Since *winning* the 2020 media-election there’s a variety of reaction from prominent and wannabe-prominent people that ranges from unsurprising to fiery but peaceful. These examples don’t apply to the vast majority of citizens but you do need to know where the elected, media and chattering classes all stand. Those in the most immediate danger are rational, left-leaning people because they’re soft targets. In professional settings, especially where there are permissive leaders who aren’t / don’t have time to pay close attention, the goalposts are moving. Thought-policing is exploding and non-conformity will be punished if the weak, bureaucratic professional-class (ahem, HR) is left in charge. Good […]
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These pages are works in progress, published as parts of a macro look at political & social activism in the workplace and its impacts on leadership.
NOTE5: Woke Backlash, Violence & Collateral Damage
From Street Corner to Conference Room I’ll keep repeating this connection. The narrative that drives diversity, equity & inclusion is the same narrative that drives fiery but mostly peaceful protests. It’s a victimhood narrative. The #blacklivesmatter slogan spray painted on smoldering buildings and printed on corporate posters and featured in political campaigns doesn’t raise a question? A majority of people, regardless of their identity or intersectional scorecard, don’t want to be treated as victims — to be labeled a “diversity hire” or “equity promotion” because they earned success in the midst of a political spasm. Each of these stories has relevance that stretches across private, […]
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NOTE5: K-12/University Activism as Barometer of Workplace & Social Behavior
From a leadership (business, community, family) perspective it’s important to understand that at least 2 generations of the current workforce are products of a Western education apparatus where activism and indoctrination go unchecked. While university-level was known, K-12 is further along that many thought. Equally important is awareness of the bigger picture: Critical Race Theory is a one-trick pony. Corporate “diversity, equity & inclusion” is the same game as “anti-racist curriculums” in education. “Health equity,” “climate equity,” “social justice,” and “stakeholder capitalism” are all slogans for the same exact game. The top-level slogan is “The Great Reset.” I’m sharing the more egregious examples of activism […]
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NOTE5: Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, Safety, Panic, Reason, Logic
Indulging Hypersensitivity Leaders, ask a serious question of yourself and your team members: Can you imagine an endpoint where every individual’s feelings will be secured? Where you can promise no further possibility of anyone feeling offended, uncomfortable, unsafe at the hands of an idea? How will you measure it? How long will it take? What will we do when our collective feelings are secured? How can we guarantee past & future emotional safety? Who will decide when enough hurtful words have been expunged? What about hurtful words in languages other than English? Can we start/share a company-wide Google Doc to track down and document problematic […]
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NOTE5: Leadership, Media, Separating Signal from Noise
A Good Primer for Leaders Critical Race Theory (CRT) is banned as a training doctrine in the US Federal gov’t. The pushback will be noisy & distorted (and the ban may be overturned). CRT is the mother of white privilege, equity, diversity & inclusion, racial-sensitivity, anti-racism, anti-bias, and every other go-to-market branding that shares this singular tenet: “The question is not ‘did racism take place?’ but ‘how did racism manifest in that situation?’” (–quoting DiAngelo) Here’s what this means for you. Waking up in the morning, your alarm clock is racist because time itself is racist and reliably showing up for your racist job is […]
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NOTE5: Human/Culture Roadblocks to Digital Transformation
Why? (Emotional) vs. How? (Practical) “Start with why” is a trendy leadership slogan that follows a best-selling book of the same name. It’s generated attention and revenue in the same way “investment gurus” generate attention and revenue by selling advice instead of investing. That’s an unpopular and arguably sour-grapes take that I’ll stand by. Systems-Rigidity Example: Supply Chains During COVID-19 We need more tweakers (systems, not meth) and fewer analysts. The brittleness of our food supply chain clearly indicates efficiency kills flexibility. Processing is overly centralized, suppliers may be limited by restrictive contracts, there are too few/too big players in the systems, and…? How does […]
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