Good Communications: In Conversation with Judy Belk

The connection between strong, effective leaders and communications is undeniable. The ability to communicate clearly is a superpower many executive directors and C-suite leaders embody that helps propel them to leadership roles and achieve transformational change and impact.

In the latest edition of our “In Conversation With” series, Cause Communications Founder Chris Hershey catches up with Judy Belk, former CEO of The California Wellness Foundation, as the two veteran changemakers talked about communications as the key to advancing social change through narratives and storytelling. A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Judy was inducted into the Alexandria African American Hall of Fame in recognition of her writing and commitment to social change. You can check out her writing on her website.

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Chris Hershey (RCH): Hi Judy, congratulations on your retirement from serving as CEO of The California Wellness Foundation, one of California’s largest philanthropic institutions working on health equity. Are you living the stress-free, happy grandparent life, or did you dive right back in but with a different type of “work”?

Judy Belk (JB): Chris! It’s so fun to be in conversation with you — one of my favorite communications pros talking about one of our favorite topics…communications. As for retirement, it doesn’t feel much like retiring as it does repotting. I’m busy, but I’m busy doing what I want to do. I loved my almost 10 years at California Wellness Foundation, but now I get to prioritize my time with my personal passions. Writing is at the top of the list along with spending time with my new granddaughter, Ada.

RCH: Well, you have a humility as a writer that people really connect with. Your firsthand stories about the issues that matter—like gun violence, water insecurity—these difficult topics give people pause and think, “Wait, this issue is personal for Judy, and it’s affecting communities in the US.” These are real things that real people that we love and care about are still dealing with, unfortunately.

Connecting storytelling to the role of communications is something I know we have in common. How do you see communications and its relationship to advancing a cause within a social change organization? What do you think of when you think of the best use of strategic communications?

JB: To me, communications is like breathing. It’s about everything. I use stories to reach folks….to influence social change; to make meaning out of this increasingly complex world. The first rule you learn in communications is that you have to reach folks where they are and that’s often through their hearts. While any messaging has to be grounded in facts and research, studies have shown that if you’re trying to influence or change behavior and only communicate data and facts, folks tune out, they actually dig in. That’s where storytelling comes in. It can move strongly held points of view and motivate people to action.

I saw that play out in real time when part of my role at California Wellness Foundation was to talk about gun violence as a public health issue. I could throw out all the facts (and I did) and talk ‘til I’m blue in the face: 40,000 people die every year, etc.

But, when I lead with a story and share that the last time I saw my sister alive was on my wedding day (she’s a victim of gun violence) and how my sister’s tragic death devastated not only my family, but our close-knit African American community…that sparks a conversation and people respond with empathy, hopefully seeing a face beyond the statistic and maybe, just maybe, moved to action.

Or, when I share the story that another sister was incarcerated for 15 years and, when she got out of prison, the difficulty she had finding housing, even when I was willing to cover a full year’s rent. But that didn’t seem to matter in my home state of Virginia, where at the time it was perfectly legal to discriminate against the formerly incarcerated in denying them housing. Telling that story resonated not only with the formerly incarcerated, but also their family members like mine, who often are ready to step in to provide a safety net but face punitive public policies. That experience motivated me to craft a major Cal Wellness initiative with the goal of providing services and advocating for more supportive public policies for formerly incarcerated women of color. It’s one of my best proudest legacies.

So these are painful stories. And believe it or not, I’m a pretty private person. But I tell these stories because I don’t want other families to have to go through the pain, loss, and trauma experienced by my family. But mainly I want to see meaningful change. If sharing my stories can spur movement building and social action, I’m willing to use my leadership platform and give up a little privacy.

RCH: That is a fantastic way to describe the power of communications to advance social change and causes. And I loved what you said, it’s like breathing – communications really is everything. I think there’s nothing that better communications can’t help because there’s a way to break through when you get to the right story. And I know you also believe (as do I) that strong communications makes you a more effective leader.

JB: Communications is central to leadership. Just think about the leaders that inspire you, that you would follow. Think of those you have followed in the workplace and even folks you vote for, they are usually good communicators. A good leader must paint a vision and possess two pairs of eyes: one pair in the front looking forward, charting a direction, and another pair in the back of the head, taking in the rear view. Because it doesn’t matter how great the vision: if ain’t nobody following you, you’re not leading. So I always coach leaders to pause every now and then to look over your back and see if anybody is following.

