How to “Get it Right” When it Comes to Racism in the Workplace

Whether it’s the Starbucks incident in Philadelphia or the Roseanne debacle, chances are pretty good you’ve heard about (if not personally experienced) racism in the workplace recently.  Even without going into a big long lecture on why it’s just plain wrong, it should be obvious to any businessperson on why condoning that kind of behavior is not tolerable: aside from the moral aspect (which should be your priority anyways), it’s bad for your employees’ morale, bad for your customers, and bad for your reputation.

“Okay, so what do I do about it?” or “How do I address it without seeming phony, overly PC, or misguided?” are some questions you might be mulling around in your head.  It is safe to say that many people (particularly in America) are not on board with political correctness, as Bernie Sanders himself will admit.  And people know the difference between a genuine response and a canned “cover your butt” press release.  So the key to having a real impact with a training exercise or a group discussion is a meaningful, genuine conversation with your employees about their experiences and how both their words and actions can make a difference.

There’s a good chance that if your business has employees and operates in 2018, it probably has some kind of anti-discrimination policy in place, even if it simply matches the state or federal laws in place and nothing more.  At the bare minimum you need to enforce that policy.  If you choose to go further, understand that may have consequences (positive or negative for your business).  Ideally, you can also make some structural changes to how your business operates to help combat racism — here are some tips from experts according to SHRM.

Back to the conversation bit — how do you ensure that your conversation will be a meaningful one and not seen as phony?  First, it will be absolutely critical to admit that you don’t know everything about someone else’s experience.  Admit that you don’t know everything, and will probably never fully understand, but want to hear them out to better understand them and learn how to ‘meet them where they are’.  Find out the things that you never knew; find out where you might have made assumptions that weren’t true; find out what individual experiences each person has had and how that affects their outlook and daily life.  Lastly, make a commitment to be part of the solution by changing (or removing) your assumptions about people because of the way they look and commit to having these conversations with others around you (of any race).  Understand that every person — regardless of skin color — has had their own experiences when it comes to race, and the key to being effective will be sensitivity to that person’s experiences.

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I understand that last sentence may be a bit troublesome, but it is true — there is no silver bullet, no magic spell, no cure-all strategy to combat racism.  Everyone has a different experience and will respond to tactics differently than others.  But there are some basic ideals that will appeal to the vast majority — respect, empathy, and a willingness to try understanding them.  The best way to communicate that you respect someone, feel sorry for the wrongs they’ve experienced, and want to try to understand their experience is not a training video or a canned response.  It’s a conversation.

 

Is Socially-Responsible Investing a Way to “Get it Right”? — It Depends…

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Disclaimer:  I do not provide financial or tax advice.  You need to speak with a financial or tax advisor before making any decisions regarding these activities.  This article is very general in nature by design.  

So up until now, we’ve mostly discussed why it’s so important to do the right thing and why it’s so critical to keep a good reputation.  What we haven’t spent much time doing, however, is discussing real life actions you can take to “do the right thing”.  Today we’ll discuss Socially-Responsible Investing (aka ESG – Environmental, Social, Governance -based investing) as an option for you to feel like you’re doing the right thing by supporting others who do right.

So what exactly is ESG or SRI?  Technically ESG is only one method of Socially-Responsible Investing, but given that most Americans already aren’t able to cover basic retirement expenses, along with budget after budget that adds billions or trillions in debt every year, we’ll focus on ESG since the vast majority of us will never hold enough shares to seriously sway a board of directors, and the outlook is bleak for most of us to make an individual impact.

ESG-based investing can take place in a number of different ways – you can build your own portfolio by picking and choosing individual stocks based on your own metrics (for example, if green energy is important to you but maybe tobacco is not, you might include Tesla with Phillip Morris), or you could invest in socially-responsible ETFs and mutual funds, or maybe you set your retirement plan to invest in socially-responsible pension funds or a socially-responsible 401(k) or IRA.  You could even invest in “anti-ESG” funds, or funds based on your religious values.  The options are nearly endless.

Although we’ve only scratched the surface, you should at least have some idea of how you can put your money towards companies who share your values.  But is it worth it?  Traditional knowledge suggested that choosing a socially responsible investment meant sacrificing higher potential returns, but that is not always the case, as many socially responsible investments now deliver competitive returns.

So why include “It Depends” in my headline?  Well, I say that because the meaning of “socially-responsible” is subjective to your own values.  If you pick an SRI fund, you might be supporting some things you like, but supporting other causes you don’t agree with.  Every security or fund you look at will be different and they will all have different factors to consider when comparing the returns you want with the values you support.  So to “get it right” with socially-responsible investing, you’ll want to do plenty of research.  Consult with a licensed financial advisor if you’re thinking of including your investments in your quest to “get it right”.

What values are important to you when making decisions about your investments?  Leave a comment below.

 

How Wendy’s “Sassy” Twitter Account is a Prime Example of Walking a Fine Line in the Digital Marketing Era

No question about it:  We now live in the digital era, especially when it comes to marketing for your business.  Gone are the days when having your name in the phone book was good enough for people to find you and then hope your product/service was good enough to keep them coming back.  The web has somewhat leveled the playing field by allowing businesses of all sizes to develop powerful brands at a relatively low cost, but this can only be maintained if the business knows how to stay relevant with the internet crowd and how to avoid ‘going too far’ or making other flubs.

