The New Economic Reality: Smoke and Mirrors as a Substitute for Substance

We are losing sight of the difference between presentation and reality, what we say we do and what we actually do. The ascendance of the Trumps has given rise to a society where branding trumps substance. There’s no better example than Ivanka Trump, who is touted as a savvy, Wharton-educated businesswoman, but who is in reality an heiress employed by her billionaire father. Her icy beauty is part of her brand dedicated to having it all—a loving family, a flourishing career and magazine-cover good looks. The truth is that she, like her father, are living off the proceeds of an inheritance while contributing precious little of lasting value to the greater world.

This sort of style over substance is everywhere in our culture right now.  As Carina Chocano discusses in the New York Times Magazine’s First Words column, “We are now expected to favor the story over reality, to accept that saying a thing makes it so.” For example, the Wells Fargo debacle had its roots in projecting a new image in banking that placed “storytelling” over promotion. This “story” resulted in employees being pressured to create millions of fake customer accounts in order to collect additional fees. No wonder this era is being described as a kleptocracy. This is far beyond false advertising—we are in a scam economy where advertising is used to cover up abusing customers and employees.

There is grave danger in letting this go unremarked. The scam economy is generating a groundswell of discontent and anger and an appetite for dystopian fiction that mirrors our own despair. People do not trust the establishment, the elite, or the capitalist system that props up this undeserved privilege. It’s time for business to take a stand and for companies to do an independent audit to reconcile that what they pontificate, promote and advertise conforms to reality. It’s fine to build your dreams in the clouds but no nation will last long built of smoke and mirrors.

Andrew Faas is the author of From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire

When the Fear Factor Outweighs the O’Reilly Factor

When the leader of the free world endorses someone who is a serial sexual harasser it is tantamount to giving sexual predators not just permission, but encouragement, to misbehave. Yesterday Donald Trump told the New York Times about allegations against Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, “Personally I think he shouldn’t have settled...I don’t think Bill did anything wrong. I think he’s a person I know well. He is a good person.” 

In my book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire, I discuss how absolutely critical it is to alter the attitudes of organizational leaders in order to create psychologically healthy, safe, fair and inclusive workplaces. But for this to happen, and the bullying and abuse to end, the entire organization requires a major shift in attitude. Trump, with his endorsement of O’Reilly, has destroyed any shift that has taken place in recent years.

I don’t buy O’Reilly’s claim that the lack of complaints to human resources over the last 20 years means that allegations are baseless. With Roger Ailes as boss, what would be the point to put in a complaint? The fear factor outweighed the O’Reilly Factor when it came to seeking justice.

Clearly, sexual predators like O’Reilly, Trump, Ailes and Bill Cosby are from a generation that sees women as objects.  The New York Times pointed out that O’Reilly’s “hectoring braggadocio and no-apologies nostalgia for a bygone American era mirror Mr. Trump’s own.”

They have become the worst kind of role models—symbols not just of privilege, but of disrespect and even harm for women. It’s particularly surprising for someone of this ilk dotes on his own daughter, Ivanka. And yet Trump’s track record speaks volumes about his disregard for women. From his disparagement of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, to his multiple settlements against sexual harassment claims, to his well known fraternization with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Trump is no different than Ailes and O’Reilly.

I believe that Trump’s endorsement of O’Reilly might be one comment too many when it comes to reelection and may even make Russiagate pale in comparison. When you examine his comments to Billy Bush, his support of Roger Ailes and his recent comments about O’Reilly, I predict he has painted himself into a corner as a sexual predator that will end his political career.

Photo credit: The Daily Beast/Reuters

Donald Trump Knows Nothing About Sexual Harassment

At the risk of sounding exhaustive, Donald Trump’s statements on sexual harassment are clearly inane – he’s talking about a subject that he obviously knows nothing about. His suggestion that a woman should change her career (regardless of her actual ability to do so) in the face of harassment shows a fundamental lack of empathy and serious regard for an issue that should concern both women and men everywhere. In fact, protections should be in place that prevent a target of sexual harassment from having to switch jobs or careers at all – that’s the whole point. Additionally, Eric Trump’s later attempt to save face by implying that “strong women” don’t allow themselves to be harassed is thinly veiled victim-blaming – plus, his suggestion to go to Human Resources doesn’t take into account that, in many cases, HR can be part of the problem. Targets of sexual harassment in the workplace need to gather documented evidence of the issue so that they have substantive protections when filing a claim, with HR or legally. By continuing to stand with Roger Ailes, Donald Trump is showing how little regard he has for sexual harassment as a problem in and of itself – and how little regard he must have for working people everywhere. Maybe Ivanka is staying “mum” on this subject because she knows her family is wrong on this one, despite being at the center of this debacle. You can read more on this at The New York Times. 

Image: Donald Trump and his children in 2014. Image Credit: Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto Agency via NYT