Brutally honest answers to 3 pointless questions your company leadership is struggling with right now.

Inspired by my good friend Vu Lee's recent post about the nonprofit sector, and as a recent convert to Melani Sanders', "I Do Not Care Club," (which is currently taking social media by storm) you have caught me in a "I Do Not Care About Filtering My Tone For Your Comfort" kinda mood. I believe that as a leader at your company you need to be able to hear and integrate tough feedback, and since you seem to be ignoring the shouts from within your company, today it falls to me to give you a dose of brutal honesty chased with some NE snark on the side.

Have a seat.

This one's on the house...

Picture of three cocktails side-by-side

1. "Should we enforce a return to office policy to drive more productivity?" -

   
   

   Enforcing a return to office policy with a goal to drive productivity in this socio-political climate is like hoping a² + b² = cupcake. Look, I like cupcake, too, but anyone who has spent at least one cellphone down, emails muted, focused hour in management training knows that productivity is down because people managers world-wide are burnt out and seriously lacking the skills necessary to lead through this moment.

   
   

   [The ironic subtext being that some of you even willingly voted against your best interests (read: your people's psychological safety) thinking it would somehow result in higher profits. Like the Trump-supporting farmers who are shocked that ICE agents showed up, I am trying to find my grace to extend to you but I think it went to the detention center with that two-year old baby's stuffed bear.]

   
   

   Productivity is not down because people are working from home. The data has proven this. Productivity is down because people are trying to care about work while they watch a shit-storm ensue in the world about them, and their leaders are ill-equipped to listen, guide, and support them.

   
   

2. "Should we end our DEI programs?" -

   
   

   Sure, if you want to have a Target-like Q3/Q4. Advance compliance has not now, or will ever be, a skill set that will be rewarded or that will yield great returns. Real leaders are skilled at reactive change that considers various data points, stakeholder inputs, and long-term risk analysis. My ten year old armed with a basic wifi connection could have told you that large scale consumer sentiment was not on the side of abandoning DEI commitments.

   
   

   Stop wasting time asking if you should abandon your stated values (which up until this point must have been purely theoretical) and instead focus your energy on how you will make your values practicable. Companies like Costco were already doing this, hence why it was so easy for them to reject calls to abandon their efforts.

   
   

   Now it's your turn, Love.

   
   

3. "How can we help our employees be more focused and resilient at work?" -

   
   

   You are still talking about work like it is the most important thing happening in the world right now. Babes, it is not even the most important thing that happened in your team member's lunch break today.

   
   

   Somewhere between doom-scrolling, supporting their elderly parent, watching as another service was axed at their children's school, and trying to figure out if we are or are not at war, you wanted them to respond to the last minute email you sent about the font in the deck you are meant to be presenting tomorrow morning..??? PFFT! Get the heck out of here!

   
   

   If your biggest problem right now is 'no one cares about work as much as I do" then you are living with some serious unchecked privilege. And I guess it falls to me to check you on it.

   
   

   If you really cared about supporting your team's resiliency as they deal with this onslaught of change and uncertainty you would be asking an entirely different question: "How do I need to change and grow to support my team right now?"

Stop spinning your wheels. You know deep down inside of you that we cannot solve very real human problems with half-hearted hopes and prayers. You and your company are in need of bold, innovative, skills-heavy leaders who are equipped to navigate this ongoing uncertainty. And if you are hoping that these magical unicorns are going to just suddenly appear on your doorstep, come here. I've got some magic beans to sell you.

The best investment your company can make right now is in extensive leadership and people management training that will result in long-term team and organizational change. So stop asking pointless questions, just do the work.