Behind Closed Doors: 4 Ugly Truths About Workplace Sex Abuse

Behind Closed Doors: 4 Ugly Truths About Workplace Sex Abuse

“I don’t believe her. Why would a man in his position be so stupid and risk his career and reputation?” she said. “Plus, look at all the women who have come forward to support him.”

I heard this comment from a female colleague regarding former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson’s recent allegations against Roger Ailes, Fox News CEO. Carlson recently brought a wrongful termination suit against Ailes after her contract as the host of Fox’s The Real Story was not renewed. She is alleging sexual harassment, saying that Ailes made comments about her physical appearance and once told her that they should have slept together long ago.

I have no idea which one of them is telling the truth. You don’t either. But plenty of people have come to quick, firm opinions on the matter. And I’m particularly surprised at the number of women who have decided they don’t believe Ms. Carlson because they’ve heard so many other women (who currently work for Mr. Ailes) expressing support for him and adamant disbelief regarding the allegations. If he didn’t harass THOSE women, their thinking goes, he probably didn’t harass Gretchen, right?

Update: Ailes was just dismissed from Fox News following an internal investigation. He takes with him a $60 Million severance package. Previously supportive female hosts on Fox News have gone silent.

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Before I go any further let me acknowledge that as a man writing about sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace, my perspective and personal experience is inherently limited. And giving advice that may be politically incorrect or uncomfortable is going to strike some as inappropriate, maybe even offensive. Over the years I’ve had many conversations with women about the sexual pressures and abuses they face at work. And as much as possible, I’m going to try to reflect their experiences and perspectives rather than my own.

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While it is certainly true that women have the ability to commit sexual abuse in the workplace, the reality is that men are far, far more likely to be the perpetrators. And women with little power are almost always the victims. So that is the point of view I’m taking here.

With all that said, here are a few hard truths about sexual misbehavior in the modern workplace.

1. Sexual Harassment training has helped… and hurt.

Every year, millions of employees are required to complete annual training focused on preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. Huge amounts of money, time and resources are committed to this yearly effort, and this has been happening for decades. So by now we should have finally stamped out sexual abuse at work, right? Or at least diminished it significantly? Perhaps.

But one perverse consequence of all this training is that sexual abuse perpetrators have also been trained – and they’ve become MUCH better at covering their tracks.

Sure there are still stupid guys sending inappropriate texts and pictures, and HR loves to bring the hammer down on them. But the smart ones, the real sexual sociopaths, have become much more subtle and clever.

“It took me awhile to recognize the pattern,” Linda said to me. “Whenever I worked late at the office, he was there. He owned the company, so I assumed he always worked late. But I later realized it was only those nights when I was working late, alone.” Linda went on to describe how she had been “groomed” to become comfortable with him, and ultimately pressured into a sexual relationship. “He was very careful, and no one in the company had a clue. The weirdest thing is that at a certain point I decided I needed evidence of our ‘relationship’ if you can call it that. And it’s almost like he instinctively knew, because that’s when it ended.” She was grateful that the sexual pressure ended, and didn’t perceive any negative impact on her career. “But to this day I wonder if he simply moved on to a fresher target, and I’m sure if I had tried to make a big thing of it, my career would have suffered.”

The important thing to understand is that in today’s world the (mostly male) perpetrators of sexual harassment and abuse are clever. They plan. They strategize. They create “cover” relationships with other women at work and ensure that those women perceive them as straight arrows who NEVER say or do anything inappropriate. As crazy and evil as it seems, they get a kick out of the game.

“Always have plausible deniability,” a call center director said to me a few months ago as he described a series of office trysts with underlings. “If there’s ever heat, make sure it comes down to he-said, she-said.” He’d had a few drinks and I thought the alcohol had caused him to let his guard down. Until he held up his glass of whisky and wagged a finger at me. “Even this conversation, it’s just you and me. No trail, no evidence. nothing to come back and haunt me.” Needless to say, we haven’t gone out for drinks again. But the conversation haunts me.

It is also true that massive sexual harassment training has made some people over-sensitive to the issue, and they run to HR the moment they feel offended by a comment or occurrence. “Apparently something about the way I was looking at her made her uncomfortable. She went to our female boss to complain that I was ‘leering’ at her,” a sales manager said to me. “The boss called me into her office and told me to cut it out – I was confused and surprised, and trying to deny it just made me look worse.” Feeling that his reputation had been permanently and unfairly damaged, he eventually moved on to another employer.

