Today, during some pre-telecon small talk, I heard a joke belittling those protesting for justice. I sat gape-mouthed, stunned, instead of speaking up. I feel ashamed. Silent complicity is dangerous. Insidious bias grows without opposition. Open the conversation.
I wanted to write this because while it's impactful to amplify a message on social media, it's easier to do so when that message is trending. How you carry the message into your actions – in real life – matters.
You should have spoken out….When you do not…people feel it is ok and no-one got hurt. I work for the govt. and I had a colleague speak about the homeless. It was insensitive and I told him so in front of the whole team.l I hope the next time you do speak out. People will support you. Being silent tells people that you agree to the statement.
I get what you are saying and agree generally with the sentiment. But sometimes it is hard to speak out. First, a comment in a meeting may be so unexpected when you have your thoughts on other issues that you might miss your opportunity. It has happened to me (“I should have said” syndrome…). Other times you may be too junior to really speak out in a meeting such as described – you fear for your career or your perceived “team player” ability. Other times you just miss the opportunity. I am just saying that being silent is not always a sign that indicates you are in agreement to the statement.
I agree completely with your point, from the viewpoint of the person who remains silent. However, one’s silence can be taken by the speaker (and others hearing) as agreement. Communication is complicated like that.
She is not a “junior” member. When we start to put excuses,,too junior…you are getting a very slippy slope. When people don’t speak out…it starts to become the norm. People are not perfect..I am far from it. However, good people need to speak out when things are wrong…or ask for clarification. The workplace used to be fine with sexist jokes..but that is not OK in 2020. If it was a sexist or racist joke..you need to speak out and educate people. This is not OK in 2020 and never should be OK. Wait till you are the other person on the receiving end or its about your family…then tell me how you feel.
That’s all true and I don’t disagree. But it’s also more than junior people being reluctant to say something. I know a sociologist who has a nice presentation on why partial inclusiveness doesn’t work very well. One factor is being the only person in the room who disagrees. There is a natural tendency for most people to feel uncomfortable in that situation. And if that one person is somehow different from everyone else in the room, it’s worse. That can be different due to things like race or gender, but also do to almost anything else. The one person without a PhD in a room full of tenured professors also feels uncomfortable being the lone voice of disagreement on almost any subject.
That’s why getting gender diversity from 5% to 15% isn’t as great a difference as it some people think. That still isn’t enough to avoid the “only person like me in the room” sort of social pressure. The sociologist mentioned says that, and other issues don’t really get better until inclusion is at the 30% level or higher. I once asked her how that works for ethnic and racial minorities, since 30% means she was clearly thinking of gender issues. She didn’t have a good answer off the top of her head. But I’ve thought about it, and I think the answer is the reverse. It’s not at least 30% of one group; it’s less than 70% of one single, monolithic group.
I’ve been in this industry for 20+ years. And I can tell you that speaking out to a certain extent can get your career stalled. It’s one thing to speak out against obvious racial slurs or overt sexual harrassment. But speaking out against the microaggressions or racial insensitivity can get your career stalled quick ricky tick. Nothing worse than being labelled ‘Not a good fit’. Trust me on that one.
On another note, it doesn’t help when numbers of a given minority are at a paucity. How many African-American flight controllers at JSC these days? I walked through Building 4 after I left JSC and was like ‘Where did all the Black people go?’
During a SpaceX telecast, I see the same African-American woman all the time, and really wonder just how few African Americans are employed in Hawthorne. Diversity and inclusion does more than make a picture look nice. Folks get to share their experiences and people get educated by them.
“On another note, it doesn’t help when numbers of a given minority are at a paucity. How many African-American flight controllers at JSC these days? I walked through Building 4 after I left JSC and was like ‘Where did all the Black people go?”’
Would you care on something I mentioned in another comment? I’ve seen a very good case made for the problems you describe, in the case of women in various fields. With plenty of references to back it up, I’ve heard presentations that the social dynamics don’t really improve until the fraction of women in a group is above 30%. I once asked the speaker how that works for ethnic minorities; you can’t have more than 30% inclusion of each and every minority, since that would add up to way more than 100%. She didn’t have an immediate answer, but I later convinced myself it might be best to make sure there is no, single, majority group accounting for more than 70% of the people. I.e. not that each minority needs to be over 30%, but that no single group should be an overwhelming (over 70%) majority.
