Why Gen X parents are so painful

Susan Gregory Thomas writes a great article, ‘Teachers Guide to Gen X Parents‘. Possibly the best description I’ve read as to how Gen X parents are experienced in a school context by educators and administrators, and then why they are as they are? To be honest, as a Gen X parent myself, I found myself very sheepish reading it. Having been fairly proud of my activity and involvement in my children’s school, I suddenly found myself being exposed with the possible truth behind all that ‘involvement’.

In preschool, we’re the ones anxiously arranging developmentally appropriate playdates for our Siouxsie-and-the-Banshees-T-shirt-clad three-year-olds. In kindergarten, we’re frantic that other parents’ children are starting to read cat and rat, while our Ruby and Dylan are still having trouble identifying lowercase letters. We think the gold-star system and its ilk are archaic and punitive, and we want to have a meeting to present our suggestions for alternative achievement systems.

By grade school, we’re demanding to know why the math program is not challenging enough for our child. We email our complaints about the seating chart. We openly deride the arts instruction and may rally other parents to the point of a coup d’état. By middle school, our kids have schedules and professional support staffs that resemble those of corporate lawyers. Look out, high school: We’re coming.

Thomas suggests the reason Xers as parents, are like they are, is because of their own school experience. Because we didn’t have, in our opinion, a great education experience, we’re determined not to let that happen to our own children. It’s not that we have any evidence that this is in fact what’s going on, we’re going to make sure there’s absolutely no chance it will.

We’ve been taking care of ourselves since we started going to school, and we don’t trust authority figures, because they weren’t trustworthy when we were growing up. Our parents didn’t know what was going on at school, and our teachers didn’t know what was going on at home. We’re not going to let this happen to our children — not even for a second. We’ll do whatever we have to do to make sure our kids get what they need.

One of those great articles worth reading. Be warned if you’re an Xer. It may knock you, as it did me, down a notch or two : )

President X – a one year review

Author, Tammy Erickson, does a nice job in a Harvard Business Review post taking a look at President Obama through the filter of Generation X.

President Obama is arguably the United States’ first President who is a member of Generation X. (I say “arguably” since the boundary line between Boomers and X’ers is subject to debate. Born in 1961, in my view, he’s the vanguard of the next generation leaders.)

She does a nice job focusing on a few characteristics she suggests belong to Gen X and how these display themselves in the world of President Obama. Some of these include:

• Options thinkers
• Richly multicultural and diverse
• In general highly pragmatic
• Fiercely dedicated to being good parents

Her closing observation, is that Xer leaders can fall into the trap of having multiple options, which works in an increasingly comlex world, but this needs to be backed up with a decision for action.

In a world as complex and rapidly changing as ours, I admire the X’ers’ bent toward multiple options. I’m skeptical of anyone who argues there is only one way. But I also admire those who, after considering multiple options, present a persuasive and engaging case for the course they’ve chosen. Perhaps this is one change we will see in President Obama’s approach over the year ahead and a useful lesson for all X’er leaders.

‘I am the President’ doesn’t mean what it used to

Mandela’s release is announced – 20 years ago today

1989 was a momentous year all around the world. I wrote about it last year, as each month we rolled through the “twenty years on” anniversaries of everything from Tiananmen Square (June), the Ayatollah’s funeral chaos in Iran (June), hands across the Baltic Way (August), the Berlin Wall (November), Prague’s Velvet Revolution (November), Ceaucescu trial and death (December) and the banning of the Communist Party in Russia (December).

In my home country, South Africa, it took a few extra weeks, but we added our own amazing memory to this list.

On Friday, 2 February, 1990, FW de Klerk, the State President opened Parliament for the new year. In his “State of the Nation” address he stunned the world, and all of us in South Africa, by very calmly and simply saying the following:

“People serving prison sentences merely because they were members of one of these organisations, or because they committed another offence which was merely an offence because a prohibition on one of the organisations was in force, will be identified and released.”

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Death and Twitter make for a horrid exchange

Yesterday, in South Africa, Manto Tshabalala Msimang died from a liver complication that had been plaguing her for some time now. She is a former health minister, and her time spent in that role was fraught with controversy because of her seeming lack of will to embrace ARV’s to treat HIV. Because of this stand, she has been accused of causing the death of thousands of South Africans. Some have even suggested she should be charged with crimes against humanity.

I think it’s important to note, especially in a South African context, that feelings about her were held by a cross-section of South Africa. The debate was fully inclusive and representative.