So massive sexual harassment sensitivity training has helped, but is hasn’t changed human nature.

2. “Putting up with it” is a career choice many women still make.

While writing this article I reached out to a number of female colleagues with whom I have worked over the years and virtually every one of them shared at least one example of “putting up with it” for the sake of their career. These are strong, professional women and I was frankly surprised. one of them was very open about the compromise she made with her own values.

“I could have gone to HR and no doubt it would have hurt his career at that company. But it also would have hurt mine.” she said. “I know a lot of people will judge me for this, but I just told him to stop it, I made it clear that nothing was EVER going to happen between us. I was firm, but not harsh or strident or shaming. Because I needed to have a good working relationship with him.”

While I would never want my wife or daughter to make such a compromise, I also don’t want to pass judgement over those women who do.

“I just look at it as part of the cost of doing business in my industry. My clients are mostly men, they ask me out for drinks, to ‘talk business’ but it often leads to uncomfortable moments,” a female sales rep said to me. “I have to find ways to say ‘no’ without bruising their egos too much. Otherwise I have no shot at their business.”

It is a mistake to assume that the only women who “put up with it” are those who lack confidence, or who are desperate to keep their jobs. I worked with a female VP of Sales who projected the epitome of confidence and power. Her comments were a big eye opener for me.

“I had big career ambitions, and I wasn’t going to let any man’s bad behavior get in the way,” she said. Sometimes that meant pushing back hard, sometimes it meant talking like ‘one of the boys’ and sometimes it meant just ignoring or putting up with it. I know that’s not politically correct to say – but it’s what got me here.”

3. Going to HR immediately may NOT be your wisest move.

I’m afraid this may upset some of my friends in HR but I’ve heard too many stories from people (again, mostly women) who did the “right” thing and it ended up hurting their career.

Understand that the Human Resources department exists to serve the interests of the business. They are not there to be your personal advocate or counselor. So when someone lodges a formal complaint, what HR is looking for is specific, verifiable evidence. He-said, she-said accusations will certainly be acted upon, to some degree, but HR is going to protect the rights of both employees (as they should) AND MOSTLY protect the interests of the business.

The folks in HR do not have an obligation to protect your privacy. In fact if you lodge a complaint against another employee, HR has a primary obligation to address the complaint and protect the business, not to protect your identity.

In smaller businesses or those with a single owner (or other especially powerful individual employees) the people in HR often understand that in order to keep their own jobs they have to keep THAT person happy. The folks in HR have their own career pressures.

If you are going to take the step of lodging a formal complaint regarding unwanted sexual comments or actions, first seek out your own legal representation. You need to have counsel from someone who is solely focused on your interests, and has experience in this area of the law. This person can give you fact-based advice regarding when and how to contact HR with the allegation.

4. Don’t expect automatic support from other women.

If harassment occurs, be very careful about whom you decide to discuss it with at work. In the modern workplace, the days of female solidarity are over. Some women won’t believe you. Some may believe you but are more concerned with their own careers. Some may view this as an opportunity to push themselves up while pushing you down.

“My boss came on to me during a business trip, and I made the mistake of telling another woman at work about the situation. I trusted her and asked her to keep it between us until I had decided what to do,” a marketing manager said to me. “Well, she told someone. And THAT person went to my boss, saying that I was ‘spreading rumors’ and needless to say, the whole situation blew up on me.”

In the days following Gretchen Carlson’s allegations against Roger Ailes, a long list of Fox News female hosts, producers and others came forward to express their support for Mr. Ailes. None of them called Gretchen a liar exactly, but they made it clear who they were supporting. Obviously the fact that Mr. Aisles was their boss had to be a factor in their decision to come forward.

Only one prominent female host (Megyn Kelly) did not come forward with public statements of support. She hosts the #1 show on Fox News and clearly does not feel the same career pressure as others.But it turns out, if recent news reports are to be believed, that she told the internal Fox news investigators that she had in fact experienced unwanted advances from Mr. Ailes earlier in her career. Apparently she had “put up with it” in those early years of her career.

Which seemed to work out well for her.

Here is a recent radio interview focused on the same topic:

 

This is a complex and difficult topic, and I’m only certain of one thing: Every situation is unique, and every woman has to make decisions and choices based upon her own values and priorities. I’d love to hear your perspective on this.

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This LinkedIn post is not an excerpt, but my new book “Workplace Poker” includes career advice with a dash of smirky, sassy humor. Is it is available everywhere books are sold. You can view a brief video of reader comments by clicking on the link below.

