This post originally appeared in LinkedIn on Apr 27, 2020
In the workplace, we treat managing diversity and fostering inclusion in ways that do little to build this capability across the workforce. The associated skills challenge both our biological tendencies – think unconscious biases – as well as our life-long patterns of social conditioning – think gender norms. Yet we gloss over the difficulty, thinking a one-hour workshop or weekend …
This post originally appeared in LinkedIn on Mar 23, 2020
Fundamental rhythms of life have been upended by the coronavirus. Suddenly, home has become the center of nearly all life’s activities – work, exercise, entertainment, school, the list goes on. For many, this new normal has our children unexpectedly at home, even children who aren’t children anymore but are young adults in college or graduate school. The challenges of teleworking …
This post originally appeared in LinkedIn on Feb 24, 2020
Studying male allies for more than five years has clarified the challenges for men – particularly white men – with regard to supporting gender equity at work. While on the surface, it seems a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t men who believe in gender equality want to identify as male allies, especially given the substantial research documenting the business case for diversity …
This post originally appeared in LinkedIn on Jan 22, 2020
From a neuroscience perspective, each of us brings our distinctive mix of cultural contexts, interests, and experiences to what we see, and often fail to see. The meaning we attach to what we observe is similarly filtered through the glasses we wear that reflect our individual lens on the world. As a result, two people may experience the very same …
This post originally appeared in LinkedIn on Oct 8, 2019
The challenging combination of men’s heightened confusion and fear regarding gender issues at work, along with the glacial rate of change in gender balance at the most senior levels of leadership in companies, cry out for innovative thinking and new strategies for driving change. The first two installments of the three part-series on Men, Gender Equality, and Fear: It’s Time for …
This post originally appeared in LinkedIn on Aug 21, 2019
Incremental progress toward realizing gender parity in leadership, coupled with men’s widespread fear of harassment accusations spurred by the Me Too movement, together make a compelling case for new thinking and strategies for achieving gender equality in the workplace. Part One of Men, Gender Equality, and Fear: It’s Time for a New Approach identified 7 elements that distinguish a new …
This post originally appeared in LinkedIn on Jul 31, 2019
The Me Too movement has shone a spotlight on the scale of harassment in the workplace and catalyzed new norms of accountability. It has simultaneously spawned widespread fear among men. LeanIn’s recent survey findings What Women Are Up Against at Work showcases the problem with 6 in 10 male managers reporting discomfort interacting with women in everyday work activities, such …
This post originally appeared in LinkedIn on Apr 18, 2019
In the U.S. today, bias has become a value judgment. In reality, it’s an adaptive function of human biology. Bias results from our ability as humans to learn, to hardwire learnings into long-term memory and to retrieve those learnings in order to respond instantaneously to familiar situations. While these instinctive reactions meant the difference between life and death for early …
