OPINION
PERSONAL VIEW
How to increase the power of male allies in the #MeToo era BY RACHEL TALTON
I have a client — I’ll call her Susan — who is now the CEO of a global firm. She started in marketing and was always very good at her job and worked hard. One evening, in her position as a middle manager, she stayed late and her boss entered her office, as he often did. They had a project coming up for review, so they talked about that and chatted casually. Then, unexpectedly, he put his hand on Susan’s thigh. Susan dismissed it as a “mistake,” but the following week, in a similar situation, he tried to kiss her. She politely declined, brought up his wife (whom she knew) and asked him to please not do that because it made her uncomfortable. Still, his behavior continued, despite being “talked to” by his boss. Instead, it was Susan who changed: She altered her work hours and her meeting schedule to avoid him. She stopped coming in early and staying late. Ultimately, her boss was promoted and moved to another part of the country. But Susan was never the same. Today, in the #MeToo era, Susan’s story is not unique or extraordinary. It is one of many stories of women who have been harassed, abused, raped and routinely reduced to their sexuality and devalued for their brilliance and creativity by male colleagues in the workplace. In turn, men have been fired, ostracized, paralyzed and generally vilified. So, where does this leave us in 2020? In a more empowered, but a more polarized and uncollaborative environment. More than 10% of men and women said they would be less willing than previously to hire attractive women, according to a post-#MeToo study, “Looking Ahead: How What We Know About Sexual Harassment Now Informs Us of the Future,” by Leanne E. Atwater and Allison M. Tringale. Twenty-two percent of men and 44% of women predicted that men would be more apt to exclude women from social interactions, such as after-work drinks, according to the same study, and nearly one in three men thought they would be reluctant to have a one-on-one meeting with a woman. This is not an environment for women to thrive — especially women looking to ascend to the executive ranks — or for a company as a whole to thrive. Men and women need to be allies and partners, not adversaries standing in opposite corners. Research by Brad Johnson and David Smith in the Harvard Business Review shows that when men are deliberately engaged in gender inclusion programs, 96% of organizations see progress — compared to only 30% of organizations where men are not engaged. But today, too many companies still miss the mark on
gender equity efforts by focusing gender initiatives solely on changing women — from the way they network to the way they lead. We need men in the game, too. We need them as our allies and partners to promote gender equity and make the workplace a less polarized, more collaborative environment for everyone, male and female. Talton is CEO According to a study that Boston of Synergy Consulting Group conducted in Marketing 2017, there are five ways in which Strategy & men can help drive gender equity in Research Inc. the workplace: and Flourish 1. Support flexible work policies Leadership LLC 2. Model the right behaviors 3. Communicate fairly 4. Sponsor a high-potential woman or women 5. Get involved with company-specific initiatives for women I echo these and add a few more, based on more than two decades of experience and research in this area: Just listen! Generous, world-class listening requires focus, sincerity, empathy, refusal to interrupt and genuine valuing of a woman’s experience and her willingness to share it with you. Respect the space. Tread respectfully into spaces created for women. Before you utter a word, revisit the recommendation above. Honor the strength of “femaleness,” but treat all women as individuals. Perhaps it’s controversial to say this in 2020, but men and women are not interchangeable. And that’s a good thing. We should take advantage of the distinct strength women bring to the workplace, but we should never expect them to fit neatly into defined gender roles. It’s not about you. Ask women how you can amplify, not replace or usurp, existing gender parity efforts. Refrain from taking center stage, speaking for women or “mansplaining” how women should approach gender equity efforts. Be comfortable being uncomfortable — like your female allies. Developing psychological standing requires a commitment to learning and advocating for gender equity. The solution is more interaction and learning, not less. Be supportive, not patronizing. The best cross-gender ally relationships are reciprocal and mutually growthenhancing. Share your social capital (influence, information, knowledge and organizational resources) with women’s groups, but ask them — don’t assume — how you can best support their efforts. Remember the best part of being allied. Keep in mind that committing to express as little sexism as possible is the easy part of being a strong ally to women. The hard part requires men to use their experience to become the strongest public ally for professional, personal and social justice they can be.
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Support for HHS levy is criticized I was disappointed to read Crain’s endorsement of Issue 33, the Cuyahoga County health and human services levy. Please allow me to point out some very important facts that were omitted from your editorial. Cuyahoga County’s Investment Report as of Dec. 31, 2019, shows that the county has an investment portfolio with an average daily balance of over $1 billion. That is $1 billion extracted from the citizenry and businesses of Cuyahoga County sitting idle in the county treasury. The county is using the emotional appeal of health, poverty and drug addiction to drain even more funds from the fragile local economy and feed the county government’s voracious appetite for greater spending. Government should not extract taxes from the citizenry in excess of what the government needs to fulfill its basic functions. Given that the county has a cash balance of over $1 billion, how can the Budish administration justify going to the taxpayers and asking for more? The county’s total annual revenue is about $1.429 bil-
lion, so the current investment fund balance reflects about 70% of annual revenue. That tells me that the county’s finances are currently very, very strong and there is not a clear and compelling need for new revenue. Most people believe you can never have enough money, but we need to challenge the county leadership to answer the question “How much is enough?” Voters should reject this unnecessary money grab by the Budish administration and the Democratic members of the county council. Republican council members Jack Schron and Nan Baker were the only county leaders with the good sense to vote against this nonessential and nonsensical levy. The county’s unnecessary tax increase will make it harder for us in Independence (and other places) to pass school levies that are of considerably greater need. Our county leadership is headed down a bad path again with this levy, just like they did with the plastic bag ban. Kenn Synek Member, Independence City Council FEBRUARY 17, 2020 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 9
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