2010

IS TEDWomen Sexist? Use the “Group Replacement Test” and tell us what you think

August 2, 2010

Tweet Everyone who’s ever asked the question: “Is this Racist?” “Is this Sexist?” “Is this Anti-Semitic?” “Is this Homophobic” or the plain vanilla “Is this Offensive?” has tried the Group Replacement Test. The Group Replacement Test With the Group Replacement Test, you take out the name/noun of the group you’re wondering about, and you replace […]

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Followup on the TEDWomen Conversation

July 29, 2010

Tweet June Cohen, one of the producers of TEDWomen, kindly replied to my piece over at The Huffington Post. I discovered that I couldn’t fit my entire response– plus the important hyperlinks — to the HuffPo Space, so for those who are interested, our exchange follows, below.

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Separate Still Isn’t Equal: Sexism and TEDWomen

July 28, 2010

Tweet I really, really wanted to put this post here on Authentic Organizations, but my colleagues at The Op-Ed Project told me to shoot big…. so here it is, on The Huffington Post’s Politics section. Please come read the post (it’s only 700 words!) add a comment, and encourage the HuffPo to keep printing contentious […]

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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 […]

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Find Your Tribe at BlogHer: MeetUp for Leadership, Business & Organization Change Bloggers

July 28, 2010

Tweet BlogHer is a great place to meet other women who are trying to change the world with their blogging. Everyone you meet there has some kind of expertise and insights to share. Almost everyone there can find someone else who blogs about similar issues, and get connected to a tribe.  There are many ‘domestic’ […]

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Changing the CEO at BP: It won’t make a difference, except where it will

July 27, 2010

Tweet For the past 90 days and counting, we knew this day was coming. You didn’t need an Irish bookmaker to tell you that Tony Hayward’s tenure as CEO of BP was coming to a close. Any organization facing a crisis like the BP Oil Spill would be likely to replace the guy at the […]

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Only A Cosmetic Apology? MAC’s Juarez Controversy & Fauxial Awareness

July 23, 2010

Tweet There are apologies that are superficial and apologies that reflect genuine remorse.  There are apologies that demonstrate regret and apologies that initiate restitution. And then, there is the apology that MAC Cosmetics has offered for its offensive Juarez Makeup Collection. [Note, added later: Be *sure* to read the followup post:  MAC’s Apology for Juarez […]

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Should Non-Profits Buy $800 Chairs?

July 12, 2010

Tweet During a meeting in a downtown conference room at a non profit a few weeks ago, I noticed we were all sitting in Aeron chairs. These are geeky-stylish, ergonomically adjustable office chairs that retail for about $800 a pop. There were 12 of us in the conference room, sitting on a total of about […]

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Is The Daily Show Sexist? Use the 6 Degrees of Sexism Test to judge for yourself

July 9, 2010

Tweet The media storm surrounding Jezebel’s claim that The Daily Show is sexist has tangled up our common assumptions about what does or does not make an organization sexist. Whether or not an organization is “sexist”–or for that matter racist, classist, sustainable, Mormon, Black, etc. – matters to the organization’s members and to its audience. […]

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Implicit Complicity and “Negative Spillover”: Reputation Damage from BP’s Oil Spill Crisis

June 30, 2010

Tweet What do birds, beaches, and Chevron have in common? They have been “tarred by the same gush” of “negative spillover” from BP’s Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. In one of the weirder cases of a collision between literal and figurative language, the “negative spillover” of BPs Deepwater Horizon crisis is soiling not only birds and beaches, […]

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