PurpleCar

Saying the Wrong Thing

My 1st lesson in the School of Workplace Hardknocks came when I was 19-years-old. My fellow inner-city day camp counselors and I were joking around as usual. At one point, I addressed the other counselors as “you people.” Where I came from, “you people” was the plural “you” of preference. But what happened next forever changed my personal and professional life.

The face of my African-American co-worker Michelle* turned to stone. A hush fell over the group. Then Michelle’s anger exploded like a firebomb. I was stunned. Other counselors tried to calm her, but Michelle went straight to our supervisor Tanya.

Tanya (a white woman most probably untrained in diversity herself) called me into her office and accused me of using a racial slur. I’ll never forget that feeling of utter confusion, panic, and shame that swept over me at that moment. In one fell swoop, Michelle and Tanya destroyed my confidence as a competent employee and more importantly, stripped my self-image as a tolerant and peace-loving human being. I didn’t lose my job but the rest of the summer we all walked on eggshells. My day-camp counseling days were over, even though I loved working with the kids. 

Many Hard Knocks Later…

More than a decade had passed when during a funny banter-filled conference call, my white, middle-aged boss (who lived not far from where I grew up) made what I’d call a slightly offensive side comment. A tiny moment of silence followed but the jaunty conversation bounced back. Immediately afterwards, Emma, the sole African American team member, rang my desk phone. “Did you catch that?” she asked. “Yes I did,” I said. “I’m sorry, Emma. Let me apologize for him.” We had a frank conversation and then got back to work. Emma wasn’t looking for retribution; She just wanted some acknowledgement. 

That night I sent some gratitude up to the universe for the harsh but valuable lesson from Michelle and Tanya. That first –and last– accusation of racism sent me on a curious journey into cultural diversity which allowed me to become the type of person with whom Emma could have a safe and honest chat about these clashes that happen daily in a diverse workplace.

Hearing the Buzz

That’s the trouble with cultures-of-origin: they are invisible to us. Like bees, we can’t hear the buzzing of our own hive. 19 and fresh from growing up in the sticks, I had no idea that the phrase “you people” could be construed as excluding. Like a bee’s buzz, we can’t notice our own endemic cultural traditions and turns of phrase and inevitably we bring those reference points to the workplace. How can we avoid the mishaps that result when different bees from various hives come together in one place?

I’ve put together 5 (somewhat controversial) hints that I’ve picked up over my two decades of experience, including formal cultural studies and working with diverse groups. 

1. You will misspeak. We’re all human. We’re going to trip up sometimes. The key is to be aware that we’re bees in the first place, and we each have our own unique buzz we learned from home hive of origin. If I’ve let “you people” slip, I apologize and explain that’s my version of “y’all.” I don’t ignore my possible mistake in hopes it’ll slide.
2. Own up. Don’t assume everyone shares your buzz. Think of culture like Thanksgiving dinner – you can probably assume everyone has a turkey, but it’s a free-for-all for side dishes. Every family has their own unique recipes that are handed down for generations. Your side dishes will be different from everyone else’s. Be aware of that.
3. Ignorance usually isn’t willful. Give people the benefit of the doubt. It’s possible they’ve not spent enough time out of their hive. Give them (and yourself) some time to adapt to the workplace culture. If people refuse to learn some diversity lessons, assume it’s fear and not hate that stymies them.
4. Human Resources is not your friend. Yeah, I said it. The Human Resource department exists for one reason: to protect the organization against liability. Getting supervisors or Human Resources involved in each small clash isn’t wise or efficient. When possible, deal with whatever clash immediately by being honest and fair (with your co-workers and yourself). Seek out disciplinary help only when the offender is disruptive to the work flow.
5. Drop the “Color-Blindness” Schtick. Claiming one exists outside of the greater cultural and historical context of the country, or one is “color-blind,” is just plain silly. Not every conversation has to be about race but it’s OK to acknowledge differences in experience. E.g., when white people avoid discussing race, it can make minority members feel a bit crazy, like they can hear the buzz and no-one else can or they can see a large elephant in the room but the white people act like it isn’t there. It’s there. Don’t pretend it isn’t.

Divide up and Discuss

I realize this conversation is tough. My presentation isn’t perfect. (I’m pretty sure I’ll hear from the Human Resource Managers out there!) But hopefully you can use this a a starting point. Please share your own stories, experiences, and wisdom in the comments. Thanks.

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*Names changed, so don’t search my contacts list 😉

Also published on LINKEDIN

Photo credits: Header: Christine Cavalier. Bees: Sean Winters on Flickr

is that they are just so pesky to remember and recover.

How do you store your keys to your kingdom?

A funny commentary from snarky Tweeter @JamieDMJ summed up the pw-recovery blues in this acute observation, shared almost 4,000 times:

“Creating a password reminder just keeps getting more and more emotionally draining” – @JamieDMJ pic.twitter.com/nR0USlEmQU

— Paul Blanchard (@paulwrblanchard) November 8, 2014

Security questions should have trigger warnings, come to think of it. Being reminded of Sr. Eustace beating us with a stick isn’t optimal for productivity or even a serene life, as my friend and mindful-computing expert Alex Soojung-Kim Pang intones in his book, The Distraction Addiction. (Then again, you could approach this dictum with a positive attitude, like this author who used his password as a mantra and self-fulfilling prophecy.)

