Are Activist CEOs Out Of Control?

Why are so many big brands insulting and confusing their customers and employees with divisive political statements – and will anyone grab the wheel before the decision-makers drive the company off a cliff?

If senior leaders have a clear political agenda (eg. Israel/Gaza, or environmentalism) or personal interest (eg. racial justice, or a trans-identifying child) should they be removed from discussions where their strong emotions create a conflict of interest?

Bud Light’s decision to work with the trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney (creating a 25% sales dive) wasn’t an isolated incident. Aviva, Ben & Jerry’s, Wickes, Starbucks, Coca Cola, Wickes, John Lewis, NatWest, Unilever, Proctor and Gamble and Virgin Active have all been burned after wandered into red-hot debates.

Is this recklessness coming from the top – or have the senior leaders lost control of activist groups at more junior levels?

Are boards broken – or just looking the other way? And why aren’t risk teams flagging the obvious legal, reputational and financial dangers here?

This episode is packed with insights about the shadowy world of senior leadership – and analysis of what is going badly wrong in so many companies.

According to Paul Sweeney, seasoned corporate strategic advisor, and author of Magnetic Nonsense, we are watching the shattering of the ‘illusion of corporate governance’ – and it’s quite a spectacle! We discuss:

WHAT RISK ARE COMPANIES RUNNING BY FOLLOWING ACTIVIST AGENDAS? Who is pushing these, why is it so hard to stop them – and should CEOs who damage the organisation’s reputation and/or finances be fired? (Paul says yes…)

WHY DID BOARDS PANIC IN 2020? Were they too quick to make political statements and approve DEI targets, after the death of George Floyd? Paul remembers that period vividly…

WHAT ROLE DID MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCIES PLAY IN STEERING COMPANIES IN THE WRONG DIRECTION ON DEI? Paul admits no-one read the small print of the McKinsey reports which claimed demographic diversity leads to better business outcomes

HAVE BIG FIRMS BEEN DOING POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION ‘BY STEALTH’ AT SENIOR LEVELS, even though it is unlawful in the UK? Have specialist diversity headhunters like Green Park and Involve solved any problems – or just made a fortune creating new ones for us all, including the suspicion that some senior leaders are ‘DEI hires’ when in fact they were appointed on merit?

HOW WILL COMPANIES BACKTRACK FROM HERE? And has Donald Trump changed everything?

Enjoy the episode!

Buy Magnetic Nonsense: A short history of bullshit at work, and how to make it go away, by Paul Sweeney https://amzn.to/4c97AlC

Does DEI Have A Misogyny Problem?

Have you noticed that many of the loudest voices in DEI are men’s – and some get really angry when they’re challenged by women? Same here! So let’s get into it. Which men are drawn to DEI, how much damage are they doing – and is it just a weird coincidence that many of them are gay?  The writer Gareth Roberts – himself a (lovely!) gay man; and the author of Gay Shame – agrees that something dark is happening, and women need to wise up.  In this episode Gareth and Tanya explore the outsized influence of the high-profile men in DEI, and scrutinise the tactics they use to push their own supposedly ‘inclusive’ agenda – whether the rest of us like it or not. We also highlight examples of some of their most shocking behaviour.  And, yes, we name names.  They’ve posted their thoughts publicly, so why not? Game on. Tanya and Gareth discuss:

  • WHICH MEN ARE ATTRACTED TO DEI – AND WHY? Gareth says the allure of soft power, glitzy events and the chance to talk about themselves(!) can be an intoxicating mix…
  • WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WOMEN CHALLENGE THEM? Gareth reacts to some of their most aggressive responses to reasonable questions from women on Linkedin. Why does one of DEI’s biggest blokes feel so confident calling gender critical women ‘TERFs’ on public platforms? And is it time he apologised for accusing mild-mannered employment lawyer Audrey Ludwig of ‘sealioning’ for daring to disagree with him?
  • WHAT RISKS ARE THESE MEN CREATING FOR THE ORGANISATIONS THEY WORK FOR? Would an employment tribunal share the view that everyone is welcome in the ‘inclusive’ culture they claim to have created? Can you declare yourself an Elon Musk fan in a workplace policed by their team? And why haven’t they recalibrated since Donald Trump’s victory, and the Cass Review?
  • WHICH GROUPS ARE AN AFTERTHOUGHT IN THEIR ‘INCLUSIVE’ CULTURE? Do the in-house DEI guys allocate enough resource to disability, social mobility, pregnancy and motherhood? Or are they using their power to prioritise their own pet causes, and bring in iffy trainers they are too cosy with?
  • WHO ARE THE ‘MALE ALLIES’ – AND WHAT MOTIVATES THEM? Does painting their nails really challenge gender stereotypes – and why are some of them so keen to talk about menstruation? And – while they claim to be helping women – are they actually dividing us? 

Buckle up, boys… Enjoy the episode! Gay Shame by Gareth Roberts is available on Amazon https://amzn.to/4l2iNs7

Did DEI Dump Disability For ‘Pride And Parties’?

Are neurodiversity, mental health and ‘LGBT’ winning the war for employers’ attention – while disability has been sidelined? Has the ‘lived experience’ industry become superficial and exploitative? And have staff networks turned into unsupervised – and even dangerous – group therapy sessions in the workplace?

