Dear Reader,

I spied some ‘Twittercisms’ the other day—yes, Twittercism is a word I made up to describe that platform’s pervasive criticism culture. These particular Twittercisms were being tossed at Toronto Life for their annual list of “Top 50 Most Influential Torontonians”.

Influencer, author and all-round media maven Amber Mac (125.9K Twitter followers!) used a single post to both congratulate the winners and lament the fact that only 13 women made the cut. She wasn’t wrong.

Another active Tweeter and social influencer, Mike Morrison (44.6K Twitter followers!), chimed in to echo her observation—but also, in the way that Twitter does, the conversation fed on itself. They soon seemed to be insinuating women had deliberately been left off the list. At least, that’s how it read to me... but maybe I’m wrong.

Either way, that’s when I joined the conversation.

I’ve had a lot of experience putting together similar kinds of lists. I don’t know how Toronto Life chose their “Most Influential” but at Atlantic Business Magazine, we rely on the public to submit nominations. We don’t believe in creating lists based on just who we know—that would be arrogant. And limiting.

We want lists that are full of surprises; lists that honour people of all ages and backgrounds and races. Unfortunately, we don’t always get the nominees we wish for. Worthy? Yes, always. But racially, culturally, chronologically and geographically diverse? Not so much.

That’s why I’m a bit terrified to download the nominees for our 2022 list of the Most Powerful Women in Atlantic Canada. In the lead up to yesterday’s close of nominations, I used my social media accounts (a mere 2,442 Twitter followers ☹) to ask people to nominate Black, Indigenous and women of colour. I don’t yet know if they did, but I do know that if they didn’t, I’m going to get called out for it—just like Toronto Life.

Will I deserve it? Perhaps, but I don’t think the responsibility is mine alone. I guess what I’m saying is… sometimes, instead of just criticizing, you might find that there are ways to help enact the positive change you’d like to see. Like sparing five minutes to submit a nomination.

You’ve missed the Most Powerful Women deadline for this year. But there’s still the Top 50 CEO awards. And Employers of Diversity. And the 60+ Achievement Awards. And the 2022 30 Under 30 Innovators.

Let’s put it another way: if you can’t be bothered to help me create the list, why should I be Twittercized for not selecting the people you failed to nominate?

 

Dawn Chafe Executive editor & co-owner dchafe@atlanticbusinessmagazine.ca