Thank you Keith.
Indeed.
You should have spoken out….When you do not…people feel it is ok and no-one got hurt. I work for the govt. and I had a colleague speak about the homeless. It was insensitive and I told him so in front of the whole team.l I hope the next time you do speak out. People will support you. Being silent tells people that you agree to the statement.
I get what you are saying and agree generally with the sentiment. But sometimes it is hard to speak out. First, a comment in a meeting may be so unexpected when you have your thoughts on other issues that you might miss your opportunity. It has happened to me (“I should have said” syndrome…). Other times you may be too junior to really speak out in a meeting such as described – you fear for your career or your perceived “team player” ability. Other times you just miss the opportunity. I am just saying that being silent is not always a sign that indicates you are in agreement to the statement.
I agree completely with your point, from the viewpoint of the person who remains silent. However, one’s silence can be taken by the speaker (and others hearing) as agreement. Communication is complicated like that.
She is not a “junior” member. When we start to put excuses,,too junior…you are getting a very slippy slope. When people don’t speak out…it starts to become the norm. People are not perfect..I am far from it. However, good people need to speak out when things are wrong…or ask for clarification. The workplace used to be fine with sexist jokes..but that is not OK in 2020. If it was a sexist or racist joke..you need to speak out and educate people. This is not OK in 2020 and never should be OK. Wait till you are the other person on the receiving end or its about your family…then tell me how you feel.
That’s all true and I don’t disagree. But it’s also more than junior people being reluctant to say something. I know a sociologist who has a nice presentation on why partial inclusiveness doesn’t work very well. One factor is being the only person in the room who disagrees. There is a natural tendency for most people to feel uncomfortable in that situation. And if that one person is somehow different from everyone else in the room, it’s worse. That can be different due to things like race or gender, but also do to almost anything else. The one person without a PhD in a room full of tenured professors also feels uncomfortable being the lone voice of disagreement on almost any subject.
That’s why getting gender diversity from 5% to 15% isn’t as great a difference as it some people think. That still isn’t enough to avoid the “only person like me in the room” sort of social pressure. The sociologist mentioned says that, and other issues don’t really get better until inclusion is at the 30% level or higher. I once asked her how that works for ethnic and racial minorities, since 30% means she was clearly thinking of gender issues. She didn’t have a good answer off the top of her head. But I’ve thought about it, and I think the answer is the reverse. It’s not at least 30% of one group; it’s less than 70% of one single, monolithic group.
I’ve been in this industry for 20+ years. And I can tell you that speaking out to a certain extent can get your career stalled. It’s one thing to speak out against obvious racial slurs or overt sexual harrassment. But speaking out against the microaggressions or racial insensitivity can get your career stalled quick ricky tick. Nothing worse than being labelled ‘Not a good fit’. Trust me on that one.
On another note, it doesn’t help when numbers of a given minority are at a paucity. How many African-American flight controllers at JSC these days? I walked through Building 4 after I left JSC and was like ‘Where did all the Black people go?’
During a SpaceX telecast, I see the same African-American woman all the time, and really wonder just how few African Americans are employed in Hawthorne. Diversity and inclusion does more than make a picture look nice. Folks get to share their experiences and people get educated by them.
“On another note, it doesn’t help when numbers of a given minority are at a paucity. How many African-American flight controllers at JSC these days? I walked through Building 4 after I left JSC and was like ‘Where did all the Black people go?”’
Would you care on something I mentioned in another comment? I’ve seen a very good case made for the problems you describe, in the case of women in various fields. With plenty of references to back it up, I’ve heard presentations that the social dynamics don’t really improve until the fraction of women in a group is above 30%. I once asked the speaker how that works for ethnic minorities; you can’t have more than 30% inclusion of each and every minority, since that would add up to way more than 100%. She didn’t have an immediate answer, but I later convinced myself it might be best to make sure there is no, single, majority group accounting for more than 70% of the people. I.e. not that each minority needs to be over 30%, but that no single group should be an overwhelming (over 70%) majority.