Disability rights campaigner George Fielding doesn’t want to ‘be kind’ if it means endlessly affirming fragility – or pretending that groups who need additional support aren’t competing for employers’ time and resources.

And he says the era of ‘no debate’ is over. It’s time to talk. People will have different ideas about priorities and paths to success on disability but ‘We’ll never make progress if we can’t be honest.’

In this groundbreaking new episode of This Isn’t Working, we ask:

  • DO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES FEEL ABANDONED BY EMPLOYERS who seem to have prioritised issues such as neurodiversity, mental health, and ‘LGBT’ in discussions about DEI (AKA ‘EDI’ in the UK)? (Spoiler: Yes!)
  • ARE ‘LIVED EXPERIENCE’ TRAINERS DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD? Where is the due diligence on the disability consultants who employers are inviting in – and is this expertise, or just oversharing? Do they understand the Equality Act? What unhealthy messages do they promote to impressionable audiences – and will the results only ever be superficial, as opposed to systemic?
  • HOW DO DISABILITY, NEURODIVERSITY AND TRANS IDENTIES INTERSECT IN THE WORKPLACE? Is it appropriate for employers to be hosting conversations which result from poor sex and relationship education and mental health support for those with additional needs? If staff networks have become co-rumination bubbles, activist groups or unsupervised group therapy sessions, should employers shut them down and move these discussions out of the workplace?
  • IS IT UNWISE TO LET SUCH RAW LIVED EXPERIENCE SHAPE COMPANY POLICY? After a long wait, an ADHD diagnosis can feel like a ‘reward,’ says George. This can create a sense of ‘rebirth’ and feed an urge to seek justice for past failure or discrimination. Have you considered this, or taken these employees’ views at face value?
  • DOES LANGUAGE MATTER? Views will vary, but George isn’t fussed. (There are only three words he doesn’t like!) In fact, he thinks language policing is actually holding back debate. ‘If we’re still arguing over which words we use, we’re never going to have the discussions we need, to move things forward.’
  • WHY ARE THERE STILL SO FEW PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN SENIOR LEADERSHIP ROLES? George explains that employed disabled people often feel so grateful to be in work that they hesitate when it comes to pushing for a promotion, or risking finding a new employer. Have you considered this?

We share George’s view that this vital conversation has stalled – and employers have lost focus. Despite all the controversy around #DEI, it is hard to find anyone who doesn’t think people with disabilities should be prioritised, and #AccessToWork improved.

Is it time for employers to put the spotlight back on to disability?

Enjoy the episode!

Trans Inclusion At Work: Time For A New Approach?

In trying to make our workplaces ‘inclusive’ to people who identify as trans and non-binary, have employers managed to exclude and alienate too many others? In some cases, it looks like we are actually causing distress to our colleagues, without even realising.

If it’s bad for our teams, and it’s bad for business, is it time to look at ‘trans inclusion’ again?

Future episodes will cover the legal aspect of this topic (including why many lawyers are warning employers not to follow the CIPD’s ‘Trans and non-binary inclusion’ guides – especially the 2023 version. Reminder: religious and gender critical beliefs are protected under the Equality Act 2010).

But first, let’s step back and look at the people side of things.

What was originally presented to employers as an extension of the gay rights movement has turned out to be something far more complex, sensitive, and political. You might even ask whether this discussion belongs with HR at all.

What is ‘trans’ really all about? A range of perspectives is available – and we won’t all agree.

What we are more likely to agree about is the presence of a lot of pain – and not just that of our colleagues who identify as trans or non-binary, whose stories we have heard much about in recent years.

It is time to hear the untold stories of the people closest to them – who are also working alongside us, whether we realise it or not?

While themes of joy and authenticity surround trans-led discussions, not every family has such a happy tale to tell.

It can’t be right that employers are cherry-picking whose distress is seen, and whose is ignored.

In this episode, Stella O’Malley, director of Genspect, explains who in your workforce is currently suffering in silence.

Perhaps they fear their colleagues’ reactions – or perhaps they feel this is simply too painful to discuss at work, where they come to think about other things.

Are these groups likely to be performing at their best in your organisation? Consider:

> Parents of distressed children or teens who identify as trans or non-binary, who don’t believe medical transition is the right path for their child
> Estranged parents of older children who have lost touch after saying they identify as trans
> ‘Trans widows’ and children of transitioners – the exes and kids of biological males who transition later in life don’t always want to celebrate this change
> ‘Detransitioners’ and ‘desisters’ – who identify as trans for a while, but later decide it is not the right choice for them

Do you know if these groups are in your workforce? Have you insisted they attend gender diversity training where contested ideas were presented as fact? How will they feel about your plans for Pride this summer, if the activities include uncritical affirmation of a medicalised approach to trans? And is your organisation appealing to talent from these groups, when seeking a new role?

This is a big opportunity for HR professionals to show we are able to recalibrate, when new information becomes available.

Is it time to put our heads together, and find better ways to make sure everyone feels welcome and able to do their best work within our organisations?

What would a genuinely inclusive approach look like – and how should employers move forward from here?

Enjoy the episode…