This week Harvard Business Review writer Rosabeth Moss Kanter posted a piece titled “Top 10 Ways Obama Can Change American Culture” which left me shaking my head. Kanter was off to a great start:
“In the transition to the Obama administration, I have been interviewed by old and new media about President-Elect Obama’s stimulus package, which I applaud for its focus on job creation through short-term infrastructure upgrades combined with longer term investments in technologies of the future.
But I think that what Barack Obama could really change is American culture – and with it, the work ethic and business norms that can support recovery and competitiveness.”
And then the fun began…Start stretching because you’ll probably be shaking your head too once we’re done here.
10. It will be cool to make jump shots AND do well in school.
9. Middle-of-the-night studying will replace middle-of-the-night prowling.
10 and 9, ok. Number 8 gets a little iffy, but the pgh to follow cleans things up a bit.
“8. Kansas will go cosmopolitan and develop children like Obama’s mother, with curiosity about other countries.
Obama’s Midwestern mother, Stanley Dunham, studied other cultures and took her son abroad. Will more Americans now understand how much there is to learn from other cultures, and how important that knowledge is for success in global marketplaces?”
I don’t really have any issues until we get to number 4:
“Foreigners will be the hot new date, because if marriage follows, the offspring could be over-achievers.
We’ll never know whether Obama’s genius genes came from his white mother or his black African father. Three cheers for diversity! Maybe more managers will look beyond race, gender, and ethnicity to find major talent.”
Wait…what? Forget race, ethnicity, skin shade or whatever may have been the categorization method of choice, hopefully dating a foreigner will become the next hot trend!! Why? Because American + Hot new foreigner = Over-achiever!
That’s probably not what Kanter meant, but that is how it came across, and the lines that follow do little to help: “Three cheers for diversity!” Are you joking or being serious? Neither option seems appropriate.
Harvard, the funny part is that this ad appeared as I was reading the post. I can definitely say that I read this in HBR, but when I think of the top minds in business, this doesn’t come to mind.
The words in this post may make me sound mad, but I’m not. I’m surprised. Ms. Kanter is an incredibly intelligent woman. Her bio speaks to that, but her words leave me shaking my head.
Posted by jaywalk1 
Posted by jaywalk1 
Posted by jaywalk1 
