The Smart Communications Podcast – Episode 194

How can you communicate with candor and care?

Host: Farrah Trimpeter (Big Duck)
Guest: Kianta Love (“Key”), Founder & President, Goodlove Group
Release Date: September 3, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Farrah Trimpeter and guest Kianta Love (they/them), founder of the Afro-Indigenous and trans-owned Goodlove Group, explore how nonprofit leaders and team members can develop communication practices that balance candor (honesty and directness) with care (kindness and empathy). Drawing from their lived experiences, somatic frameworks, and organizational expertise, Key offers actionable insights for nonprofit professionals—whether in leadership or without formal power—on how to foster more intentional, clear, and values-driven communications within conflict-averse organizational cultures.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rooting Communication in Identity, Relationships, and Care

[01:51] Key:

• Key’s approach stems from their background as a Black Indigenous “country somebody,” deeply rooted in relationships, collective care, and repair.
• The idea of “sweet Southern somebodyness” is to approach all work “deeply rooted in love and appreciation and understanding of the sacredness of all things and beings.”
• Emphasizes moving away from the expectation to be “hard or tough”:

  “The truth is… it’s just a lot of like soft and fluff over here.” (Key, 01:51)

2. Understanding and Addressing Conflict Aversion in Organizational Culture

[03:29] Key:

• Many organizations want direct, kind communication but avoid conflict.
• Systemic oppression functions by keeping people disconnected from themselves and each other, increasing conflict aversion.
• The starting point: self-assessment—“What is actually going on here, and what is my experience in all of it?”

3. The Somatic Framework: Connecting Internal & External States

[05:07] Key:

• Knowledge is “lived and experiential.” The body provides real-time feedback.
• Physical sensations (e.g., a knot in the stomach) signal important information during difficult conversations.
• Rather than projecting outward, being grounded in oneself helps align actions with personal values:

  “How can I make sure that I’m showing up in a way that is in deep alignment with my values?” (Key, 06:50)

4. Communicating with Candor and Care from Any Position

[07:20] Key:

• Challenges the idea that only those with formal power can effect change.
• Cites Alice Walker:

  “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.” (Confirmed by Farrah, 08:59)

• Encourages everyone to root communications in their values—especially kindness—and to find what is necessary to communicate “clearly and kindly.”

5. Advice for Managers: Power, Vulnerability, and Consistency

[10:00] Key:

• Managers should consider:
  • How they process and enact power
  • The pressures of needing to "get it right" and how that impedes transparency
• Suggests focusing on “power with” and “power to”:

  “How are you using your power to support your folks in having what they need to… do the best version of their work, whatever that is.” (Key, 11:38)

• Systemic changes—such as consistent practices for clear, kind, candid communication—are key.

6. Content & Cadence: Rigor in Communication

[12:35] Key:

• It’s not just about what you communicate, but when and how often.
• Recommends “rigor” as a core value:

  “At no point in time do I want anyone in my team to be surprised…so clearly, the way I am sharing information is not working if folks are consistently surprised.” (Key, 12:35)

• Repetition is necessary (“repetition can absolutely be a gift”) and should be reframed as a supportive act, not a nuisance.
• Use natural rhythms as guides—think of “seasons” for communication:
  • Winter for rest and reflection
  • Spring for generative, idea-sharing conversations
• The right cadence comes from tuning into the needs of the team.

7. Closing Wisdom

[16:34] Key:

• Final advice:

  “Ooh, be good to each other. That’s it.” (Key, 16:34)

Notable Quotes

• Key [01:51]: “Relationships are at the center of everything I do. And country as in like if it’s broke, you fix it…you need your folks with you along the way.”
• Key [06:50]: “How can I make sure that I’m showing up in a way that is in deep alignment with my values?”
• Key [07:20]: “You actually have a tremendous amount of power within your own being…”
• Key [11:38]: “How are you using your power to support your folks in having what they need to like, do the best version of their work, whatever that is.”
• Key [12:35]: “Repetition, I think, can absolutely be a gift. And sometimes it’s just shifting the framing of it.”
• Key [16:34]: “Be good to each other. That’s it.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:25: Introduction & overview of Key’s unique approach
• 03:29: Why organizations struggle with honest, kind communication
• 05:07: Somatic wisdom and listening to the body in communication
• 07:20: Empowering individuals (without positional power) to speak candidly & with care
• 10:00: Managerial responsibilities: honesty, vulnerability, and the use of power
• 12:35: The importance of communication cadence and repetition
• 14:05: Using natural world metaphors for communication rhythms
• 16:34: Final thoughts and closing message

Summary

This episode delves into the interplay between candor and care in nonprofit communications, emphasizing the value of rooting conversations in relationship, personal power, self-awareness, and systemic change. Kianta Love blends wisdom from lived and ancestral experience with practical advice: begin by noticing your own responses, value repetition, and cultivate rigor—whether you’re an individual contributor or a manager seeking evolved organizational norms. The episode’s closing note distills it all: “Be good to each other.”

For more from Kianta Love, visit goodlovegroup.com. For additional resources and podcast episodes, head to bigduck.com/insights.