A prime example of how to walk that line is the Wendy’s Twitter account.  Wendy’s was already a big brand, of course, but it has gained a lot more followers and interactions with consumers and customers by engaging in a series of “sassy” tweets and “roasts” of other competitors over the last couple of years.  Negative swipes at competitors in nothing new in the restaurant landscape in the U.S., but the methods of the advertising have changed.  One example of this is the epic Twitter rap battle between Wendy’s and Wingstop that played out last year, which the Wendy’s team itself described as one of its favorite moments and probably the competitor that handled it the best.

Not all companies have had the same level of success in handling their social media accounts as well as Wendy’s, of course.  Year after year, there are several companies who fail to meet the mark, whether it can be in poor responses (or failing to respond at all) to customers, being tone-deaf to sensitive issues, or not handling scandals well.  Here’s a quick list from 2017 alone.  The backlash can sometimes be more harmful than if the company never even had a social media account to begin with, so it is critical to handle these thing correctly.

There are many keys to success for business social media accounts, and it can be very difficult to balance them all.  To be successful, a business must be aware of social trends (including the internet meme world now), politically aware, respond to events and scandals appropriately, respond to customers promptly and appropriately, and maintain a balance between promotion and entertainment, just to name a few.  It’s no easy task, but with the right people and the right strategy, a business of any size can build a powerful brand.

Go Long!: Why Your Focus Should Be On Doing The Right Thing Rather Than Short Term Profits

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“Are you motivated by money?”  What a silly question, right?  Who isn’t!  We all have to find a way to provide the very basic necessities:  food, water, shelter, etc., and we satisfy those needs through our labor.  Whether you’re self-employed or work for someone else, you’re providing someone your services in exchange for money, which is then used to help you meet your needs (with the exception of bartering – but then you’re still trading your services in order to obtain something that will help you meet your needs).  All of this is fantastic, unless your priorities get “out of whack”.

Here’s an example of how it can go wrong.  Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…..the Enron / Arthur Andersen scandal.  Clearly Enron had its own monetary interests in mind when it carried on such massive fraud, but why would Arthur Andersen – then one of the most-respected auditors in the world – choose to participate in such egregious activities?  It’s not like Enron was their only client and they absolutely needed Enron’s business to survive.  Yet, this former pillar of accountability chose money over integrity and ended up “going down with the ship”, so to speak.

“OK”, you say, “so don’t do illegal/unethical stuff or help my clients hide illegal/unethical stuff”.  Well, that’s not enough.  If you really want to get ahead and succeed, you’ll want to make sure you and/or your organization are doing the right thing first rather than being second to shareholder returns.  It sounds like blasphemy, but some reports actually show that companies who focus on doing business in a just and ethical manner outperform those who focus on shareholder returns by a wide margin.

It may not always be pleasant fiscally for you or your client, but the odds are that you will gain respect and credibility for handling a problem correctly in the first place.  So don’t lose sight of your long term goals just to have some short term success today.  Do the right thing and results will eventually follow.

Have you ever faced a dilemma where you could profit from looking the other way?  Leave a comment below.  (Be smart.)

How to Get it Right When Responding to Incidents or Complaints of Sexual Misconduct

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You are a leader.  Whether you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a line supervisor, a leader of your family, or even if you’re not ‘officially’ a manager of anything — your actions (or lack thereof) will directly affect the moods, motivations, and actions of others.  Thus, you are a leader of those around you, even if you don’t see yourself as one.

That’s why it’s critical to take the proper course of action when dealing with serious issues like sexual assault or harassment.  Simply ‘hearing someone out’ or even opening up an investigation is not enough.  If you’re a business and have policies or procedures in place, you have to follow through.  If you’re not a business, you still have a responsibility to your fellow colleague, friend, family member, citizen, etc.  Don’t write off a case of what many refer to as a classic “he said, she said”, because what is actually said really does matter.  If you choose not to take a complaint seriously, you may end up even being on the hook yourself!

For those of us who aren’t in an official leadership capacity, it’s just as important for us to respond appropriately.  Being a friend for someone in time of need is a wonderful thing, but if we don’t advocate for change, whether it be on a large scale or simply through our conversations with people around us, we will not be successful in eliminating the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault in our society.  Every action you take counts.

So take action.  You don’t have to join a march, make a donation, jump on a soapbox and make a public speech, or anything grandiose.  Take these kinds of complaints seriously, empathize with the person (or people) involved, and make sure everyone around you knows that you don’t accept this behavior.  Follow through with action.  If you are in a leadership position in a business, make or advocate for changes to adapt your organization.  Tie your position back to the business case — where the business can stand to lose large sums of money if it doesn’t act appropriately, but it can benefit from a more diverse leadership group and involvement of marginalized groups.  Just don’t stand idly by.

Have any other ideas on how to “get it right” when it comes to fighting against sexual misconduct in the world?  Let us know in the comment section below.