Yesterday as the news of her death began to seep into the media conversation (both non-non-traditional and non-traditional) Twitter began to heat up. There’s some speculation as to where it started? Just Curious does provide a view of the time-line and the heat generated by 5FM radio jock Gareth Cliff.

To get a view for yourself, see the search for ‘Manto’ on Twitter. Click here.

However you re-construct it, I was hit by some of the following:

• Death is a human thing. It’s not owned by one culture or one people group. Who dares to say that one group does it better than another? It’s very human. It reminds us all that we too one day will enter into it’s domain (www.we’lldietoooneday.com). Showing death some respect, and compassion to the family of those who have lost is not only right, it’s human.
• When someone dies, I find it pretty difficult to say anything to anyone. Silence seems to be not only an appropriate response, but the most gentle and caring. A hug, a gesture, just simply being present in the space of those who have just lost, seems to work best. It’s awkward, and it’s clumsy, but I find it works.
• If you do decide to speak, what words are sufficient to speak into what has just happened? You can’t do it in a sentence. So you end up bumbling along making a whole lot sound like not much at all.

So when the news broke on Twitter, and some people put their views out there, it did become terribly messy. There was huge emotion surrounding Tshabalala Msimang when she was alive. Those emotions were all still there after she had died. You can imagine what people end up saying when all you have is 140 characters? It’s blunt, it’s raw, it’s so in your face. There’s no place to explain, expand only express and explete.

The conversation one day later is whether people were right or wrong to put their views out there? Gareth Cliff has become the poster child for who did it bad.

I do think the exploration should be shifted slightly. It’s not about whether people put their views out or not? That’s inevitable. It should rather be around the forums we use and the timing of our comments? Would it have hurt to hold a negative, critical view for a day or two in respect of the family (at the very least)? Is Twitter a good forum for putting out such strong and potentially damaging emotions and thoughts?

The forums we use and the timing to speak by are age old questions. But they do need to be re-discussed from time to time. Especially in a world in which communication channels and platforms are changing as fast as they are.

Capturing the Asian Opportunity

S+B (Strategy + Business) is a great ezine from Booz & Co. This week’s edition focuses on where multinational companies might want to focus as the recession draws to an end and an upturn begins. And the place to look is probably Asia – if you have a clear focus. Read their article at their website, or an extract below.

Capturing the Asian Opportunity
Economic recovery in China, India, and elsewhere in the region could be the strongest source of sustained global growth for years to come.
by Andrew Cainey, Suvojoy Sengupta, and Steven Veldhoen

In September 2008, the global financial crisis hit Asia like a tidal wave, flooding in from the U.S. and Europe. Within weeks, Asian GDP growth rates began to tumble: China’s annual growth rate dropped from 13 percent in 2007 to about 9 percent in 2008, India’s slipped from 9 percent to below 6 percent, and Singapore’s plunged from 8 percent to less than 4 percent. Underlying these stark statistics were significant declines in exports. In March 2008, China and India had boasted year-over-year export growth rates of more than 30 percent; nine months later, both were well into negative territory. Foreign direct investment in these countries, and in Korea, Japan, and the nations of Southeast Asia, fell significantly as well.

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What it means to “be British” – a response to Nick Griffin

Like 8 million other Britons, I watched BBC’s “Question Time” on Thursday night. Nick Griffin, the head of the British National Party (a right wing party who restrict membership to white’s only and want to keep Britain “British” – by which they mean white, Caucasian) was given a place on the stage alongside other panel members. Click here to see a list of uploaded YouTube clips of the hour long Question Time.

Besides the fact that the BNP’s central issue of race is abhorrent, it is also an impossibility for them to actually enforce (or even define). They want Britain to be for those who “aboriginal” Britons – for the “original inhabitants”. They claim that this goes back 17,000 years, and is irrefutably about white people (not English speaking, of course, but they come very close to claiming this in their made up histories on their website). They want a complete halt to all immigration, and a return to a white Britain.

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Star Workplace Article

I was published in The Star (South African newspaper) earlier this week on ‘diversity’. I’ve had a few requests from people who wanted to read it, but couldn’t find it online.

Our PR company (SimonSays Communications) scanned a copy and sent it through today. It’s missing one or two lines through the middle : ), But I’m fairly certain it’s still readable.