I remember when I came into California Wellness Foundation, after a year or so of talking to people I had exactly the vision I wanted to chart out for the next year. But at one point, two of my senior managers sat me down and said, “Judy, we think you probably know where you’re going and we are eager to deliver, but we don’t know where you’re going.” I had done a lousy job of communicating that vision thang.

RCH: That is something many leaders of nonprofits face. They often have made it to a leadership post because they are good at their craft like programming. But communications is a new skill and strategy they have to master as a strong leader.

JB: Yes, leaders must communicate effectively on the why, how, and where. After I was told I wasn’t communicating clearly as the leader at the Foundation, I wrote it out in plain language — which I even branded as “Belk’s Vision Thang” — and then met with each team and the board and said, “This is where I want us to go, and this is why. Will you join me? Is it clear? And will you help me make it better?” It became my leadership bible of sorts to get both the buy-in and clarity I needed to lead. Once the vision thang was in place, something shifted in me as a leader and at the organization.

RCH: I think I saw that shift with you, too, because, in my mind, you were a couple years in and then you really came into your own with this super powerful voice. You began to communicate in a way that demanded attention, and everybody started listening.

What do you think strategic communications could be doing right now? Do those of us who are communications strategists have a bigger role to play given how divided the world is on almost every single issue?

Should more communicators move into the C-suite and leadership roles?

JB: Communication is needed now more than ever. And it’s also more challenging because we are so bombarded with communication overload…most of it mediocre.

The communicators I admire the most are great listeners, and there’s not a lot of listening going on these days. The best feedback I ever received was that I needed to do less talking and more listening. It’s still a personal challenge and even more so when you’re in a leadership position since you can take up a lot of airspace and rarely do folks tell you to shut up. But I keep working at it. Effective listening skills have helped me in all aspects of my life be a better leader, better writer, better friend and has definitely helped me be a better life partner to my husband of 45 years.

RCH: There’s something you’ve been able to do where you’re comfortable bringing your whole self to your work. What on your journey made you bold enough? Because this is where I see a lot of people struggling in that transition into the C-suite.

JB: That’s very kind. In many ways I feel as though I’m still a work in progress. I’m fortunate that I was trained as a communications professional, which has given me a competitive edge in every position I’ve had. A couple of years ago I was invited to give the commencement speech at the School of Communications at Northwestern University, my alma mater. I remember asking the Dean if a philanthropic leader was the right messenger for a roomful of newly graduating radio, TV, film, and theatre majors. I wasn’t sure the path I chose would be an inspiring message.

He thought otherwise and convinced me that focusing on the power of storytelling wherever they might land in their professional career was exactly the message he wanted me to share. So I shared with the graduates that the tools I learned at Northwestern about storytelling and authentic, creative communications I employed every single day in my role at Cal Wellness.

In addition to knowledge and skills, effective leaders also need a high degree of self-awareness and that just comes with time. Like so many people, I have been on a journey to find myself in places where I can be my true, authentic self. And in many ways, California Wellness Foundation was the culmination of that quest. It helped that it is the most racially and gender diverse organization that I’ve ever worked in.

RCH: And you’ve seen a lot of organizations.

JB: And I’ve had the fortune to work for organizations in government, corporate, and nonprofit sectors truly committed to DEI, but California Wellness Foundation was the most diverse organization with a majority of staff being folks of color and majority women. I didn’t realize how transformative that experience was for me as a black woman leader.

RCH: You didn’t have to filter yourself.

JB: Or have to explain or educate the board or staff, for example, on why race is and has always been the most dominant determinant in this country of whether you are healthy or well. It was liberating to put my energy in addressing the problem rather than trying to convince other well-meaning folks why there was a problem. So it matters who you work for. When I coach young or emerging leaders, I tell them to protect their brand. Not in a marketing sense, but to protect what they stand for. What’s your moral compass? What are you prepared to stand up for? I can teach you how to nail an interview and Grantmaking 101, but I can’t teach you what your values should be or how to have compassion. You have got to bring that with you.

RCH: That’s fantastic advice. I love that. It just underscores the whole concept of self-awareness and that getting comfortable in your own skin goes hand-in-hand with being real in any way. Thanks for chatting with me today and sharing this wisdom. I think many leaders will benefit from hearing it.

JB: Thanks for inviting me and thank you, Chris, for all the support you and your team provided me during my early days at Cal Wellness. You were one of my go-to kitchen cabinet members who helped inform my Vision Thang….and for that I am so grateful.