Donald Trump Knows Nothing About Sexual Harassment

At the risk of sounding exhaustive, Donald Trump’s statements on sexual harassment are clearly inane – he’s talking about a subject that he obviously knows nothing about. His suggestion that a woman should change her career (regardless of her actual ability to do so) in the face of harassment shows a fundamental lack of empathy and serious regard for an issue that should concern both women and men everywhere. In fact, protections should be in place that prevent a target of sexual harassment from having to switch jobs or careers at all – that’s the whole point. Additionally, Eric Trump’s later attempt to save face by implying that “strong women” don’t allow themselves to be harassed is thinly veiled victim-blaming – plus, his suggestion to go to Human Resources doesn’t take into account that, in many cases, HR can be part of the problem. Targets of sexual harassment in the workplace need to gather documented evidence of the issue so that they have substantive protections when filing a claim, with HR or legally. By continuing to stand with Roger Ailes, Donald Trump is showing how little regard he has for sexual harassment as a problem in and of itself – and how little regard he must have for working people everywhere. Maybe Ivanka is staying “mum” on this subject because she knows her family is wrong on this one, despite being at the center of this debacle. You can read more on this at The New York Times. 

Image: Donald Trump and his children in 2014. Image Credit: Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto Agency via NYT

Board Corruption Impacting School Children

When children are involved in any organization, whether it’s a school or a nonprofit, they should always come first. However, according to this story from The New York Times, there seems to be so much neglect, greed and corruption at the board level of the Hershey Trust Company that the kids who attend the Milton Hershey School don’t have anyone to depend on. The school, founded by the chocolate tycoon in 1909 for underprivileged kids, is supposed to be run by the Hershey Trust Company; however, between bad business deals, overblown trustee salaries and breaches of general practices that seem designed to serve the board members over the children, this truly does seem like one of the greatest “nonprofit scandal[s] in the last 30 or 40 years,” as one critic states in the article. Sadly, corruption from the top-down is not too uncommon – however, when it comes to protecting children and making sure they get the education and resources they need, this case is particularly appalling.

Image: Children playing hockey on the grounds of the Milton Hershey School. Image Credit: Will Figg for NYT

Is this the kind of company you would work for? Is this the kind of company you would invest with?

I have many thoughts on this particular story, where it seems that issues of harassment at the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, are coming to a head. Firstly, it’s important to note that it’s not just females who get harassed sexually in the workplace. Essentially, a male employee was repeatedly sexually propositioned and harassed by a male supervisor, and was discouraged to report this by both the culture of Bridgewater and its internal reporting systems. Not only are all confrontations at this company video-recorded for circulation amongst managers and executives, but the entire culture of the fund is built around aggressively questioning employees about their new ideas on the spot, a policy they call “radical transparency.” The thought is to allow great ideas to rise to the top based solely on merit, but it sounds like a recipe for workplace bullying. This particular case of sexual harassment shows that this culture kept the harassed employee from getting the help and recognition he needed; additionally, after filing claims with several labor and human rights organizations, it seems like the employee was forced to settle due to the confidentiality agreements all Bridgewater employees have to sign. Everything about this story, and this organization, seems suspect – how can an organization support so-called “radical transparency,” without allowing people to come forward about workplace bullying and sexual harassment? You can read more about the alleged harassment at The New York Times.

Main Image: Ray Dalio, the founder and CEO of Bridgewater Associates. Image by David A. Grogan for CNBC/Getty Images, via The Hive. 

Volkswagen, You're Not Fooling Anyone Anymore.

“The evidence paints the most detailed picture yet about how the deception unfolded and who was responsible.” Even though this will be sorted out in court, it seems that the evidence is indisputable: the highest levels of Volkswagen’s management were aware of the emissions scandal. There are even emails from board members begging for someone to “Come up with a story, please!” as law enforcement came closer and closer to discovering the truth. The board of VW should just come clean here – the longer they try to defend the indefensible, the more they put their organization at risk of financial bankruptcy. That should matter to them at least, considering that they are already morally bankrupt. You can read more about the new evidence in The New York Times.

Image: Maura Healey and Eric Schneiderman, the Massachusetts and New York Attorney Generals respectively, as they discuss the new lawsuits they're filing against Volkswagen, along with the state of Maryland. Credit: Bryan Thomas for NYT via NYT

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

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