Click here to see the image (it’s a .jpg)

Complex Diversity even in Paradise

My current visit to the Asia Pacific Leadership Program is the eighth time I have had the privilege to visit Hawaii and experience the ‘aloha’ spirit. The traditional aloha greeting, goes far beyond the simple ‘hello’. The traditional greeting would involve a touching of foreheads in the course of greeting and aloha literally means exchanging breath (alo – the shape of face; ha – breath). It is a deep way of welcome, of union, and here it is not a greeting but rather a spirit. Those who get to experience the aloha spirit will be impacted for life.

But as with most parts of a connected world Hawaii has a complex and mixed background which for some, continues to be the source of anger and resentment. On Oahu where I am currently, the West side of the island is where one will encounter ‘authentic Hawaii’. I am currently reading Stu Coleman’s book, ‘Fierce Heart: The Story of Makaha and the soul of Hawaiian surfing’ which tells of life on the west side and some of the memorable characters that have left an indelible mark on Hawaiian culture.

The story of Makaha reveals a complex and often uneasy relationship with the rest of Oahu as the latter  has become increasing under the influence of what is viewed as an intrusive, and at times disrespectful cultural invasion from the mainland and beyond. When many think of Hawaii they conjure up images of Waikiki but the ‘true’ Hawaii is not to be found in such places. The diversity issues and tensions here are not uncommon to those found elsewhere. They invoke emotion and resentment and have no easy solutions. Change continues to happen regardless of the impact on those who see it as a bad thing as well as those would welcome it as a gateway to the future.

Today in the classroom of the Leadership Program I will get to discuss the future of leadership with a class that represents over 20 Asia Pacific countries. The world in a classroom…almost. It is a place of rich learning and one where I (the ‘teacher’) usually emerges having learnt the most.

Aloha

What Microsoft’s “racism” teaches us about ourselves

The ether is alive with enraged twits, tweeting and blogging on about Microsoft’s racist blunder. If you’ve not heard the buzz, it has to do with MS photoshopping an advert as it transported it from the US (where it features a white woman, older black man, and an Asian man) to Poland (where it now features a white woman, a young white man with a black hand, and an Asian man). Outrage, disgust!

Here are the two pictures:

Microsoft is pulling the advert, and after investigation discovered that all four of the people responsible for the advert have left the company (how convenient).

I am NOT going to join the clamour of voices shouting racism, though. This is just good business (and bad photoshop), and a bad marketing decision, and a great example of the new world of work (yes, it is all of these things).

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Competing rights and freedom claims

In a world of increasing complexity, we will continually need to deal with competing claims and rights (and the flip side, too, of responsibilities). America, as the sole superpower, must currently find a balance between “bringing freedom to the world” and protecting its own national interests. It is internally engaged in raucous debates about the competing rights of people with and without healthcare options. Companies must find a balance between shareholder demands for profit, customer demands for service and staff demands for work-life balance and a reasonable wage.

There are many ways to deal with this issue of competing rights. Here is a fun way…

I grew up in a cat loving family, and some of my favourite childhood pets were cats. But I have married into a family with a chronic genetic allergy to cats, and so we can’t have them at all. I am caught between two worlds – one that loves cats, and one that does not. I therefore had a good laugh at this article in the most recent Spectator magazine. It tells the story of a cat, a python and some enraged neighbours who don’t understand the limits of their rights. Enjoy it, and reflect on the bigger issue behind it.

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Affirmitive Action is Dead in South Africa – or is it?

Sipho Ngcobo wrote an interesting article on Money Web this last week, reflecting on the reality the African National Congress (ANC) faces around service delivery, or lack of it, in South Africa currently. He suggests that the pressure the ANC is under for 2011 local government elections and 2014 national elections will mean them compromising on affirmative action policies in favour of ensuring the right people are in the right places.

I do think he writes as more of a warning to the ANC to get it’s house in order than possibly the reality of what will actually happen. But I also do think that we need to appreciate that in emerging market economies this is a situation we’re all facing. It’s certainly not unique to South Africa.

As Ready, Conger and Hill point out in their Harvard Business Review article, ‘Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets’, there is a severe lack of appropriately qualified and experienced people to fill management positions (at various levels). In the four large emerging market economies, Brazil, Russia, India and China, there simply isn’t enough supply to meet the demand. In countries like South Africa we should appreciate that if these four power-houses are struggling, then it is appropriate for us to be feeling some pain.

In the Harvard Business Review article, they set out their findings in an interesting graph that shows supply and demand for management using a scale that goes from entry level, to middle management, to country leadership, and tops out at regional leadership. Their research suggests that:

• Brazil has no supply to meet the demand from middle management upwards.
• Russia is struggling to meet the demand in all four levels
• India is battling from the first level (entry level) upwards
• China is only slightly better off, but still struggling to meet demand from entry level upwards.

