CFPC Gray Papers
Research, Reports, and Policies: Political and Economic analysis for We the People. Because the patriarchy isn't going to fix itself.
Words matter.
We work and live together, even when we are not able to be together. Our economy, business, commerce/trade/idea sharing is one big system. It only "functions" when it works for all of us.
We cannot change work if we don't get involved and stay informed about laws and trends that affect the most vulnerable.
coFLOWco consultants contribute to CFPC with reviews, writes, and reports on products, processes, policies and practices, deconstructing "best practices" to create a future of work grounded in equity and justice.
CFPC, like coFLOWco, is not a 501c3 but is a social enterprise (committed to reinvesting at least 50% of our profits back into the business and mission.) We're not operated by FLOWLab, though we invite members to become contributors too.
Through our publishing, community, and consulting practices, we help creators, founders, and social impact leaders understand what is broken, where the barriers are, and identify gaps in the system to highlight opportunities for people who care and who create to do something about it.
Yes, we discuss race, gender, climate change, and politics at work. The question is, why aren't you?
Your labor is not a favor.
We will not sit by while we toil away for this country, pay higher taxes, do all the care work, essential work, and invisible labor to keep this economy and nation humming.
Solopreneurs and founders, especially underestimated startup leaders, academics, consultants, and creatives are fighting a hard battle to make an impact. "The Powers That Be" continue to profit off reports about us, advocating for investments in small businesses, but stopping short of making the shifts discussed in their publishing.
You deserve to be paid, compensated for your ideas, and not have to do free labor for RFPs or grants while "The Powers That Be" give each other millions and millions to experiment on a widget or create another empty initiative.
Your research and content and creative work are work products. Thought leaders, culture critics, economists and business experts get paid to theorize, think, posture, and create. We have to have "traction" and proof and data to be worthy of investment. We need to remove all barriers to getting our ideas out in the world. They can't fix this. We can.
You cannot package "purpose" for profit.
Management Consultants and Big Tech create policies they don't follow. Like our government, they enact initiatives for PR and then when they fall short they just brush it under the rug.
There is no mea culpa. They have never acknowledged of the deep harms caused to humans and the planet, and instead continue to do so, while putting out ESG reports. (Where do you think our government gets their advice? Who do you think they pay to help plan the federal budget or create a policy for immigration?)
We are staunchly opposed to greenwashing, DEI washing, and stakeholder capitalism and care deeply about participatory design and shared decision making. We report on consulting and communications blunders, corruption, and exploitation to prove our Theory of Change.
If you want to change business, you must change management.
The Big 3 and Big 4 have define the economy for over 100 years (Deloitte is closer to 200 years): what it is, who has access to it, and whose voices are heard. There is no regulation. No one says what they can or cannot touch, no monitoring, and very little accountability (save the occasional cash settlements for their regular illegal, nefarious, and unconstitutional practices.)
Small businesses continue to be left out, or blotted out, eaten up by M&A's, closed without access to loans or emergency funds. We're eliminated from the running on government contracts before we start, despite having the required certifications.
Despite government, The Big 3, and the SBA statements calling us "the backbone of America," we are being systematically erased through an all out war on our liberties, our livelihoods, and our lives. The SBA still defines small businesses as under 500 employees so companies with 400 people are getting small business set-aside contracts (not that we want to work for the DOD).
The prep school to U Penn pipeline is as ironclad as the school to prison one. There are two economies, but currently only those with pedigree get to define the "economy." Since the 1970s "Management Consultants" have taken over the trajectory of the global economy, all for their own gain.
They control the narrative of everything and have extended their reach far beyond advising managers, audits, internal processes, or financial improvements.
Why do we think we can do "everything" too? Why the f&%k not?!
As disability activists say, “Nothing About Us Without Us.”
We need to be in the room, at the table, leading the conversations and the solutions. We need to be reporting, researching, publishing and telling the stories. If we want to change history, we have to be the storytellers of the present and the ones defining the Future of Work. Period.
There is no morality in our economic and government decisions related to business, but for our sheer survival as a species, there absolutely needs to be. The management world is David and Goliath, and we will prevail...together.
Leaders in the place you work, the city or town you live in, the school you go to, the hospital you get care in, the place you worship or relax or have fun, and the country of your residence should be building systems (policies, processes, and practices) with YOU, not for you. With us, lead by us, not bringing us in at the end for a soundbite.
You need to be informed and do the work.
We examine how deep their control goes and how it impacts your work.
As workplace and employment equality advocates, businesses cannot remain neutral. Period. There is no longer a both sides argument (not that there ever was). Staying apolitical means siding with oppressors and discriminatory practices that impact everyone's lives.
We're always on the lookout for the next policy, law, or trend that put communities at risk. We're building more inclusive, equitable, and accessible businesses from the ground up. This includes being highly informed and active citizens.
You matter, your life matters, and that life deserves to be protected, educated, safe, and treated fairly by everyone else. The more you know, the more you can hold leaders accountable and create alternatives to lead us forward. It may seem overwhelming, and it is...but ignorance is not bliss; it's dangerous complacency.
You have a voice and it must be heard.
"If you don't vote, you don't exist." –Gloria Steinem
We will fight for democracy (if we can still call it that) because it is a fundamental need for a solidarity economy. We will fight for healthcare and people with disabilities, because we all have a body worthy of kavod (dignity, honor, and respect.)
Worker cooperatives follow 7 rules; rule number 1: Democratic governance. Their rule is 1 voice, 1 vote. Our government claims to be by and for the people. Businesses claim to be looking out for employees. But all evidence to the contrary, because by and large they are not led by us (women, LGBTQIA2S+, Black, Latina, Indigenous, AAPI, people with disabilities and neurodivergent people.)
We cannot do that without speaking up on the things that affect our everyday lives and liberties. As Sarah Phelps says, "There is no work/life balance. There is only life." Life is in the details. It is in the processes, policies, practices, and politics that define how we live.
You deserve to write your story instead of being ignored and only seeing justice if you sue and put all your trauma and drama on display.
We need less opportunists and more mutualists. Less individualists and more collectivists.
Our projects and plans are worth hearing. Anything they've come up with only got us here, to a place of chasms of inequality, violence, extraction, plagiarism, and exploitation.
The peacekeepers, care providers, thought leaders, managers, advisors, reporters, researchers, designers, technologists, publishers, and educators must include us, or they are not for us and they will continue to define a future where we cease to exist.
We can only achieve our mission* if we are the ones telling the story, defining the future, and leading the way.
coFLOWco's mission* is to achieve equal opportunity and economic empowerment by amplifying the strengths, voices, and creative ideas of diverse leaders.
*We want to make work not suck for humanity and work for everybody.
Let's chat.
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