Slate had a different take (naturally) on password construction and recovery. Writer Doug Harris suggested either always planning on using a site’s email reset or simply using the same lie, repeatedly, for every security question:

• What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? Louis Armstrong.
• What was the name of your high school? Louis Armstrong.
• In what city did you have your first job? Louis Armstrong.

• Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? i.e., who remembers the password for the password manager software? This advice is already logically unsound.
• Monthly? Screw that. There’s very little evidence that says this method makes life more secure for users, especially since most data breaches are conducted at a systemic level via retail databases, not individual machines.
• It’s totally OK to keep a post-it with your passwords in your wallet, just guard that little slip of paper like you do your credit cards. Change the password ASAP if that paper is lost.
• Single-use passwords for sites are great. Utilize the password recovery process next time you need to log in. This is effective for stores and other retailers which you use infrequently. No retailers are so important in my life that I give them the honor of remembering my login. Please! I have better things to do with my mental bandwidth. If some store’s email recovery process takes too long, I’ll shop elsewhere.

The main point: don’t stress about passwords. Do your best bet is to remember 1 or 2 main passwords, like the key to your password manager or locked machine, and the password to your main recovery email. If you can manage it, make the passwords more than 12 characters each, and if you write them down, keep that paper on your person or hidden well.

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Flickr keys pic by Urs Steiner. Click on the pic for the link.

No more trolls for Reuters. Kinda.

News outlet Reuters announced yesterday the service was removing the comment sections from its news posts (one can still rant on the blog). Included in the statement is a subtle reference to Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, aka trolls, and some suggestions of other healthy ways to interact with the information Reuters provides, including Twitter and Facebook.

**Finally, some reason. Hopefully all news outlets will follow suit. It isn’t profitable to have trolls dirty up the “after the scroll” bottom of the page.**

Here’s the short but sweet announcement, in full:

During the past few years, much has changed about how readers interact with news. They find coverage in diverse places and in new ways. They watch video, use graphics and calculators and relate to content far differently than in the past.

Considering these dynamics, Reuters.com is ending user comments on news stories. Much of the well-informed and articulate discussion around news, as well as criticism or praise for stories, has moved to social media and online forums. Those communities offer vibrant conversation and, importantly, are self-policed by participants to keep on the fringes those who would abuse the privilege of commenting.

We still will host comments on our opinion and blogs sections of Reuters.com so columnists and readers can exchange ideas on interesting and controversial topics. Readers can join the conversation about all Reuters journalism on Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/reuters, or on Twitter, where our handle is @reuters. And, as always, you can notify our editors of errors or technical problems by using the support link.

We value conversation about the news, but the idea of comments on a website must give way to new realities of behavior in the marketplace.The best place for this conversation is where it is open to the largest number of participants possible.

-Dan Colarusso,

Executive Editor, Reuters Digital

Hat Tip to veteran journo and photog Jim MacMillan via Facebook

Original Photo by Kai Screiber on Flickr, modified by Christine Cavalier

Ah, November. Crisp air. Approaching holidays. Mid-term elections. Fall is in full swing and I’m ready to get down to work after a long, lazy summer. I’ve been getting back into the habit of checking the news while I eat breakfast, so this morning I tried to look up local election results. What I found will finally turn me off reading news on mobile forever.

I’m not talking about seeing predictions of Washington killing Net Neutrality, squashing privacy or stripping us of everything else sacred online (although those things turn my stomach more than Tofurky). I’m talking about news organizations’ compulsory ad-walls each time I click on an article link.

When I search on a news item, I click a link that seems relevant but I’m greeted instead by a full-screen ad for the news’ organization’s mobile app. “Download our news app!” the ad begs. “Get the day’s news delivered to your phone!” I have to download the app or search out the itty-bitty “X” to close the pop-up. This isn’t easier than it sounds, especially on a mobile screen. Honestly, I’d rather watch a canned beets commercial.

News organizations are pushing their apps harder than Grandma hawks her special cream corn casserole (this time with peas!) at Thanksgiving. Each and every news article link is equipped with an ad-wall; each article’s footer is plastered with a download page. If you’re like me and you get your news from many different outlets, your phone’s storage would be jammed with news apps within days if you downloaded a quarter of the installs thrown at you. Forget the turkey coma; News app overload could have you flat in five minutes.

Like sports or weather? There are a million for apps those, too. Search the Apple App Store for “nbcsports” and it’ll cap it at 50 results. Weather? Please. I can stalk the temperature in my friend’s Australian town easier than I can find out if my neighbor won the state rep seat she was after (FYI: 68 degrees F today; She didn’t).

Every Murdoch, Disney, and Hearst app wants on our mobile devices, but the splintering of our phones’ memory and subsequent deterioration of our mental acuity aren’t what we’re after when we want to catch up on the day’s news. “NYTNow” may be a helpful aggregator but it’s still just one paper’s perspective. Confining ourselves to one brand of news is like sticking with the stuffing and skipping the rest. I would venture to guess most readers are like me and want to see the most popular or shared stories on a specific news item all in one place. I’m not going to open and close a pile of apps to gather information on one story of interest. That’s like bringing out one dinner roll at a time. A big basket will do just fine, thanks.

Until a decent mobile news aggregator app comes along, I’ll consume less news and rely more on RSS, search, and social sharing to catch up on headlines, and hopefully avoid the current news app coma that is so often hitting us all.

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Photo credit: Newsapps, by Christine Cavalier

Here are some relevant articles I’ve curated for you around the Web today:

Blendle and unbundling news content

What’s a branded newsroom and how do you build one? 

The Business Model that “Saves” Journalism