What Happened: From January-September 2024, Mountaintop made several communications mistakes due to a lack of thoughtfulness. These mistakes, while not causing any significant negative consequences, represent a larger pattern of communications challenges that could add up to a larger challenge around building a globally inclusive, people-first organization. These include:

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1. Referring to the Leadership Institute as the "Summer Institute," which assumes that applicants and Fellows live in the Northern Hemisphere;

2. The Program Officer job application at first not making clear that we were looking for a candidate from a lower-income country, creating confusion and potentially wasting some people's time;

3. Posting a Fellow on our website and social media who had initially given us permission to do so, but when we later followed up asked us to refrain from sharing about him publicly due to the security situation in his country;

 

How Mountaintop Responded: Mountaintop quickly corrected each of these mistakes as soon as they were identified, updating language on our website, job description, and social media.

 

Mountaintop's Learning and Commitment: Mountaintop has learned that our team has certain blind spots, and that it is best to build a team that represents the lived experiences of our Fellows. It is also important to build a culture where staff feel psychologically safe to point out issues with our communication so we can continue to learn. Mountaintop commits to taking language seriously, and continuing to consult with diverse stakeholders when choosing which language to use.