Athletes Deserve Safe Workplace Cultures, Too: Sex-Testing at the Olympics

This story is completely baffling. If you are a professional athlete, your workplace is the field – and if you’re an Olympic athlete, your workplace is also the testing facility where you’re checked for doping. However, the practice of sex-testing female athletes – or giving female athletes very invasive check-ups to confirm that they are legitimately women if they happen to be “too muscular” or “too manly” to be believed – has completely ruined lives. There have been very few cases of male athletes impersonating female athletes to get ahead in sport, and most of the time, these tests reveal that a given athlete may be an intersex individual – which affects hormones through no fault of their own. While there is some debate about this issue, what it really comes down to is that there has to be a better and more psychologically safe way to handle this situation: revealing an athlete as an intersex individual has almost always resulted in humiliation, and has sometimes resulted in suicide. Fundamentally, this practice of sex-testing is mortifying and shows a fundamental disregard for female athletes competing at the top of their fields. Olympic athletes deserve psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplaces, just like everyone else – and I wish Dutee Chand, the athlete featured in this story, all the luck in the world this summer at the games. You can read more about Chand and the practice of sex-testing female athletes in the New York Times. 

Image: Dutee Chand, by Sohrab Hura/Magnum for NYT

Ban Russia from the 2016 Summer Games

There seems to be a lot of debate about whether or not Russia should be banned from the Olympic Games in Rio this summer. Dick Pound, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), makes a solid argument for excluding them – however, he does not send a strong enough message. If Russia is allowed to compete next month, what message will it send to today’s youth? Every day, today’s young people are exposed to news stories about lies, harassment, corruption, greed, abuses of power and cheating in almost every realm of society – government, business, religion, the media and arts, etc. The Olympic Games are in a rare position to offer young people a beacon of fairness, setting the example that through healthy competition, people from different walks of life can find common ground. Whether you win or lose, you can be proud of how well you played the game. The IOC has failed us, and more importantly the youth generation, by failing to ban Russia thus far. As Pound puts it, this is no “political issue,” but rather “a matter of tawdry, organized cheating.” The Olympics must transcend the rhetoric and do what’s right by eliminating any internal rot – only then can our young people really have heroes to look up to. You can read Pound's full article at The Globe & Mail.

Image: The 2012 Summer Olympics, via Wikimedia Commons

Message to Top-Level Predators: No, You Can't Get Away With It

I have to say, I am surprised by the quick response by the Murdochs to the now confirmed sexual harassment allegations against Roger Ailes. It’s been about two weeks since the lawsuit filed by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, and in that time, the management of 20th Century Fox, Fox News’s parent company, have taken swift action to conduct an objective internal investigation that found several others to corroborate Carlson’s claims. It seems that even Megyn Kelly, one of Fox News’s newer matriarchs, was affected by Ailes’s sexual harassment. As much as we can commend the Murdochs for dealing with this situation quickly once it came to public light, we have to ask – how come this was not dealt with long ago, since Ailes’s behavior was an open secret at Fox News? I hope Fox goes on to shift culturally, in addition to getting rid of Ailes. Ultimately, though, this really has to serve as an example to other high-level employers who think they can harass with impunity. A message to all the predators out there: regardless of your level, change or be changed by being brought down in disgrace. You can read more about Ailes's resignation at the New York Times.

Speaking Ill of The Dead

I was taught not to speak ill of the dead, but I feel like I have to make an exception here. If this testimony is true, and Joe Paterno knew of Jerry Sandusky’s rampant and longtime sexual abuse for years without taking action, his legacy needs to be reevaluated. If true, he is a monster who cared more about the money, power and control he gained through his institution than about the young student athletes who revered him as their coach. This is an extreme case of a situation I’ve come across numerous times in a variety of organizations – the people at the top protect their favorites at the expense of other employees. Here, it seems as though Paterno protected Sandusky, not only at the expense of the other workers under his management, but at the expense of Sandusky’s many, many victims. There are clear parallels between this situation and the scandals the Catholic Church has dealt with in terms of child abuse – horrible abuses were shoved under the rug by higher-ups (possibly even previous Popes) instead of being called to attention. This is sickening news, and if it’s true, the Paterno family should adjust their defensive responses. Who is the bigger villain here – the man who perpetrated a heinous crime, or the man who knew about it and could have stopped it, but did nothing?

You can read more about the new testimony at The New York Times.

Image via Philly.com

Taking a Closer Look at Gretchen Carlson and Fox News

I have been giving a lot of thought to the situation arising between Fox News, Gretchen Carlson and Roger Ailes. There seem to be many sides to this in media at the moment – from female colleagues of Ailes defending his impeccable behavior, to anonymous female Fox News employees coming out in support of Carlson’s allegations of a sexist workplace culture. However, I can’t help but draw parallels between Fox’s current situation and that of the CBC when the Jian Ghomeshi sexual harassment scandal came to light. The way the CBC handled the situation, with little transparency, not only damaged their journalistic integrity, but allowed Ghomeshi to claim that he was the victim in a situation where, eventually, it was clear that he was in the wrong despite his acquittal. Additionally, the CBC focused on the particular case of sexual harassment, rather than on addressing their endemic culture of celebrity that allows certain individuals to harass with impunity.

