Newsletter – What Does #MeToo Mean For You as a Leader

With the plethora of complaints piling up against public men, what does the #MeToo movement mean for you as a leader? If you’ve somehow missed the national eruption over sexual harassment complaints, many of them stem from the hash tag #MeToo, that has encouraged women all over the country to step up and publicly acknowledge sexual harassment or assault that they received in the workplace – sometimes many years ago.

Generally, this hurricane requires you to understand two things:  1)  You will receive more complaints; and 2) some people may become paranoid about complaints.

While it may take some time to understand just how significant the rise in complaints may be, based on an informal survey of my clients, there’s no doubt that the tide is rising. With that increase, however, you need to understand that some people will become paranoid about false or inappropriate complaints. I’ve heard people express concern about flirting, for example, even though neither the law nor most organization’s policies get involved in such time-honored workplace frivolity, unless it rises to the level of severe or pervasive behavior.

One time I was giving a workshop on sexual harassment for a group of cops and I asked the group how we could make sure that we don’t inadvertently offend someone. A captain in the back – who had spent the entire session with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed- responded that he knew how to avoid such problems, he just “didn’t talk to women.”

“You can’t do that”, I advised, “that’s discrimination.” “No it’s not”, he asserted, “I don’t talk to men either.”