The Sidelines Are the Frontlines

Yet again, as a country we confront protests after the unjust death of a black citizen. And I'm tired of having conversations with my students and some of my family members where I have to advise them how to deal with racism, whether in the workplace, the street, internships, dorms, or even from friends.

There's something especially demoralizing about the disappointment in a young person's face: the realization that the places they're going to live and work are far less perfect than they ever imagined, and where will they find the strength to deal with that for the rest of their lives?

In one case I advised a student to keep going to work with overt racism occurring. He wanted to quit, but that would have meant giving up on school since work was paying for it, and he was so close to graduating that I told him to put up with it for a few months longer. I still feel like a bastard, but I couldn't stand the thought of a young person losing a life-changing opportunity in order to escape from temporary pain.

All this is my way of saying that for those of you who believe that what's happening in the protests and riots has nothing to do with corporate America, I have had hundreds of students whose corporate experiences say otherwise.

It's true that most interactions with most people go smoothly most of the time. It is also true that most people truly aren't racist, or at least they try not to be. A lot of people are fundamentally good, otherwise nobody would care about injustice. But recognizing this good in the world does not deny the existence of evil next to the good. Rather, it is a call to build on the good, now more than ever.

The reason is simple: our leadership has lost its sense of morality. This isn't the same as saying that our leadership is immoral, and I'm not just talking about political leadership. An interesting post on LinkedIn this morning showed Colonel DeDe Halfhill's comparison of US Air Force leadership doctrine in 1948 to 2011. In 1948, the doctrine manual mentioned many dozens of words associated with ethical and humane qualities like feelings, confidence, fear, belonging, kindness, and love, nearly perfectly balancing the number of mentions of the word “mission”. The 2011 manual mentions the words related to the human side of leadership 10 times compared to using the word “mission” 107 times.

Even from my ivory tower I've observed a similar denial of our humanity in order to focus on the “mission” in corporate America. Among some of my recent observations:

• When a single worker does something wrong such as abuse sick days, instead of holding that worker accountable and help them to improve behavior, managers issue blanket policies that make it more difficult for all workers to use sick days because “everybody must be treated the same”.
• When a colleague or subordinate is difficult to work with, rather than have a face-to-face conversation and document poor behavior, the manager tries to sabotage promotion prospects with behind-closed-door, “off-the-record” meetings.
• A manager refuses to set performance standards because they aren't competent enough to decipher where the real process and training problems are, so instead they tell all the workers to do their best—an insult to those who already are, confusing to those who genuinely don't know what they're doing right or wrong, and strong encouragement to the lazy and unscrupulous.
• A director who refuses to leave the office in order to interact with subordinates ostensibly because of a “no fraternization” company policy. Morale and performance are both in the dumps, but the director can't be fired, mentored, or disciplined because higher up leadership would “look bad” to the Board of Directors. Instead, dozens of workers suffer and millions of dollars are squandered.
• Refusing to say no to a bad worker asking for a letter of recommendation to apply for work elsewhere.
• Granting resources to the loudest voices in order to avoid conflict, dealing with possible HR complaints, and having to do the hard work of developing a coherent strategy.

If the lack of ethical, human-centered engagement with people is a problem with such widespread societal building blocks as police departments, the military, and corporate America, it is a societal problem.

The environment that creates unequal and unjust treatment of our great country's citizens does not end at the company's front door. That door brings in what's outside of it, and it is a passageway out for what's inside. In other words, there cannot be injustice and inequity outside your company unless it also exists inside.

Unlike almost any other nation, private organizations are a fundamental building block of the USA, and they fundamentally shape the collective experience of Americans. Those protests aren't just about what happened in Minneapolis, they are about what happens every day where people live, work, and play.

Once you accept how much society is both shaped by and also shapes your company, the way forward is simple. Build a culture based on the fundamental fact that the only ethical and effective way to achieve your mission is to make your priority your people. You must continuously train, educate, and create a culture where HOW work gets done matters more than WHAT's getting done. Supply chain managers are more familiar than most with the fact that that the process determines outcomes. Manage the right process the right way, and the outcomes take care of themselves—this is simply another case of that fundamental truth.

All of this falls squarely on the shoulders of leadership. Corporate leadership believes it is sitting on the sidelines of social issues, despite the fact that most people spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else.

Imagine a culture of ethical principles and accountability. Imagine the performance potential if all your people felt empowered, loved, and respected. Imagine if your people felt like valuable assets. Imagine if they felt like human beings. Every company has a culture, and leadership determines that culture. It's time to recognize that in this battle, the sidelines are the frontlines.

If you want to know how to get started, check out this excellent article: https://hbr.org/2020/06/u-s-businesses-must-take-meaningful-action-against-racism

https://fortune.com/2020/02/24/black-history-month-workplace-racism/

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