May 01

Change Requires Conversation

A few weeks ago syndicated radio host Don Imus was fired for making degrading remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. By almost any standard other than his own maybe, his remarks were regarded as racist. So, after a short brouhaha played out in the media, Imus was fired. MSNBC dropped his program from television and CBS fired him from their network. Not long after I asked readers in this blog why they thought he was fired.

At the time this was national news. Why? I thought at the time that something shifted in the nation’s consciousness–that flagrantly racist ideas spouted by media figures are not acceptable. I wonder if anything has changed though.

Critics of both CBS and MSNBC said others with a public pulpit had long been denigrating blacks, with more or less finesse than Imus used. Why, they asked, was it okay for comedians and rappers to make overtly racist remarks and not for Imus?

The president of CBS said that “there has been much discussion about the effects language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. It is important we stand with the women of Rutgers who [were] deeply hurt by the highly insensitive comments of Don Imus.” On television he said he did not think racist commentary was the kind of conversation his organization should be having with radio listeners.

That idea struck me. In that sentence is the sentiment (and professional judgment) that there is a conversation we ought to be having.For a short while after Imus was fired we were talking about race and degradation and what we should reasonably expect from a radio shock-jock.

And then a horrifying event happened at Virginia Tech and Imus was off the national conversation stage.If it weren’t Virginia Tech, almost surely it would have been another more immediate story. And that is a shame, because change requires conversation. The bigger the issue the more conversation it takes. But, when we move on to the next story or issue or pressing “to-do” item on our list, horrible or happy as it is, we shortcut the process of engaging in deep-enough conversation - the kind that can help change us for the better, permanently. We run the risk of staying at the level of the headline and not diving into the deeper questions that confront us.

Keep that in mind. If you find that you fly from one hot, pressing, this-instant issue to another, you are very likely not diving deep enough into the core issues that are really important. I wonder if, as a nation of news consumers - and neighbors to one another - we have done just that.

David Facer helps executives achieve a positive change in behavior for themselves, their people and their organizations. He works with both first-time managers and seasoned executives.

Change management