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“Humor is just another defense against the universe.” – Mel Brooks

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Early Career Acceleration Advice

Early Career Acceleration Advice

I’ve recently had several conversations with people who have just recently entered the workforce. As they have shared stories about their early career experiences, it is clear that for many, this is not exactly what they expected.  Here is a quick summary of the environment they describe to me:

  • Job opportunities and starting salaries are more limited than they expected.
  • The battle for the best assignments and promotion opportunities is more intense than they expected.
  • Office politics and “unfair” practices sometimes mean that talent, ambition and hard work are not rewarded fairly.
  • High income earners are older and seem distant/different, and HOW they attained their wealth isn’t obvious.
  • The “system” seems rigged and the wage gap between the “haves” and “have nots” seems wider. (True or not, this is a common perception.)

The focus of my work for more than twenty years has been helping people develop the skills, habits and mindset necessary to drive high trajectory careers. When it comes to career advice I prefer to focus on practical, real world skills and strategies, dealing with the world as it is rather than debate about the way things “should” be.

Here is a summary of the advice I have shared with some of these younger workers. In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit that much of this advice was not especially well received. Nevertheless, if a young person is truly focused on driving a high trajectory career, I strongly recommend the following:

Become more discerning but less judgmental of the people you work with. Virtually everyone you work with wants to do a good job. Some of course are more effective than others, but before deciding that someone is a jerk, idiot or moron, try to more deeply discern the reasons for their offending behavior. Remember than anyone can work well with positive, talented and motivated people. But it takes a real pro to work well with flawed, less-than-talented under-achievers. Developing the ability to work productively with flawed people will be a huge career booster. Also, the more deeply you get to know most people, the more you understand the root causes of their “flaws,” the less annoying they become – most of the time.

Don’t expect career help from anyone in Washington D.C. Expecting Sanders or Trump or Clinton or whoever to do anything that will have a substantive impact on your career allows you to let yourself off the hook. Waiting for Bernie takes some of the pressure off of you to fully “own” your career progress (or lack thereof). I’m all for political activism, but be very thoughtful about your expectations and avoid the mindset of WAITING for political change to drive your career change. You can fight for social justice AND fight for your own career progress.

Let go of “fairness” and “should be.” Build your career on the way things are. This one is tough because I don’t want to discourage people from driving needed change in their businesses. But I meet so many people who use the need for change as an excuse for their career stagnation. Whatever the current circumstances in your business may be, some people figure out how to grow their careers. Some people “crack the code” and advance. Some people achieve and succeed and drive a higher/faster career trajectory, in spite of the difficult circumstances. Develop the mindset of driving your career forward and pushing through the challenge, rather than waiting for the challenge to go away.

Sometimes the worst people/situations provide the best career experience. And sometimes not. Because most people are flawed, most workplaces are flawed. If you are waiting for the perfectly fair and rational meritocracy where talent and hard work always leads to career progress, you are going to be waiting for a long time. Or you’ll be hopping from job to job, searching for the elusive perfect boss or perfect company. Of course you should quickly leave a bad situation if you are experiencing physical mistreatment or illegal/unethical activities – but in less extreme circumstances ask yourself if there is an opportunity to grow from overcoming the adversity.

When I have shared these thoughts with younger workers, most of them nod politely but give me that “he doesn’t get it” look. So I’ve been thinking about this a lot, wondering if I’m not communicating my thoughts effectively, or maybe I need to rethink my perspective. In that spirit, I would love to hear YOUR perspective in the comments section below.

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Hug the Cactus

Hug the Cactus

“I can’t stand working on projects with him! He does none of the work and sucks up all the credit!” a young associate lamented to me recently.

“Sometimes the best career move is to hug the cactus,” I replied.

“Huh?” The young associate gave me an annoyed look, as if I had just squirted lemon in her eye. This is not an uncommon response, I must admit, when I try to be too quippy sharing my profound wisdom with others in the workplace.

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Years ago I was complaining to my own manager; I was getting bored with all of the administrative work and wanted to be assigned to something that utilized my creative thinking ability. She said “sometimes you have to hug the cactus.” And I think I gave her the lemon juice squint eye.

She went on to explain that by embracing the boring admin work instead of complaining about it, I was more likely to:

  • Do better work on my current responsibilities.
  • Apply my creativity to the admin work, perhaps creating value with innovative ideas to do the admin work more efficiently.
  • Earn the right to work on something more interesting and inherently  creative.

