New Jersey Governor Chris Christie closed all the state beaches due to a budget impasse, then he and his family enjoyed a private beach vacation. Private, because everyone else couldn’t come because he closed the beaches.
Silicon Valley is in the midst of huge sexual harassment scandals–from Travis Kalanick’s departure as Uber CEO to Binary Capital co-founder Justin Caldbeck’s repeated sexual harassment accusations.
While it seems far-fetched to say that sexual harassment is anywhere close to a private beach party, it’s really the same thing: an abuse of power.
To keep reading, click here: What Uber’s Kalanick and Chris Christie Have in Common.
I agree with most of what you are saying. However, the sad reality is that it takes a lot of exposure — normally — before such abuses of power, especially by powerful leaders, are addressed by organizations. In the meantime, the victims who first complain can find themselves targeted for harassment, leading to eventual termination. That’s why we have — and need — whistleblower protections. It takes a lot of courage to actually blow that whistle.
I think your advice to report misconduct is idealistic and on par your statement that people with power shouldn’t abuse it. Research indicates more than half of people (60%) who report misconduct end up denigrated and bullied. PLEASE give some realistic advice so some naive person won’t suffer from having taken action after reading this piece. My advice after having spoken up is don’t speak up, and massively lower your expectations about your workplace and HR.
Sorry, this was not meant as a reply to grannybunny, whom I agree with, but as a reply to the EHRL.
Like the other commenter stated It takes a lot of courage to bring up an harassment charge because usually what happens is the female gets the short end of the stick ( choice of a transfer or payout) while the guy gets a minor slap on wrist and gets to keep job. The only way a guy gets really penalized is when a group of females report together on the same individuals. Sorry but I find HR tries to sweep this kind of problem under the rug a lot especially in a top heavy male management team.
As far as Christie in New Jersey, admittedly he’s a bit rough in his approach but you also have to know the political atmosphere in that state ( I have a sister who lives there), and there’s a lot of corruption. He told the state assemblymen and senators to reach an agreement in budget which included the re- organization of the Horizon Heathcare insurance and they responded by shutting down the government knowing that it would cause shutdown of all state run facilities. So who’s the problem. All he did over the weekend was sit on the stretch of beach in front of one of the governor’s houses.
Maria Rose – I disagree that New Jersey’s current political atmosphere plays a part in the decision of the state’s leader to effectively spit in the eyes of the citizens of NJ. A leader leads and when followers are in pain, a leader does not proclaim he is better than they are because of the position they elected him to. Rather, a leader finds a way to demonstrate to followers that he or she is in it with them and not above sharing their hardship. Look to how the royals behaved during WWII and you will see an example of what I’m saying. This episode is distasteful because NJ gov did not display appropriate leadership. IMO, it is a severe lack of ethics and integrity on his part. I agree with EHRL: “politicians (leaders) shouldn’t get privileges that the people (followers) don’t get.”
Judith, I agree.
While it is true that Christie isn’t the one who caused the NJ gov’t shutdown – he shows very “poor judgment” for going to the state-owned beach when others could not. By state owned I mean that is one of the official governor’s houses (seriously, why do we have more than one house for the NJ governor?) and the beach comes with it – all paid for by NJ taxpayers! So, it is “private” in the sense that it is not opened to the public; but, it is state-owned in that it isn’t private money, it is tax money, that pays for it.
But, as Suzanne says – his political career is over anyway so he had nothing to lose. And, it is just another way of thumbing his nose at the folks who didn’t vote for him as president.
This makes me sure glad that I did NOT vote for him for US President – although I did vote for him as NJ governor. And, on the brighter side – unlike other NJ governors he isn’t going to jail (not yet, anyway).
First, I believe the stunt Christy pulled was on purpose- to push for a resolution – but it was bad optics which made him look entitled, but he obviously doesn’t care what people think of him.
Second, he’s a hypocrite by saying he was allowed to use the beach because he has a house there, when in fact other residents who have houses there were ordered to leave or be arrested. Not cool.
I’ve written about since 2014 both Christie and Kalanick who operating under The Sociopathic Business Model and also predicted the removal of Kalanick due to venture capital funded startup fraud. He wasn’t removed because of sexual harassment claims, there’s a criminal DOJ investigation into the company. There’s predictability in patterns that once seen cannot be unseen. As employees, consumers, patients and taxpayers it’s time to start holding those who pathologically operate from an unethical and or illegal standpoint accountable by removing them from the system.