In-House Counsel

The Road Not Taken: Hacked Silence

We are all responsible for the culture in our work environments. Don't let your work culture be like that of Sony.

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I have enjoyed myself thoroughly this week reading the leaked emails of Sony executives, especially the emails where the executives think they are hilarious by sharing their bigotry and pettiness with each other like a perverse secret password.  I have smugly congratulated myself as new stories broke for my ability to maintain a minimal level of human decency in my professional communications. This story has provided a glorious amount of schadenfreude that allows me to feel superior to people I don’t know, but who make a lot more money than I do.

Once my high of silent judgment on the Sony executives quieted, I thought a little more honestly about these events. I am certain I will never send a racist email thinking it is funny, I have received those emails. What have I, with my self-declared-superior morality, done with those emails?

Nothing.

I wish that sentence read, “I told the person who sent the email that the content was inappropriate and not conducive to supporting a diverse workforce,” but I didn’t do that. I deleted the email and never said anything. I didn’t want to have that confrontation. I didn’t know how to have that confrontation. I tell myself that silence is leagues better than engagement. I didn’t encourage the behavior, but I didn’t stop it. How smug can I feel about the embarrassment of the Sony executives if, when I had the opportunity, I didn’t call attention to the inappropriate behavior of my colleague?

The Sony hack story isn’t just about insensitive, self-absorbed people with an undeserved sense of entitlement sending inappropriate emails to each other; the story is about a company with a culture where such comments were interpreted exactly as they were offered: as jokes. The people engaged in the exchange saw nothing wrong with what they were doing. They encouraged each other in the bad behavior.

Much of the media coverage and lessons from the Sony hack story are about the security breach itself. The security breach is significant and scary, but Sony is an enormous company. Sony surely has diversity programs and diversity officers. Even with diversity programs in place, the corporate leadership obviously did not believe in the messages of inclusion Sony projected as its corporate image. Or, at least, those lessons did not apply to the Sony leadership.

This isn’t a column with advice, more of an admission of ignorance and fear. We are all responsible for the culture in our work environments. As lawyers, our work environments are stressful, probably just like the work environment for the Sony executives involved in this story. Jokes are a way to release tension, build a feeling of camaraderie and cohesion; and making fun of a third party “other” creates a bond between the parties attacking the outsider. It can be easier to stay silent and keep a foot in with the good graces of colleagues and a foot in with the ambiguous self-rationalization of “I didn’t participate” than to choose confrontation and risk ostracization.

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If we are leaders in an organization, we should provide the example of how we expect our colleagues to behave. We aren’t always all leaders though. Sometimes we are grunts, and lawyers can be disposable grunts. Who is really going to risk his or her job and tenuous status in an organization to do the right thing; especially if the offensive comments aren’t actually directed at you specifically? I was afraid of being “that person” and embarrassing a colleague who rightfully deserved to be embarrassed, but who also had the power to negatively impact my career if he chose to do so.

Since that email, I’ve worked for other organizations that have taken a strong and positive position on diversity and open work environments. I’ve seen management put a stop to the joking camaraderie that disparages and alienates others. I’ve seen leadership change the culture of organizations.  In the more recent years, I’ve seen how others have led in similar situations and stood up for appropriate behavior, embraced diversity, and learned from their tact and grace. That said, I haven’t had the opportunity to see how my own fortitude has changed since receiving that email years ago.  But even if I received a similarly offensive email today, I’m in a different organization with a different culture and different resources than I was when I received my offensive email years ago. I’ve been influenced by strong leadership and I know I’d be able to respond differently without repercussions. I didn’t have that leadership or confidence in the prior organization.

I believe that the Sony executives could have stopped each other from their poor behavior without repercussions. I believe their ease in engaging in racist humor indicates their sense of entitlement that their own corporate rules of decorum did not apply to them. I’m not asking anyone to do anything I was too afraid to do and potentially put their careers at risk to change the institutional culture of a company. Those of us who are in a position of career security, who can make a difference, can’t change the executive culture of Sony, but we can nurture the culture of our own organizations. We can provide examples of appropriate behavior, and put a stop to the innuendo that leads to overt inappropriateness.

I didn’t do anything all those years ago, but I can do something now. I hope the opportunity never comes to me again.

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Celeste Harrison Forst has practiced in small and mid-sized firms and is now in-house at a large manufacturing and technology company where she receives daily hugs from her colleagues. You can reach Celeste directly at C.harrisonforst@gmail.com.

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