I have been an agent for almost 27 years and when I first started in this business I did not understand or see the power of poetry as a tool in leadership. When I heard “poet” I would immediately flash back to my college days studying Walt Whitman or Emily Dickenson. It wasn’t until I created Conscious Campus that I fell head over heals in love with spoken word, poetry. I was pressured by one of my speakers to sign a spoken word poet, Kane Smego to our roster. He assured me that he would be able to use his poetry and storytelling as tools for expressing and constructing identity, celebrating diversity, and building relationships across lines of difference. The feedback we receive from Kane’s performances is proof that Poetry and Leadership go hand and hand. Here is the first poem that I heard from Kane that made me a huge fan.