One should be cautioned against assuming that academic qualification equals appropriate skills for management. I mention this because when I bring up the Harvard Business Review article people often query the number of MBA’s in India and therefore the accuracy of the data? Education is but one element that determines management ability. Those who fill management positions will certainly confirm this.

Sipho Ngcobo, in my opinion, is on the money with the challenge that the ANC faces. What the ANC does to avoid this crisis will be interesting to learn from? When the pressure is on for delivery and performance, especially in emerging markets in a world with a skills crisis, a compromise is certainly worth exploring between affirmative action policies and ensuring the right bums are in the right seats on this bus called service delivery.

The Naked Office

I’ve heard plenty of mechanisms to improve team spirit and boost office morale, but never this…

“Staff at a design and marketing company in Newcastle (UK) spent a day working together naked after being told it would improve their morale.”

And it seems most of the office went for some form of it. For those of you with access to cable channel Virgin 1 on 9 July, you can see for yourself on a once off show of the Naked Office.

Read the full article here (Telegraph online)

Just because they are black does not mean they are right

Jim Collins, in “Good to Great” suggests that it is imperative for one to select the right people or “get the right people on the bus” as a means of developing a great company. In a South African economy where legislation like BEE is enforced, it is important to understand this process and be rigorous about selection. Is then the new black talent is a highly sought after commodity in the workplace today?

As a black South African there are often numerous offers to form part of Business boards all in the name of BEE. Skin colour, it seems, is now at times a greater competency than skill. I wonder what the price of all this is going to be?

In the new economy, relationship building with staff will be critical. There is a new black kid on the block who does not want to be insulted by all these extravagant offers in the business world. The deal and warning to companies is that it is still essential that the right people come on board than just on the merit of skin colour. It is still about skill and deliverables. Younger X’er South Africans still want to be valued for their deliverables. It is an educated group of individuals who model boomer values in their drive and need for achievement in the highest level. In some ways this group of South Africans is now entering the market and revolutionising the way business is done in the quest to remain African yet competent and competing with the best in the world. The come armed with credentials and connection with senior members in established companies and government.

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The Soul of Your African: Celebration

Aloysias Maimane asks what makes someone an African. Part of the answer relates to African celebrations. In this article, Aloysias explains what celebrations mean to Africans, and what implications this has for companies and leaders. Anyone who needs to attract, retain and inspire African staff members, whatever their cultural background, would do well to consider the importance of celebrations.

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Tesco trains their staff in generational talk

Older supermarket workers, at Britain’s Tesco, are being given a guide to youth slang to help them understand younger colleagues and customers, in the form of a pamphlet handed out to staff. The pamphlet is being tried out in some of Tesco’s 1 500 stores with a high proportion of employees over retirement age.

Key phrases in the guide include:

• Bad: Good (but this can also mean bad. When in doubt, just nod).
• How’s it hanging?: How are you today?
• Laters: Cheerio, goodbye.
• Minging: Ugly, unattractive.
• Phat: Wicked (in the good sense), cool.
• Slammin’: Pleasing to the eye.
• Talk to the hand: I’m not listening.
• Wack: Weak, boring.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “It aims to help bridge the generation gap and offer a guide for older members of staff looking to chat with younger colleagues and customers.”

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Buppies – coming to terms with young black staff

Buppies – Black yuppies. Black young upwardly mobile professionals. Research shows that this is one of the fastest growing demographic groups in South Africa, but many companies and leaders have no idea how to manage them. Aloysias Maimane, a new member of the TomorrowToday team and a top South African presenter and facilitator, provides some insights into this important group.

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Travel Tips: Power, Phones and Tipping

For those who travel regularly to different cultures, you know the nightmare of arriving in a new country and realising that you don’t know some important local customs. I’m not talking about the customs officials at the airport, but rather issues like do you tip the taxi driver, and if so, how much. Do you tip the porter at the hotel, or the waitress at the restuarant?

Then, you probably also know the frenzy of trying to work out the power adaptors and trying to get your laptop juiced up (its battery-life died somewhere over the Indian Ocean, right in the middle of an important email).

OK, so maybe you don’t care, but I have just found two great websites, and need a place to put them so I can remember them:

• International Tipping Guide
• International power adaptor guides: 1 or 2
• Worldwide Phone plugs Guide
• Global Dialing Codes

While doing the research for the above sites, I came across a great one that seems to list everything in one place: http://www.kropla.com/.

