Post by Craig J.

Ever shoot a 🏀 basketball and yell “KOBE!”? Yeah, me too. And if you haven’t, you probably know someone who has. The Black Mamba wasn’t just a scoring machine — he was a symbol. For many of us growing up, he represented excellence, swagger, and identity. And for a Black boy growing up in Gary, Indiana, with basketball dreams and a brother named Michael, the TV screen wasn’t just entertainment — it was a🪞mirror. But what happens when that same screen also shows pain, injustice, and trauma — over and over? In this piece, I reflect on my own journey with identity and introduce a concept that hit home for me: “mega-threats.” Coined by Angelica Leigh and Shimul Melwani (2019), mega-threats are: “Negative, identity-relevant societal events that receive significant media attention.” They don’t just affect what we see. They impact how we feel, how we work, and how we show up — especially for those of us who share identity with the victims at the center of those stories. Check out the article to explore: 📌 How identity is shaped in childhood and reshaped by media 📌 Why mega-threats matter in organizational life 📌 What we can do as leaders, educators, and community members Let’s build spaces that allow people to bring their whole selves to the table — not just the parts that are easy to celebrate. #IdentityMatters #MegaThreats #LeadershipDevelopment #ScholarPractitioner #OrganizationalCulture