Before You Start Praising Jeff Bezos, Consider This

In the rush to laud the business acumen of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos following his recently released annual letter to shareholders, many business publications are missing a key fact—this is a company that was cited in 2015 by the New York Times for its toxic work culture. The only result seems to be the shameful efforts by Bezos and spokesman Jay Carney to try to find the employees who spoke off the record to the Times, little else seems to have been done to address the culture described in the article. Bezos assertion that “Even if it’s rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero,” does little to reassure business skeptics such as myself.

We are seeing in real time on prime time the outcome of companies that ignore the importance of psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplaces. Surely the recent fiascos with United Airlines and Uber should give leaders reason to peel back the curtain and ascertain what is really going on in the culture. All of the jargon about being a “Day 1 company” or to “disagree and commit” when team members are unsure about moving forward does little to address the most important underlying principle of business—feelings drive organizational behavior.  Companies ignore this at their own risk.

I have written about Amazon’s workplace culture before, but there’s nothing cuts to the quick quite like satire, and I highly recommend this piece by New Yorker humor columnist Andy Borowitz, “Amazon Chief Says Employees Lacking Empathy Will Be Instantly Purged.”

Photo credit: Amazon

How Will Facebook's New Workplace Platform Affect Work-Life Balance?

Today’s workplaces are in a constant state of evolution in terms of technology. I’m not breaking new ground by declaring that the Internet is changing everything, but it truly is. Facebook’s new Workplace platform sounds modern, efficient and maybe even a little fun for employees used to spending a lot of time on social media. However, I have one question about this and other work communication apps like Slack: how will they affect work-life balance? Work-life balance can be a buzz-phrase for human resources types, but there’s obviously a lot to be said for having time away from work. People today spend so much time on their various social media profiles that I can foresee potential issues with an app designed to be similar – or nearly identical to – to the ones most people use just for fun. Anna Wiener discusses in this article in The New Yorker: Workplace by Facebook, or A Party in the Office.

Photo: BIGSTOCK

White Supremacists Were the Big Winners in Yesterday's Vote

Black Lives Matter protesters at a February 29, 2016 Trump rally, shortly before being escorted out of the venue.

For the GOP and the mainstream media, the elephant in the room is the white supremacist movement. The GOP leadership, Rubio, Cruz and the mainstream media should acknowledge this horrible reality. The reason there is a reluctance to confront this is the risk of alienating the extreme fundamentalist Christians who are at the core of this movement and view Trump as their savior.

For months, Trump’s outrageous hate-mongering comments run parallel to the white supremacist agenda, largely without real challenge. An example of this can be found in an article in the February 1 issue of The New Yorker called “The Duel” by Ryan Lizza, which analyzes what resonates with voters. The article reports: "Trump fans tend to express little regard for political norms. They cheer at his most outlandish statements. O'Reilly (Fox News) asked Trump if he meant it when he said that he would 'take out' the family members of terrorists. He (O'Reilly) didn't believe that Trump would 'put a hit on women and children' if he were elected. Trump replied 'I would do some pretty severe stuff.' The Mesa crowd erupted in applause 'Yea, Baby!' a man near me yelled. I had never previously been to a political event at which people cheered for the murder of women and children." Trump's comments and the barbaric responses of his racist followers is exactly what occurred in Germany in the early thirties.

This incident, and many others like it, where Trump's racist, hate-mongering comments and the racism of his supporters have been well documented; yet, the GOP establishment, the candidates and the mainstream media have been far too timid in challenging this. Trump and his racist supporters must be called out for who and what they are; if they are not, after November, Americans will likely be required to salute Trump by declaring "Sieg Heil", which I am sure many white supremacists did last night.

In my Monday blog post, "FALLING INTO THE BULLY'S TRAP - BULLYING IN REAL TIME ON PRIME TIME," I indicated that it is fortunate that Trump, unlike many bullies, is very transparent. There is no ambiguity on what he stands for and what he has the potential of doing. Even last night this transparency showed when he called himself “a unifier,” and went on to say of House Speaker Paul Ryan: “I'm sure I'm going to get along with him (Ryan), and if I don't, he's going to pay a big price.” This is a threat, and should be reacted to as such! This is also a reflection of what he will do to anyone who stands in his way.

If someone in the GOP were to, in very quick order, produce a documentary called "In Trump’s Own Words – How The Republicans Are Falling Into the Bully's Trap," it would more effectively expose Trump and white supremacists for who they are, and the huge damage they have the potential of doing.

My ninety-seven year old mother lived through the horrors of the Nazi regime in The Netherlands. She indicated her hope that Americans will not have to reflect, with regret, on the poem by Martin Niemoller:

“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Replace “communists” with "undocumented immigrants,” “trade unions” with “dissenters,” and “Jews” with “Muslims.” Niemoller's observations hold great potential for regretful reflection during a Trump presidency. 

Photo: Reuters, taken from The Daily Mail