Sawubona (Zulu greeting: “I see you are not my enemy”)

I have been black for as long as I can remember, yet it would seem of late with the introduction of technology, education and westernised worldview, that reality is consistently being challenged. I grew up in Soweto with the values of the struggle being continually reinforced along with those of simply living in community with others. I guess you can call that Ubuntu but that term is undergoing huge fatigue and is progressively losing currency.

One of the key values that drove my upbringing was a message that everyone who is older than you is your father and mother. I guess by in large this spoke to the value of respect and pure manners. It was that if an older person was in the room you’d stand to greet them; if you were in a bus they came through, you’d offer up your seat; it was that you address them by their title or at the very least add a prefix to their name – Bra so and so, or Mr Sibanibani, Ubaba ka Sibanibani (Mr or the father of so and so).
We enter into a new corporate era where it is fast becoming company policy that we should address each other by first names. It is quickly breeding a culture where as young as we are, we are finding ourselves in positions of leadership that by default sometimes mean we have older people below us. How then should we address them?

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A is for Apple, BEE is for Business. Part 3: The Solution

In the past two e-zines, John Maxwell has outlined the BEE question and the BEE problem. Now, in this final contribution, he focuses on one of the possible solutions to BEE. He is involved with an innovative Trust that is changing how BEE is done, and taking it to where it was intended to be: grass roots upliftment of South African society. TomorrowToday does not necessarily endorse John’s trust, but we fully support innovation and community development. Read and enjoy!

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Manager, offshore thyself

A great article in the latest Economist magazine looks at the issue of corporate locations, and where you place your key executives. The subtitle asks: “Does the location of a company’s headquarters matter any more?” Read the article, from the 8 March 2007 editiion, here (subscription may be required).

Basically, the answer is that, “Yes” it does matter. Certain executive positions are being offshored, and big companies, like IBM and Nokia are leading the way in this trend.

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A is for Apple, BEE is for Business (part 2)

John Maxwell, co-founder and administrator of the Nkomazi Community Trust, examines Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and points out some flaws within the current implementation. Telling the story of a BEE deal gone wrong John shows that BBBEE is much more than merely black ownership and control. He then discusses two difficulties: attracting black investors and finding the right ones.

This is the second article in a series by John on BEE. The first article can be found at http://www.tmtd.biz/2006/09/27/bee-part-1/ … Continue Reading

The War for Black Talent

One of TomorrowToday’s bright young stars, Aloysias Maimane helps us to understand some of the unique drivers and motivators of young, black talent. His insights will assist those who are battling to attract and retain these “black diamonds”.

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A is for Apple, BEE is for Business (part 1)

In the first of a three part series, John Maxwell, co-founder and administrator of an exciting new venture, the Nkomazi Community Trust, looks at various responses to Black Economic Empowerment strategies in South Africa. He offers a broad introduction to the current BEE landscape, and suggests that companies have a responsibility to societal development and change.

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New study shows how marketers can better connect with SA’s black middle class

Issued by: UCT Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing

Fascinating new research shows that an alarming percentage of Black Diamonds – South Africa’s fast-growing and affluent black middle class – feel that marketing communication often misses the mark when it comes to connecting with them. A hot-off-the-press study by the UCT Unilever Institute and Research Surveys has found that 49% of Black Diamonds feel that they are misrepresented in the media by local marketers and advertisers. One respondent summed up the feeling of almost half of the respondents by saying: “South Africa has had the political revolution, we’re in the midst of the economic revolution, but we have yet to see a media revolution!”

UCT Unilever Institute and Research Surveys coined the term ‘Black Diamond’ earlier this year after undertaking the first comprehensive marketing study on SA’s black middle class. The term refers to South Africa’s two million-strong black middle class which is growing at an estimated rate of 50% a year, and currently has an annual spending power of R130-billion.

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Pseudo tolerance

While watching the first episode of Survivor South Africa last night, Sam and I wondered how the series would differ from the US version and whether we’d see a distinctly South African flavour come out of the tried and tested Survivor script and screenplay. At first we reckoned that we’d see how much more tolerant South Africans are of our fellow earth-inhabitants than those of our American compatriots.

I wonder?

