Bringing awareness to the space is good first step. Of course we want to snap our fingers and see a beautifully diverse and inclusive work force and ownership base, but how do you accomplish that? He doubles down on his comment from earlier in the conversation- having these discussions is a good first step. He acknowledges the sentiment but follows it up with a hopeful and practical note, expressing that although we might want some immediate change, that doesn’t always have to be the case. I often feel myself disappointed in, or even disheartened by, the conversations because of how they play out, and I remind Bill of this for a moment on our call. There are always so many great ideas and initiatives that could be implemented, but it doesn’t always feel like progress is made and tangible steps are taken. If people don’t know it’s an option, how can we expect them to gravitate to this space and want to be part of it? How will we build diverse employee bases and include people of all backgrounds in our leadership and ownership teams, if most of these people don’t even know that jobs and opportunities in the legal cannabis industry exist? Medical marijuana has been legal in Ohio since 2018, and I still meet multiple every day who tell me that cannabis is not legal in this state. The model of ‘if you build it, they will come’ just doesn’t work here. We have the opportunity to set a new standard in what equity and diversity within an industry should look like, and to Bill’s point, bringing awareness to the industry is the first step to pursuing this vision.
We don’t have 100 years of an industry that is dominated by a certain demographic or process that we can’t choose to change it is all brand new and we as operators and the people within the space have the chance to do something different, impactful, and long lasting. There are no established norms in this industry yet. I found myself grinning with goosebumps on my arms and feeling like I was in the scene from the Goonies, listening to Mikey tell me ‘it’s our, time down here!’ You can’t help but be excited and inspired listening to him say this, especially because he is absolutely right. There’s no purple cows here, everything is written in pencil and we need more smart people to join the industry.” He elaborates by enthusiastically stating, “Everything you were doing before is translatable to cannabis, and there’s no better time to get into the cannabis space! We’re still figuring all of this out.
It’s the thing that has Bill as encouraged and optimistic as he is about diversity and the opportunity for people to get involved in cannabis.
Everything that is needed in a normal business is needed in this industry marketing, supply chain, accounting, construction, the list goes on and on… and all of the experience and knowledge that these specialties have in their current space is transferable to cannabis. He isn’t wrong, and it’s one of the most unique and encouraging things about this industry. Bill starts the interview by laughing and saying that one of his favorite questions to ask people in the space is, ‘what were you doing three years ago,’ because most of us weren’t doing anything related to cannabis.
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