My manager used the “cactus” analogy a lot. Anytime she felt that I was avoiding or dismissing something (or someone) because of my discomfort or disinterest, she would often say “try hugging the cactus, you’ll be surprised what you might get out of it.”

Her basic premise wasn’t original of course. Others have touted the benefits of doing the difficult thing, working outside of our comfort zone, etc. Robert Frost expressed the sentiment more profoundly in his poem The Road Not Taken. But for some reason my manager’s “hug the cactus” comment stuck with me and popped up in my mind over and over again throughout my career.

Over the course of our lives, each of us is faced with a variety of cacti that, upon deeper reflection, we might benefit from embracing rather than avoiding. For example:

  • The goal you’ve given up on because you tried to achieve it and have failed numerous times already.
  • The abrasive colleague or boss you and others have learned to avoid whenever possible.
  • The project no one wants to touch because it seems doomed.
  • The job opportunity with a company most others would avoid because it is experiencing significant challenges.
  • The relationship you’ve given up on because it has caused you great pain.
  • The skill or capability you’re not working on developing because it doesn’t come easy or naturally.

Those are just a few examples.  When you start to think about it, you will probably come up with numerous examples of cacti in your own life. Of course not every cactus deserves a hug.

The key is to be discerning, because some cacti will only cause you pain and grief. And when they hurt, those needles can dig deep. So think carefully at least give your instinctive response a second thought.

Regarding the young associate who didn’t want to work with a colleague perceived as a non-contributor taking credit for the good work of others, I asked her to think about the kind of work she would be doing with this person. Whether or not she received fair credit for her contributions, the kind of work she would be doing would build new skills, expand her responsibilities (and visibility in the company) and ultimately put her in a better position for the next significant promotion opportunity. As she thought about her choices, it became clear that “hugging the cactus” would be the best move for her.

Think about your own life and the activities or situations or people you instinctively avoid. Is there any upside potential if you lean into some of them rather than away? Maybe it’s time for you to hug a cactus or two.

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Office Politics: Winning the War

Office Politics: Winning the War

Office politics – a taboo word for some people. It’s a pervasive thing at the workplace. In it’s simplest form, office politics is simply about the differences between people at work; differences in opinions, conflicts of interests are often manifested as office politics. It all goes down to human communications and relationships.

There is no need to be afraid of office politics. Top performers are those who have mastered the art of winning in office politics. Below are 7 good habits to help you win at the workplace: Read more

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Love at Work

Love at Work

Dating someone from work is natural for many people. After all, who has time to meet someone when you’re working 60 hours or more per week? You may find that understanding your mutual work lives can deepen your relationship. And instead of rushing home each evening, you may be willing to work late, especially if you can do it alongside your beloved.

Despite the upsides, the downsides can be pretty daunting. First, there’s no escape if the romance goes sour. You still have to see and interact with that person daily. A failed workplace romance can also hurt your career and reputation. People may view a promotion or raise as favoritism, no matter how much you deserve it. And even if the relationship works out, it can be tough to work with your lover. “You get sick of each other,” says Judy Kuriansky, PhD, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dating. Read more

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Manage Your Career Like a Mercenary

Manage Your Career Like a Mercenary

There was a time when the key to career advancement was simply being great at your job, working harder than others, and waiting for the right opportunities to pop up. And while it is still important to do a great job and work hard, it just isn’t enough to ensure career advancement. Not if you want you to achieve “high trajectory” career progress and above average income.

In today’s world there are fewer advancement opportunities and more qualified people competing for every great job. Bonus dollars are limited so you have to “compete” with your peers to ensure that you maximize bonus income potential. Even survival is a competition – who gets laid off and who stays – is often determined by much more than just who is doing the best job. Read more

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Office Politics – to Play, or not to Play?

It is easy to take perverse pride in a refusal to “play politics” in the office and/or a determination to not fit in to the corporate culture. The typical corporate culture can be pretty stifling and fitting in can mean denying our own unique perspectives and personalities. But rather than stick your head in the sand and simply opt out (which can either put your career at risk, or diminish your potential growth trajectory) wouldn’t it make more sense to find a way to play the game and stay true to yourself?

The term “office politics” refers to the human dynamics within a business culture characterized by both cooperative and competitive pressures, struggles for recognition and power, tribal alliances and individual goals. Most human relationships involve some kind of back-and-forth play for power, influence and recognition. We negotiate with each other every day for assignments, resources, recognition, accountability, etc. In any business environment where people with conflicting goals have to get along and careers are at stake, politics will thrive. Read more

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