One might suggest that because of our legacy as a country and the role prejudice has played post-94, we’ve developed a sincere and genuine acceptance and tolerance of each other as South Africans. Pre-94, aggression and open conflict with one another was pretty much rewarded by the system (regime) and of late the system change no longer rewards that behaviour. So, is the tolerance we see around us genuine or perhaps a pseudo form of tolerance to simply please the reputation(delusion) we have of ourselves as a forgiving and reconciliatory nation? In fact, I wonder if we as South Africans even know how to handle conflict?

Your thoughts please.

The merits and demerits of being a black woman

The joke goes that the easiest person for a personnel agency to place in South Africa these days is a disabled, lesbian black woman with tertiary qualifications. Not a very good joke, I’ll grant you, but indicative of the struggle to rectify the imbalances of the past in my home country. The point being that there is inherent, systematic discrimination built into our systems, and we can only change this by being intentional and conscious about our actions and attitudes. There is no easy way to fix discrimination, or to develop true diversity.

The difficulty is that the starting point is within us. Most of us are not even aware of our discriminatory bias. Ask yourself: “when a taxi drives like a maniac and pulls in front of you, nearly cutting you off the road, who do you mentally picture is driving that vehicle?” Depending on your city, you might answer: Johannesburg: young, black male (unlicensed, arrogant, rude, and probably armed); Sydney: middle-aged, Asian (can’t speak English); London: middle-aged, Pakistani; New York: unknown origin, but “not from here” and can’t speak English (maybe even an alien?). In each case, we might be right, but we could also be hopelessly wrong. Yes, we can have a bit of fun with the issue of discrimination… But, lets be aware of our own latent prejudices. That’s the starting point, and its more difficult than we can ever know to overcome them.

That’s why external pressures have to sometimes be imposed. In South Africa, right now, that means that being a talented black woman is a great thing to be. Yet, the prejudice might stop your career reaching the heights it should.

In an article entitled, “Subtle Forms of Discrimination Driving Women of Color from Top Law Firms” on BlackAmericaWeb.com, Monica Lewis reported on 7 Aug 2006 that the American Bar Association and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago released a report last week during the bar association’s annual convention in Honolulu. The report found that women of color frequently experience subtle forms of discrimination in US law firms, prompting them to leave lucrative and coveted jobs with some of the nation’s best law firms. (Read more below).

Our view is that it is absolutely essential to build real diversity muscle into an organisation. This doesn’t just mean getting people with different skin colours or anatomical bits into your boardroom – because its all too easy to subtly (and not so subtly) promote only those blacks and women who act and think like white men. And its easy for them to start doing so once they learn the rules. To put it another way – its often the best ones that leave, because they see the game and refuse to play it. NO. We need REAL diversity – of worldviews – hard coded into our companies. That is a key ingredient to resilience, multi-national and multi-market success, and to a sustainable competitive advantage in the future.

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Dean Jones sacked after ‘terrorist’ remark

Pardon me for a parochial comment (about cricket and about South Africa), but this caught my eye…

Dean Jones, the former Australia Test batsman turned TV commentator, has been sacked by his employers, Ten Sports, after calling Hashim Amla a ‘terrorist’ on live television during the fourth day’s play between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Colombo. When Amla, who is a devout Muslim, complete with full beard, took the catch to dismiss Sangakkara, Jones was heard to say “the terrorist has got another wicket”.

Jones is distraught and repentent (see his statement below), but he is also fired. In a connected and flat world like the one we live in, you can’t get away with any form of prejudice like that. And public commentators (of any sort) cannot get away with private prejudice for too long either (long live the impending death of spin doctors everywhere!!).
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Diversity poll

Complaining about discrimination

Last week, the USA Supreme Court ruled on the matter of Burlington Northern v. White, a sexual discrimination case. Basically, the woman involved had been verbally harassed by a male supervisor in front of her all male colleagues. When she ultimately complained, he was discplined, but she was essentally demoted, and trumped up disciplinary charges brought against her (she was off work for 37 days without pay). For details of the case, read the summary here.

The reason this had made it to the Supreme Court was so that a decision could be made about what constitutes unfair labour practice and discrimination. “The court accepted the case to resolve what is called a ’split’ among the lower courts: different appeals courts had adopted differing standards for determining the level of harm necessary for an action to constitute retaliation under Title VII. Some courts required an ‘ultimate employment action’ (firing, demotion or decisions with ‘tangible economic consequences’). Others required only that the action be ‘materially adverse,’ and still others required that the action be ‘likely to deter’ complaints of discrimination.” The Supreme Court had to decide where to draw the line in issues of workplace discrimination. The outcome has huge implications for women and all minorities in America.

The Court ruled last week.

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