Posted on 02/20/2022 5:04:49 AM PST by Kaslin
“Wokeness” has oozed into every facet of American society. From education to entertainment, Americans are regularly taught that equality of outcome trumps opportunity, whiteness is bad, and America itself is even worse.
Even the C-suite has gone “woke,” reading the left-wing tea leaves on social media to score cheap political points. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink—a longtime fossil-fuel investor and supporter of the Chinese Communist Party—is now determined to end climate change through “the decarbonizing of the global economy.” According to WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, his company’s black employees “wake up every day and have fear,” as “their children cringe with anxiety.” Meanwhile, Google executives are leveraging “darker skin tones” to sell Pixel phones—with a dose of body positivity.
When will enough be enough? Haven’t people learned that woke CEOs exploit wokeness for profit?
After then-Nike CEO Mark Parker signed off on the infamous Colin Kaepernick advertising campaign, the Left cheered his name. Little did liberals know that the Kaepernick ad, urging people to “believe in something,” would net Nike more than $6 billion.
I’m naturally an optimist, but increasingly cynical in today’s political climate. Even so, the recent evolution of the “woke CEO” is still jarring. I’ve been a CEO for over a decade, helping start or fund dozens of businesses small and large. The appeal of the C-suite has always been the no-nonsense approach to business—add value, or else.
The boardroom’s bottom-line mentality has been a hallmark of capitalism for decades. And it has created immense wealth for all parties involved—from C-suiters themselves to the general public. In any given year, S&P 500 gains create trillions of dollars in equity wealth for investors. Last year was no different, with the S&P 500 posting a nearly 27 percent gain.
Through wokeness, we’re “fixing” a system that isn’t even broken. A woke CEO—if that person is even truly woke—contradicts capitalism. The most successful business leaders know not to wade into hot-button political issues that inherently create division and marginalize entire consumer segments. To quote Tesla CEO Elon Musk, “Wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful.”
While Nike’s Kaepernick campaign appealed to liberal shoppers, how many untold consumers switched to Adidas or Reebok because of it? How many more grew frustrated with the politicization of everything?
If the scourge of wokeness continues sweeping through boardrooms, businesses will suffer. So will the stock market and the U.S. economy writ large. America’s job creators will lose out on human talent that is unfairly punished, such as former Levi’s Brand President Jennifer Sey. After daring to oppose COVID-related school shutdowns, Sey was hounded by the social media mob and eventually forced out by her colleagues at Levi’s. And Levi’s lost because of it: Open-mindedness sparks innovation in corporate America, whereas intolerance shuts it down.
As CEOs embrace wokeness, there will be more casualties like Sey. There will be a brain drain in corporate America. And, eventually, companies have to count people like me out of the C-suite. We may be forced to recruit a cadre of anti-woke CEOs, who will refocus the boardroom on what truly matters—business and the bottom line.
Wokeness may be in, but the anti-woke CEO will win in the long run. Most Americans don’t want business mixed with politics. The radical Left may believe in politicizing everything, but more than 60 percent of Americans believe it is inappropriate for companies to engage in political speech. While many CEOs enjoy wearing a woke hat, barely one-third of consumers agree that corporate executives should speak out on social issues.
Public opinion will prevail, and public opinion is anti-woke. The CEOs who realize it will be the most successful leaders in corporate America.
Wokeness is hollow...amplified by a vocal group on social media and young affirmative action hires at large corporations.
Most people cringe at it but are afraid to say anything.
Just avoid anything woke. But the choices are few right now
Can’t wait for Trump Media social media and streaming video and the developing parallel economy
Actually, wokeness, is on the way out.
That vibe got left in 2020
The woke need a long nap.
I agree, what we are seeing are the last vestiges of that insanity by the vested simpletons. It is rather pleasurable watching this stage of “wokeness” which includes the cancellation of the cancellers. 👍👍
Read later.
“The woke need a long nap.”
True. An eternally long dirt nap.
A woke minded workforce collapses on itself unless it’s a public sector employer which doesn’t really make or produce goods. In manufacturing work has to be done in an industrial process which places the importance of productivity over social recognition of the workers. Your recognition is the work you do at the speed, efficiency, quality, and safe manner in which you produce it within a process team that has only those goals. Your feelings about personal matters are irrelevant unless you’re on a lunch break, and even that is bad manners.
Wokeness will win until CEOs figure out that the “movement” that is threatening them is only 5 weirdos with hundreds of email addresses. That, and that it’s okay to not listen to their wives and their wives’ friends from the carpool line.
Without starting a massive side-flame war, I think many Trump supporters (but likely a minority, no pun intended) considered Floyd to hardly be a saint, and certainly hopped up...but that his death was caused by police incompetence. Cops deal with terrible people all the time but they don't usually kill the perp. Parenthetically, the same mindset that made Chauvin the cop he was, is on display in Ottawa.
I know many people in business - and I'm not talking about Bidet supporters - were put off by Chauvin's incompetence and Floyd's death. That episode DID spawn healthy discussions about race. BUT... those same people were absolutely repulsed by the riots and unbridled lawlessness. And, while they didn't get much airtime there WERE blacks who weren't all-in on calling that criminal activity "mostly peaceful protests."
Enter private enterprise. The business of America is business. But if customers and employees are interested in management's thoughts on what's happening in the nation (I mean, it wasn't an isolated incident), staying silent wasn't exactly an option. This is where was wokeism got a foothold, but I would submit to you, that it took hold chiefly where senior management was already down with the cause, man. Those firms got all the press coverage, because the MSM wanted you to think, this wokeism was sweeping the nation.
