Many shaky business practices have been destroyed by the current pandemic. At the top of the list is the “necessity” for most employees to work at the office 5 days/week.
When the dust settles, some of these practices will remain and others will have been born with the creation of a new normal. Will we wait for another global shift to knock them down?
A leader’s job is to challenge the status quo. What needs your attention today?
(And now is also a good time to look at shaky home practices)
A goal in your head is fine but unlikely to be reached.
A goal written down has better chances.
A goal shared with others creates accountability and cheerleading, and is much more likely to be reached.
So those goals of a more just society we all have right now, they need to be written down, backed by metrics, and published on our organizations’ websites.
Otherwise it’s like we don’t mean it.
Difficult conversations are exhausting.
So when people see all around them statues coming down, protest marches, changes to college athletics logos, and calls to defund some programs and fund others (and the list goes on), they want it to stop.
And I say bring it on.
Yes, having these conversations will be difficult, especially for those who have long benefited from the status quo. But even they carry a burden they are often unaware of.
Let’s have those conversations. A better world awaits.
If you work at a large corporation, two things are likely:
If that’s your situation, you’re in luck. Your company is keeping people on the payroll to educate you about business ethics and to answer any question you might have. Take advantage of it.
If you pay attention to what’s going on around you, you should be able to come up with a business ethics question every day. Listen to the news, listen to your colleagues, think of a friend’s situation at work, and you’ll soon find a question to ask, like:
In fact, even if you don’t feel the need to ask a question of your compliance guru, you should come up with one – every day. Write them down in your Notes app or on a piece of paper. Just one, but every day. Let them pile up until you have dozens or hundreds. Develop the skill to see what could be better, safer, more just. This will build in you an urge to do something.
If everyone imagined a better world, it would come faster.
To the youngster talking nonsense, Zeno said: ‘The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is so we might listen more and talk less.’
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 7.1.23
Just like the storied fish who doesn’t know what water is, my white privilege has been invisible to me for 50 years.
This is why the Black community, in response to so many like me wanting to do something, is asking us first to educate ourselves and to truly listen. There are books on racism and white privilege. There are documentaries and films. There are podcasts. We must take ownership of our education.
In a recent open letter, my CEO explained how, after truly listening to some of our company’s senior-most Black leaders, he understood the importance of – wait for it – more listening. In his words:
So, what comes next? […] What comes next is an intense weeks-long period of listening. I, my senior leadership team and managers across our enterprise will now canvass our global footprint to hear directly from our Black colleagues and others who face discrimination in our communities. And then, we will build a plan for action. A plan that will turn ideas into results. A plan that will help drive near- and long-term societal change.
So let us all educate ourselves and listen. Listen to our relatives, our friends, our neighbors and our communities. We all know someone who faces discrimination on a daily basis. Let us listen to them, so that we may replace cruelty with humanity.
How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us!
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.18.8
A child spills milk and a parent barks a nasty comment that will resonate for years.
An employee generously offers constructive feedback to a boss, who then chooses to retaliate.
A citizen is suspected of using counterfeit money to buy cigarettes and is killed by the arresting officer.
What we need is to exercise our ability to pause. Here is how Dov Seidman puts it: “One of the simplest and most powerful tools we have as individuals is the ability to pause. Think about it. When you press pause on a machine, it stops. When we pause as humans, we begin. Pausing creates a space where one can see clearly, differentiate amongst the competing stimuli of daily life, and make determinations about how to best move forward.”
And the best way forward is not to create harm but to create a better world (tikkun olam). Today and every day, let’s recognize what ignites anger in us, let us pause, and let us begin to repair the world.
According to the US Census Bureau, Blacks account for 13.4% of the population in my country, 12.0% in my state, and 36.9% in my state capital.
In my home town, it’s 0.8%.
How did I get to live here? Why did I not know these figures until now? Why has this never been a topic of discussion with my relatives, friends and colleagues?
Because I’m White, privileged, and part of a society plagued with institutional racism. I am just starting to understand this now, at age 51. I am ashamed, embarrassed, and feeling guilty. I am also determined to learn how to see what has been invisible to me, to listen to the unheard voices, and to do what I can to right wrongs.
In this we can all be leaders. We can all educate ourselves. We can all ask the difficult questions and truly listen to the ugly answers. For only these ugly answers can illuminate the path forward.
Colin Kaepernick heard, saw and felt an injustice.
He chose to protest peacefully. His protest led to a debate within his team, within the NFL and eventually around the world. It also led to the loss of his job.
On Friday the NFL admitted that they were wrong by not encouraging peaceful protests by their players. Some say that it is too little and too late. I disagree. It might be too late for Kaepernick but it is not for the hundreds of current Black players, the thousands to come, and the millions of Black fans. When the President of the United States still, to this day, believes that what Kaepernick (and other players) did was wrong, we need all the voices we can gather in opposition.
To be clear, I am not arguing in favor of kneeling during the national anthem. I am arguing in favor of peaceful protest against racism. And if kneeling during the national anthem is the necessary protest, then I’m in favor of that.
It is heartbreaking to see so many people less offended by the brutal killing of a Black man than they are by a Black man gently kneeling.
If one is shocked by kneeling in protest of police brutality, one has a choice: work to end police brutality or decry kneeling.
Isn’t the choice clear?
Had we all made the right choice in 2016 when Kaepernick first took a knee, perhaps George Floyd would be alive today.
Let us learn about racism. Let us learn about white privilege. Let us take action. Let us stop the killings.
Yesterday marked the 46th anniversary of Ten Cent Beer Night.
On that night, in an effort to draw more spectators to the game, the Cleveland Indians deeply discounted the beer sold at the stadium from 65 cents to 10 cents. Fans were limited to 6 beers per purchase but with no limit on number of purchases.
Not surprisingly, the crowd quickly became intoxicated and unruly. During the 9th inning, a riot erupted and forced the Indians to forfeit the game.
No matter how well crafted your incentive program is, it will never give you only the results you were seeking. There will also be unintended or undesirable consequences.
Your role as a leader is to see beyond the obvious.
I have a saved search in Google for “chief culture officer”, which I visit daily.
In the last few days, the top results are not about a new CCO being appointed at some random company. The top results are about chiefs of police making statements about the police culture – what it is and what it should be.
I’ve seen a few articles asking if police brutality against Black men is a systemic problem or the result of bad apples. When something happens over and over again, it’s not because of bad apples. It’s a systemic problem.
The question is: of what system?
The system of a specific police district? The entire US police force? Or perhaps it is the entire US population. After all, that’s where police officers come from.
Let’s compare Buffalo, NY and Orlando, FL. Between 2013 and 2016, both had about 250,000 residents. About half of the residents were people of color. Buffalo’s violent crime rate was 33% higher than Orlando’s. However, Buffalo’s police did not kill anyone during those years, while Orlando’s force killed 13 people.
Racism is systemic. It is in every society. It finds its way into every organization. But some organizations are better at fighting it than others. It often boils down to leadership and their expectations. The police officer who killed George Floyd by calmly kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes while being recorded on video looked confident that he was going to get away with it.
What we need is a united front at every systemic level. We need police chiefs everywhere to stand up. We need the National Association of Police Organizations to speak up. We need our President to promote unity and abandon divisiveness.
We each need to renounce and denounce racism.
Our kids are watching and learning.
The Ethical Leader 