The other day I attended at lunch with John Tory. Well, I didn’t sit with him, but he was a panelist in discussion about diversity in leadership at the Canadian Club. I was lucky enough to attend to hear the candid and interesting discussion that included a poll from famous researcher Nik Nanos.
I can picture some eye rolling at the topic. Oh boy, here we go again – more whining about diversity. Even I wondered about the topic myself. That is, until I saw the numbers. Did you know that over 47% of the people living in the GTA are visible minorities? Ok, so now that this is on the table, look around at your organizations and see if this is reflected in the leadership. This is what the talk was about. The epic question was asked – why are visible minorities not reflected in the workplace. First, perhaps the term itself is misleading. At 47%, they can hardly be called the ‘minority’ anymore. Maybe in the spirit of political correctness we should change the term. However, it would mean once again, separating the races. Perhaps we need to just say that leadership does not reflect the community of the GTA. How’s that? Back to the question. In answer, panelists gave their own theories. Power was one. Another was much more simple – people like to work with others like themselves. So they choose what they know. That theory was interesting for me. I’ve been told this many times before and I realize it’s true. When sitting on interview committees, I do look for someone who is much like myself. I like people who are creative, ambitious and honest. I admit, I veer towards those who are a bit reserved like myself. And I like people who are smart and quick. The last characteristic that enters my mind is race or sexual orientation. Because all of the qualities I listed above are not limited to only one group of people. More research revealed that many visible minorities who were polled believed that for this to change, it would take an average of 18 years. Hmmm..... this bit of info hit a note for me. It took me 18 years to get to the position where I am now. Many of you who are close to me will know my story. I have always said that there were only a handful of people who helped me along in my career, while there were ten times as many crabs in the bucket. I watched others who were considered part of the standard leadership pool, sail through with half the experience and I knew, it would take me more time. That’s just the way it was. John Tory, by all accounts is really part of that standard leadership pool. So it was interesting that he was on the panel with Mitzi Hunter, CEO of Civic Action and radio journalist Matt Galloway who was the moderator. And yet, he seemed a natural fit. He commented candidly on the responsibility the media needs to take when it comes to the result of leadership the way it is. Look at the black community, he said. The few unsavory individuals caught on camera time and time again seemed to sway the public’s opinion on what this community was really all about. These remarks made me smile. Having grown up in a community where many of my close friends were black, I knew all too well that petty criminals were not limited to only one group of people. After the event, I made sure that I pushed my way through the crowd to shake his hand. I wanted to tell him about my 18-year story, but I wasn’t sure how to frame it in 20 words or less. And I thought of asking him if he would consider running in an upcoming election to become one of our political leaders. But I chose to keep the conversation light and just remarked on the important work he was doing. He smiled warmly and repeated my name, accurately. It was an inspiring lunch and a good conversation in a room filled with people who represented the GTA. All 100%.
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The other night, a school principal from Brampton told me that she hated working in “Bramdesh” and hated the immigrant kids in her school.
I was stunned. I looked at the other people at the dinner table and they had conveniently looked away and immersed themselves in mini conversations. I suppose the elephant had walked into the room. But instead, I started talking with her, challenging her on some of her statements. Why don’t you leave the school I asked. I can’t get out, she exclaimed. Everyone hates it there, she said, meaning the staff at the school. I finally agreed, “You shouldn’t be there,” I said, only to be answered by the common backpedaling of a bigot, “My best friend is black.” Yeah, sure. It was a view that still disturbs me. Only a few weeks ago did we see two young people get killed in Toronto by senseless shootings. We then heard statements from the mayor who insisted the solution was to place more police officers on the streets. He has long cast aside a vote for social programs, labelling them ‘hug a thug’ and believes that punishment will be rid of the crime. Maybe. That’s what Giuliani did in New York City, didn’t he? But crime hasn’t left New York. In fact, the GTA has less crimes that any city in the United States. But even in New York, there is a social conscience. Earlier this year the city councillors adopted the first participatory budget process for the residents of New York. The premise behind the participatory budget is to allow citizens to tell councillors how to spend their tax dollars. Funding is put aside and wish lists created by the residents and brought forward to the city officials. For the city councillor whose constituency resides in the Upper West Side but also Harlem and parts of the Bronx, the wish lists were extreme as you can imagine. But as the story goes, (told to me by a Toronto official who attended the event in New York), when the people in the Upper West Side learned of the lists from the residents of Harlem and the Bronx, they quietly put their posh requests away. In the end, the funding went to social programs, playgrounds and health services for residents who needed them. Perhaps the real problem lies in leadership. If our school staff adopt the attitude that these ‘immigrants’ are castaways, and our city officials prefer to fund punishment that prevention, then the playing field will never become even. I wonder if the principal understands the struggle of a child thrown into a new society torn by the need to fit in and resistant parents. I wonder if she sees that many of these kids need to feel like they can accomplish something and look to their leaders for guidance. Do city officials realize that kids believe guns earn them respect? And why not, if leaders won’t grant it to them otherwise. Truly, the problem lies in education – but for those appointed ‘leaders’ in our schools and in our cities. A true leader doesn’t point fingers and run from those she deems undesirable. A true leader reaches out a hand and helps those who have fallen, get back up. I wrote a few speeches for a colleague of mine the other day. And they got rave responses. He was speaking at school graduation ceremonies and found his presentation on democracy and education wasn’t going over so well. So he called me and asked how I could help.
