Germane Insights

ON LEADING AND BE-ING HUMAN

Esme Says – Best Leadership Blogs Should Be Leaders

Anne Perschel

In November 2010 a list of nominees for "Best Leadership Blog" appeared on the internet. It included 10 white men and 1 white woman. Later that week a list of 25 Leadership Gurus appeared as well. It included 23 white men, one white woman and a man of Indian origin. I was stunned, then outraged, then hopeless and angry at myself for wishing so hard for things to be different that I lost sight of reality.

men and women at race line — Lead with Diversity

In November 2010 a list of nominees for “Best Leadership Blog” appeared on the internet. The list is compiled by a person I refer to as Mr. Z. It included 10 white men and 1 white woman. Later that week a list of 25 Leadership Gurus appeared as well. It included 23 white men, one white woman and a man of Indian origin.

Stunned, Outraged, and Hopeless

I was stunned, then outraged, then hopeless and angry at myself for wishing so hard for things to be different that I had lost sight of reality. Time to give up I thought. Focus on growing your business. This quest for diversity is not going to happen, not in your lifetime, and perhaps not in the next or the one after that.

Where is My Marlon Brando?

After stunned and on the way to outrage I communicated with several people on these lists. I talked to my colleagues, tribe members and circle of influencers. I sought my Marlon Brando, the one who would stand up, refuse the nomination and if selected, refuse the title. No takers. Lots of explanations.

Hope Reborn

Dorothy Dalton commented publicly about the “dearth of women” on the list. Thanks D. Wally Bock and I spoke at length. He pointed out the nominees for Best Leadership Blog are selected by Mr. Z’s readers. It is not surprising, therefore, that for the most part they look like Mr. Z and write from a similar perspective. Some relief. Wally also opined that none of these lists can be fair or cover the ground needed to declare that they really represent the best of what is out there. They are simply lists. Wally also agreed that such lists miss half the available talent, and without such talent U.S. based businesses are not and cannot be competitive.

My spirits lifted a bit.

Then a post entitled When You Teach a girl to Fish Everybody Eats went viral.

My spirits lifted a bit more.

Then Gwyn Teatro who felt “irritated” with the homogeneousness of both lists proposed an alternative. You will hear from us in the next several months. We have a plan.

Felt significantly better.

Then Jane Perdue @thehrgoddess directed me to Esme Holland’s comment on the Best Leadership Blog list. Some who read it thought I was writing under a pen name. I assured them I am not that clever, and I hope not that self serving. I checked on a few folks I suspected, but it appears Esme is a real person who has commented on Mr. Z’s blog in the past. I’m glad about that because it’s important that a comment such as Esme’s be genuine and not a ploy. I would also have added some women I respect, but I can’t because it is Esme’s list, not mine.

Hope is born anew.

Who is Esme Holland and Could She Be My Marlon Brando?

Below you can read:

Esme’s comment
The response from the Mr. Z. founder of The Best Leadership Blog list (or as Wally suggests “Readership Blogs my Readers Like)
Esme’s reply to Mr. Z
My letter to Esme. Whoever and where ever you are, I hope you are reading this and know how much we appreciate you for speaking up.

Esme’s Comment

It’s most disappointing to see only one woman (who shares billing with a university) on your list. Some great women leadership bloggers you should have reached out to include:

Geronimo Coaching by Marion Chapsal @marionchapsal
You’re Not the Boss of Me by Gwyn Teatro @GwynT
Get Your Leadership Big On by Jane Perdue @thehrgoddess
Germane Insights by Anne Perschel @bizshrink
Dorothy Dalton by Dorothy Dalton @DorothyDalton
Random Acts of Leadership by Susan Mazza @SusanMazza

If folks are going to talk the talk about leadership, then they must be at the forefront of inclusion and diversity, walking the talk.

I’ll be watching to see if this canary in the mine gets published!

Regards,

Esme

Mr. Z’s Reply

Esme – Thanks for your comment and the list of suggested blogs. A couple of other people have emailed me about a similar concern. What follows is essentially what I sent them.