It wasn't. The remaining companies likely had some Zoom calls on the topic, a few "share your feeling" meetings, intranet articles about getting involved etc etc blah blah blah. Most employees I know, to a large extent, simply got back to work because a) it's an uncomfortable subject, b) Mama taught most of us to never talk about religion or politics, and c) the business at hand required action. To be sure, some people got hired to address "inequalities" and hiring practices were adjusted, but most of this didn't change the profit motive NOR people's basic good nature.
It is really helpful to separate wokeism from the Golden Rule. Because of the pandemic, we got to know a LOT about our colleagues concerns and fears and fearlessness. Some people were petrified and remain masked and vaxxed up. Others are done with all this. But there IS an understanding that if Mary in accounting is masked up because she's nervous or has an elderly parent at home, we aren't going to treat her differently. Further, we don't see every black employee as a quota filler, because we probably got to know them a little better and - surprise - they're very good at what they do. AT THE SAME TIME, saying that informing your boss when you're going to be taking vacation is institutional racism, is now treated as utter stupidity UNLESS YOUR EMPLOYER IS NUTS (in which case, call a headhunter asap).
Dead branches eventually fall and become dust. The same is true of companies rotting from the inside out. Give it time.
Wokeness is hollow.
Whether it's sticking a "hate has no home here" yard sign on your front lawn or attending a sparsely attended corporate zoom meeting on Black History month, wokeness is nothing but empty, hollow virtue-signaling.
As an aside, I challenge anybody to ring the doorbell of a home sporting one of those "hate has no home here" signs and tell them you are a volunteer for the 2024 Trump campaign.
You will quickly find out not only that hate actually DOES live there but that hate is being nurtured and grown in that particular household. So good luck with that experiment!
Now I work for a large international corporation at the VP level. It's a solid company that has delivered quality product at decent prices (and decent margin) for nearly a full century.
Yes, our company does all the "woke" Zoom meetings on diversity, woman empowerment, black history month, yadda, yadda. There literally might be seven employees attending these (with a workforce over 100,000 in North America alone). The rest of us don't bother as we are too busy filling orders, servicing the customer base and dealing with the numerous logistical and planning challenges any company of our size must contend with 24/7.
Those seminars are a sop and nothing else. Nobody truly productive would be caught dead attending any one of them. But we put them out there to avoid any social media type attacks on us.
You are 100% correct that we don't come to work to discuss politics. The Left might high five each other that they have all this "wokeness" in the workplace but like janetjanet998 alludes to earlier, it's just a bunch of empty virtue signaling. Our real focus is staying profitable so we can stay in business. The silly webinars we put out there are like those volleyball games we used to have at the company conventions between the different regions. At the end of the tournament, we went out for drinks, finished the convention, went home and got back to business. I don't even remember what region won the last volleyball tournament (it wasn't mine).
EST
In 1971, the Erhard Seminars Training--better known as EST--exploded out of San Francisco to become a worldwide phenomenon. The program promised personal empowerment, but reports claimed that moderators castigated and berated participants for their beliefs. After knocking them down, the moderators raised their spirits through guided meditations and repetitive readings. At the end of the two- or three-day seminar, participants either "got it" and experienced a transcendent life change or walked away dazed and confused.
The Red Chinese and NK interrogators of the Korean War would be proud - great use of ‘brain washing techniques’! What’s even better the victims paid for the honor of having their brain washed, cleaned dried & pressed!
I once met an EST trainee at a party, and it was right I saw the movie “SemiTough”. I could barely maintain my social decorum.
Typo
“..and it was right I saw the movie “SemiTough”. I could barely maintain my social decorum. :...”
Should read
“...and it was right AFTER I saw the movie “SemiTough”. I could barely maintain my social decorum. ...”
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Title VII protection covers the full spectrum of employment decisions, including recruitment, selections, terminations, and other decisions concerning terms and conditions of employment.
And yet DEI and CRT is directly at odds with this. Until woke corporations are sued, nothing will happen.
I don't often go in search of a fight, but the last time I answered my door for a stranger, it was a young GenZer with a clipboard. She was full of vigor and was down with the cause/some leftish nonsense in NJ that I've forgotten. She asked if I'd sign her petition, and I politely refused (I don't give my name, rank, and serial number to strangers). All was pleasesnt.
Then she started talking about fracking like it was demonic activity. I'd pretty much had it with the virtue-signaling, so I replied "Oh, I LOVE fracking. It's wonderful." He smile and demeanor turned sour. "...what?" I responded "Sure! We can establish energy independence and we never have to send our kids overseas to die and shed blood for big oil."
She now looked like a succubus, put her clipboard and pen away, and walked away struggling to mutter "thank you." I yelled "have a GREAT day!"
Mrs DoodleBob was worried that our home would get firebombed at some point in the next week, so I don't answer the door for strangers anymore. PS we were never vandalized nor even egged on Mischief Night...I got off easy.
As an aside, in Mad Magazine in the 70s there was a great cartoon of a smiling woman carrying a picket sign with words stack atop each other
MAKE
LOVE
NOT
WAR
In the next panel, a guy walks up to the woman and says "Great idea, baby...let's make love!" The next panel shows the woman bashing the guy on his head with her sign. The final panel shows the guy on the ground, and the woman now furious holding her sign with the middle section ripped out, displaying only
MAKE
WAR
That simple cartoon in a mildly subversive magazine from yesteryear sums it up pretty nicely.
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