While the CBC’s scandal arose in the arts and entertainment section of their business, Fox News is faced with a scandal that can seriously damage their journalistic integrity if it’s handled incorrectly. In order to maintain any sort of credibility, they will have to seriously examine not only Roger Ailes, but the culture of sexism that may or may not be present in their business. While some employees, like Greta Van Susteren, have stated that they have never experienced sexism in the Fox News environment, others seem to be coming forward to corroborate what Carlson is alleging (albeit anonymously). Either way, the internal investigation will need to be objective, comprehensive, and most importantly transparent with the public that watches Fox News daily for information. If it turns out that these allegations are false, it will only embolden predators at the workplace to continue to sexually harass their colleagues. Conversely, if Fox News shoves this lawsuit under the rug, it’ll be damming to their reputation as a reputable news organization. Either way, it should not be left to the court of public opinion to decide.

Image Credit: Fox News

The Power of Questioning in the Office

Abbey Lossing for NYT

I love the sentiment of this article from a workplace culture perspective – working in an environment that encourages healthy questioning of ideas and practices is a good sign of a psychologically healthy workplace. However, considering that 70% of North American employees are not engaged at work, I have to assume that not every workplace is structured to allow free and open questions. If more business leaders opened their corporations up to this kind of culture, they might find that their greatest asset is the curiosity and problem-solving capacity of their employees. You can read more in The New York Times.

Is $15 Billion Enough to Repair Volkswagen's Broken Image?

After nearly a year of following this story, it’s good to see that Volkswagen will finally be paying some substantive money to rectify its disastrous emissions scandal. They’ll be paying a reported $10 billion to consumers, $5 billion to the EPA – about 20% of VW’s worth as a company. It’s the largest settlement deal in US automotive history, but I’m still not sure it’s enough – executives who were directly responsible for deceit and creating default devices should be prosecuted. You can read more on this at NPR. 

Image: Getty Images via NPR

Standing Up to Sexual Harassment

The news of Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes sounds all too familiar when bearing in mind the plights many women have to face in the workplace. Considering that Carlson’s show was at the top of its 2 PM time slot with an average of 1.1 million viewers, I would not be surprised to find that her accusations hold water. Being asked to perform sexually to assure the continuation of your contract, in addition to having to deal with what sounds like a sexist work environment, should be unacceptable for any employee. It’s heartening that Carlson is calling out Ailes despite his immense power in the communications industry – even those at the top of their fields should not be allowed to harass employees with impunity. You can read more on the lawsuit in The New York Times.

Image: Rich Polk/Getty Images for Variety

Creating a New Framework to Judge CEOs

The metrics for evaluating CEOs are often misleading – many of these measurements encourage managers to aim for shareholder return, rather than the long-term health of their company. CEOs should be paid for the long-term growth of their companies, so that instead of “running their operations into the ground,” they can be establishing a company that has staying power. The key to that? Creating a psychologically safe workplace for employees. If CEOs are encouraged to create positive workplace cultures that support overall growth, the managers under them will most likely follow suit. It’s a win-win for everyone involved in the company, from the board of investors to the lowest level employees. You can read more on this topic at The New York Times.

Misjudging Moods: The Connection Between Brexit and Workplace Culture

The implications of the Brexit vote are far reaching and momentous; the economic and political effects are only just now being felt, but I’m more interested in the social aspect of the vote from the perspective of workplace culture.

In my experience, many workplaces are home to a total disconnect between upper management and general employees. Whether it’s values, goals, or general emotions about work, this disconnect can lead to a multitude of different conditions that create toxic workplace cultures, like a lack of trust, pervasive bullying and low productivity. In short, when managers completely fail to understand the points of view of their employees, workplace culture tends to go downhill.

Enter the Brexit vote – from an outsider’s perspective, it appears as though the political elites in the UK wholly misunderstood the emotions and plights of the average people. This disconnect allowed many UK voters to be swayed by general language, biases and misinformation in the media that took advantage of their frustrations. The political establishment misread the mood of the public, leading to a monumental (and potentially catastrophic) decision that is being felt the world over.

This is why emotional intelligence is so essential – both from a workplace culture perspective and a political perspective in terms of the Brexit vote. Managers should be aware of their employees’ feelings to avoid poisonous workplace cultures; similarly, the establishment of the political landscape need to be aware of the feelings of their constituents in order to effectively lead them. Understanding why people feel the way they do is the best way to diagnose issues and work together to solve them. A lack of understanding leads people to target issues that cloud how they’re really feeling – which is what appears to have happened in terms of the Brexit, which may not hold the solutions to the many real concerns UK citizens have about economic instability. In much the same way as employers use mass layoffs as a first rather than last resort, the British people seem to have taken the Brexit option as a first rather than last resort – and both have happened as the result of a fundamental disconnect between emotion and action.

While UK and EU citizens will undoubtedly continue to have mixed feelings on the Brexit vote, the fact that the top Google search in the UK was “What is the EU?” goes to show how essential communication and awareness are. Hopefully, this example will serve as a powerful lesson for the USA come November.

Image Credit: Al Jazeera