Without blinking I explained that he wasn’t bonding with the audience. They were graduating school and looking forward to summer. Talk about something they would be interested in. Talk about when you graduated from school. It seemed so simple to me and yet, only when I put the information on paper and sent it to him, did he realize that yes indeed, these were speeches that would work. And when he called me to reveal, happily that his presentations were taking twice as long because the kids were laughing so much, I smiled. But I admit, I was puzzled. I mean to me it was common sense – know your audience. That’s the philosophy on what communications has been built. It never ceases to astound me how the audience is always forgotten. I work with many public organizations and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in committee meetings where hours will be spent on crafting creative key messages that sound oh so wonderful and make all senior leaders very happy. But I sit silently as they are approved and I know that none of these crafty, PR spin messages will ever be picked up. The reason is so simple. They’re written for the senior leaders at the organization, when they should be written for media. Because media are clever – they write for their audience or the papers just won’t sell. Now a really good editor or producer doesn’t need a well written press release to get a story. Most of them can read between the lines of PR spin and find the story. But really, in an ideal world, wouldn’t it be fantastic if the message you wrote, was actually used by the reporter? Ok, so many of you are saying this would never happen. I can assure you that yes, it has. On the rare occasion that one of the senior leaders look into the eyes of this youthful appearing consultant, and say ok, we’ll take your advice, the message appears, as written, to their amazement. It’s rare of course. Reporters want to write their own stuff, and they should. But when I train my clients in the art of media relations, I always tell them to remember one thing – the reporter will write a quote that the audience will relate to. And PR spin that makes your organization look good, will never make it. Be simple and be clear. It works. Don’t be afraid to let go of the academic jargon and ignore your dictionary for a bit. Simple, clear language that’s straight to the point and light-hearted really works. After a very busy few months, June brought me some down time. After three years of self-employment, I’ve learned that taking time to rest in between projects is a great way to refresh my mind. So I decided to engage myself with a book called “Orange is the New Black.”
It’s a real life story of a white-collar woman from the upper side of the New England tracks who ended up with a 15-month sentence in a woman’s prison for for drug trafficking. As I started on the first chapter, I was fully prepared for a story filled with dramatic prison fights and catty, underhanded survival tactics. Instead, I found myself immersed in a story about camaraderie, codes of respect and friendship. At first, I admit I was a little skeptical. I mean let’s face it - a group of women from all walks of life locked together inside a building with little light, second rate food and armed guards. Not a healthy environment to start with. But what I found more surprising was the lack of bullying or harassment that I naturally assumed would be included. Perhaps the writer just eliminated those parts. Perhaps she was just keen on showing a different side prison and wanted the story to send a message about positive female relationships. No matter what her intent, I found the story and the message inspiring. She described how prisoners would help each other out by providing toiletries to the newbies to ensure they had necessities that only women could understand. She described how inmates would not speak to each other in a disrespectful fashion because it just ‘wasn’t done.’ It made me look back to some of the places I’ve worked in, where competition between female colleagues was fierce, gossip rampant and bullying the norm. I’ve written and published a couple of articles on workplace bullying and have done extensive research on this topic, based on my own experience as well as from outside sources. According to experts this disappointing behaviour is on the rise, and usually occurs in workplaces dominated by women. So my question is, if female prisoners can learn to have each other’s back in order to survive in a corrupt system, why is it that professional business people still struggle with this concept? What touched me the most was how the author, an educated woman from a privileged home found herself popular with inmates whose lives were so vastly different. She learned how to accept these differences without discrimination. Could it have been mostly fiction? Perhaps…but really when you consider human nature, a book filled with crude details about manipulative women fighting against each other would be a bigger seller, wouldn’t it? At the end of the day, there’s no way to determine what goes on inside a women’s prison unless I experience it for myself. Hopefully I won’t have that opportunity. But the story itself, watered down or not, inspired me. So my downtime in June became yet another learning experience and one that will help me in my own future encounters as I continue to make my way as an independent, professional woman in the outside world. Canada is the second largest country in the world. The population exceeds 30 million. On Sunday, February 28th, at 3 p.m, half of the country’s residents sat down in front of a television set.
From first generation newcomers to original native inhabitants, right wing conservatives to left leaning socialists, mothers, fathers and children of all ages, eyes focused on the red and white figures on screen. It was time to watch the hockey game. But it wasn’t just any game. It was the Olympic Gold medal game and Team Canada was in the final. I was among the 16 million viewers who watched the entire event from puck dropping to medal awarding. A day later, I find still breaking into an automatic smile every time someone mentions the word ‘gold’. It was indeed a golden day. In fact, it has been a golden two weeks. I don’t believe I have to recite facts because anyone who is Canadian knows the details. The record breaking, the nail biting and the energy that rippled through an entire country when at the very peak of the sixteen-day event, the country’s star-boy hockey player sealed Canada’s fate in history and won gold in its national sport. It was called a fairy tale ending by the press. To me, it was karmic. It was meant to be. We, the polite group of northerners who will stand back and graciously and accept second place with a smile, knowing in our hearts that we were winners anyway, were finally granted the spotlight. It was the time to be bold, brave and cheer at the top of the hill. Because Canadians don’t look down from the top of the hill, they look up and around and say thanks, in many different ways, through various languages and with genuine hearts. We deserved it Canada! Congratulations! |