Hypocrisy

10 Reasons Why The Komen Foundation Should Stop Lying about Defunding Planned Parenthood

February 3, 2012

Tweet It always hurts when organizations lie. Lying hurts the organization, the employees, the organization’s partners, the organization’s prospects, and most importantly, lying hurts the organization’s constituents. When an organization does something that sparks a”‘reputation crisis”, the absolute worst way to respond is to lie. As the reputation crisis of the Susan J. Komen Foundation […]

Read the full article →

Why Do Meritocracies Hurt Women?

November 7, 2011

Tweet When it comes to discriminating against women, you’d think that only sexist organizations would be involved.   But did you ever imagine that meritocracies would encourage managers to discriminate against women? Research conducted by Emilio Castilla and Stephen Benard, published last year in Administrative Science Quarterly, documents a disturbing dynamic that the authors call “The […]

Read the full article →

Built to Deceive: When organizations intend to mislead us

October 14, 2010

Tweet What would you think about an organization that intentionally mislead its potential clients? — That advertised itself as providing a range of products or services, when in fact it only offered one? — That presented itself as being here to “help you”, when in reality its sole purpose is to fulfill its own mission, […]

Read the full article →

3 Dangerous Assumptions in Corporate Work-Life Policy

October 12, 2010

Tweet Isn’t Corporate Work-Life policy great? Here we have a progressive set of programs and strategies that: Acknowledge that every employee is more than a worker, Recognize that she or he is also a ‘whole person’ with a life that extends outside the workplace, and Demonstrate that employees’ full lives should be respected and maybe […]

Read the full article →

Target: Why Organizations Should Boycott Target but Individuals Shouldn’t Bother

August 26, 2010

Tweet I’m a supporter of LGBTQx rights and of organizational diversity. As an individual, I’m not likely to do much to boycott Target in response to Target’s $150,00 contribution to an anti-gay, pro-bigotry gubernatorial candidate. But, if I were Target’s business customer, business supplier, stakeholder, or other important large stakeholder, I would make a bit […]

Read the full article →

Target Misses the Mark on Diversity: Corporate Donation equals Corporate Homophobia

July 28, 2010

Tweet How do you know whether an organization is racist, or sexist, or homophobic? You can use my 6 Degrees test, or you can use an even simpler method: You can watch where they put their money. Target has put its money behind the campaign of a homophobe who’s against same-sex marriage. This single action […]

Read the full article →

Sexism in FairyLand: Disney’s Pixie Hollow Won’t Let Girls Wear Pants

June 11, 2010

Tweet Mom, Disney is a sexist company, isn’t it. Out of the mouths of babes, and 9 year olds, come important truths. But I like to wait it out, rather than presume, so I reply with: Why do you say that, honey? On Pixie Hollow I want to buy pants for my fairies. I have […]

Read the full article →

3 Reasons Why Employee Engagement is a Scam

May 10, 2010

Tweet We should all maintain a hearty skepticism about employee engagement. While it is true that engaged employees contribute more and more willingly to an organization, the contributions of the employee are rarely if ever matched by compensation from the organization. Last week I had a long talk with a mid-level executive about the rollout […]

Read the full article →

The (Feminist) Business Bloggers’ Lament

January 26, 2010

Tweet In the past several weeks I’ve been working with two different groups of businesswomen, developing social-media based movements to advance social change in and around the workplace. Conversations with these women have been intellectually challenging, inspiring and empowering. And they have also been oddly confessional, about a problem that — in my opinion — […]

Read the full article →

How Layoffs Have Evolved: From “Office Space” to “Up In The Air”

January 25, 2010

Tweet In the decade since its release, the movie Office Space has dramatized the corporate best of work-life dystopia. In Office Space, we’ve got the Lumberg, the red stapler, the TPS Reports, a bad case of the Mondays, a little flair, and of course, “the Bobs”. Oh, the Bobs, those clueless, bumbling, omniscient consultants from […]

Read the full article →