Mad Men to #MeToo Revisited as News Breaks Around Asia Argento, #MeToo Leader
This past year, we launched a keynote and conversation around Mad Men to #MeToo because there’s momentum in the conversation of treating all genders with respect. Sometimes that conversation gets muddier, like it did this week when Asia Argento, a leader in the #MeToo movement, who says she was raped by Harvey Weinstein, was herself accused of assaulting a 17-year-old boy several years ago. Learn more in this NY Times article.
The accusation creates a challenge for the #MeToo and Times Up movements – keeping the focus on the key issue of respect and appropriate behavior when one of the main voices is accused of the exact behavior she has passionately fought to end.
I’m not here to defend Asia Argento. I’m here to bring us back to the focus of the movement – everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. No one deserves to live in fear of someone else, especially someone who holds power in that person’s life.
Conversations about creating safe places for everyone to work are rarely as clear cut as sexual assault. In fact, rarely are company conversations centered on assault. Mostly the conversations companies need to have are based on gray areas. Subtle areas where people feel put down or where someone’s language inadvertently suggests one gender holds more value than another.
Mayo Clinic released a great article recently highlighting how gray areas (Can I hug a colleague who is sad? I said I liked her dress – it wasn’t a come on. It was a joke – I didn’t mean it personally.) are the where Mayo Clinic leaders spend the bulk of their conversation. By creating a discussion forum for these gray areas, Mayo has created an internal checks and balance system to ensure respect remains at the center of all of their conversations.
Yes, it’s sad to know men and women are equally guilty of using their positions of authority to gain sexual favors in exchange for opportunity. It’s horrifically sad and the results are devastating. However, the focus of the conversation isn’t, “See women do this too!” The focus is it’s time for us all to change the conversation focus.
It’s time to change the conversation and focus on respect, in all forms. Our teams and leaders need forums where they can safely say, “I did this. Was that okay? Did I hurt someone’s feelings or their opportunities? How do I fix this?”
That’s why we are championing this conversation. We want to be part of a world where leaders, managers, supervisors and employees who are nervous about how they balance the humanity of their jobs with the legal ramifications of sexual misconduct, have a safe space to discuss the real-life impact of stereotypes, language choices and expectations.
Our keynote and session are aimed at helping people discuss what may be gray areas. From an organizational perspective, this conversation gives everyone the chance to move beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. The letter of the law is we need to be compliant with sexual harassment policies. The spirit of the law is we want and need to create environments where everyone feels safe and thrives.
Whether you are part of the formal leadership or the employee group where you work, the climate of your work environment, can be impacted by your willingness to talk through difficult topics like this. That’s why we’re offering the session.
Join us in the conversation! To learn more, check out the session description below, share it with the decision makers in your organization, or call or email me.
From us to you, we wish you the very best as we all strive toward making our workplaces and worlds a better place!
Mad Men to #MeToo – A Discussion for Leaders and Teams
This quarter- to half-day session moves beyond the legal function of sexual harassment training, this session focuses on opening the conversation around understanding the everyday situations keeping us from working together for the greatest impact.
This session provides a forum for respectful dialogue on everything from the role of perception, to practical questions like: What are the new norms around meeting with the door closed and can I offer to hug an employee? Specifically, we’ll:
- Create safe dialogue with all levels of the organization around the difficult topic of gender-safe environments
- Learn to understand each other’s perspectives
- Create new aligned or realign values and behaviors customized for organizational success and workplace appropriate
- Align, realign or reaffirm workplace behaviors to create a productive, effective and engaging culture across genders
Keynote speaker, trainer, and consultant, Sarah Gibson, helps organizations leverage the power of communication, teamwork and diversity to improve engagement and transform teams. To buy her book or inquire about her speaking programs, please visit www.sarahjgibson.com.