In preparing the list for this event, I and my team never considered the gender issue. I read for ideas, not for gender. Clearly there are differences between how men and women see the world and I value both, and I couldn’t have told you the gender balance of the final nominees before it came up– it didn’t cross my/our mind during the process. We looked at over 200 blogs (and the first pass was done by a team led by a woman on my team). In this post I mentioned that the nominees all agreed to participate in this event – by promoting it, providing a guest blog post, hosting a post and more. This wasn’t something several of our nominees wanted to do (which is of course, perfectly fine), therefore excluding them from the final list (And yes, there were women on that list).

Additionally, there were several more woman on our short list. Again, without gender as a criteria or consideration… the list is what it is.

And some additional thoughts…

Regardless of gender, I believe strongly that the 11 blogs nominated are both outstanding and contribute significantly and meaningfully to the global conversation about leadership. Are they they only ones for whom that can be said? Of course not! Anytime you pick a list of “the best” you are by definition leaving others out.

Could a much broader list be developed? Indeed it could, and has been in many other places on the web – these lists are also valuable and I recommend them being read.

Again, I appreciate your comment and your list. Those that I wasn’t aware of will be added to my reading list.

Esme’s response to Mr. Z

Thank you for being open-minded enough to post my comment and to reply.

Just a few additional thoughts based on your reply:

– you note that a woman on your team was involved in the first pass. Was she involved throughout the entire process?
– you are most certainly correct that men and women view leadership, and the world differently. Where the world can benefit is when both the attributes that men AND women bring to the table are valued equally. Your reaction to this situation was to justify the process. The female perspective would have been broader: hmmm, let’s see how we can do better next next. I think Jane Perdue wrote a post on this topic.
– your rather cavalier statement that the “list is what it is” brings to mind studies about how orchestra participants were selected that Gladwell references in Blink. Equal numbers of women and men were selected when the judges didn’t know the gender of the musicians trying out. However, when the judges did know the gender, more men were selected. Subtle bias at work.
– and one more thing: it’s not just women who are missing, your list looks pretty much like you — white men.

True leadership knows no gender nor ethnicity — and doesn’t hide behind process.

The canary is still watching!

Esme

My letter to Esme

Thanks Esme for speaking up. You are a courageous woman and your voice matters.

Many years ago U.S. beauty contestants and winners showed little diversity in skin color, facial features, hair texture, etc. Beauty was narrowly defined, but things changed. “Black is beautiful” became a cry of it’s time. Now we see greater variation, and more ethnic and racial diversity among beauty contestants and winners. These women were always beautiful. Our perspective, however, was not expansive enough to perceive them as such.

It is much the same with leadership. For decades it has been defined as a male endeavor, particularly in business. But that is changing, and there are a number of us who are driving a vision of leadership that integrates all aspects of human talent and potential.

In the 1980s James MacGregor Burns, a thought leader and one of the founders of transformational leadership wrote, “[there is] a false conception of leadership as mere command and control. As leadership comes properly to be seen as a process of leaders engaging and mobilizing human needs and aspirations of followers, women will be more readily recognized as leaders and men will change their own leadership styles.” (p.50)

As I understand it, the list of nominees come from Z’s readers. I trust he will correct this statement if it is wrong. Given that they read Z’s blog, they probably enjoy and agree with his perspective, and are likely to nominate people who write from a perspective similar to Z’s. This is not unlike the beauty contestant phenomenon.

Fear not. We have other options. Stay tuned.

Change Leaders

Finally commendation and special notice to those who raised their voices, their loving arms and their hands for change. And if you spread the word, you will be added to this list. Let’s go viral for diversity.

Laura Goodrich @LauraGoodrich

Gwyn Teatro @GywnT

Shayna Joson @SCJoson

Joe Gerstandt @JoeGerstandt

Dorothy Dalton @Dorothy Dalton

Fields Jackson Jr. @FleeJack @Race2Diversity

Jane Perdue @TheHRGoddess

Marion Chapsal @MarionChapsal

Tanya Odom @TMODOM

KelliSchmith @marketingveep

Jen Kuhn @JenKuhnPR

Kat Tansey @KatTansey