This is going to be a tough post to skate, but I’ll try to paint the edges with some nuance, insofar as I’m even capable of that.
First off: the word “woke” has been co-opted, as I think you probably know. It was a black movement word that became a flash-point for white people, especially further-right people, in the culture wars. Details here.
Now you have dudes like Rick Scott, Senator of Florida, going onto the Fox Business website and writing stuff like this:
You give the woke mob concession after concession, hoping to buy time to rake in more cash under your watch. You feed the rabble leftist mob that is shouting that America is racist, hoping they won’t come for you.
…Let me give you woke corporate leaders a heads-up: Everybody can see the game you are playing. Everybody can see your lies. You are the naked emperor.
You are, in fact, morally inferior to the working men and women of this great country, who are not racist people, and who, unlike you, care about truth.
As you can see herein, it’s become kind of a bogeyman word for middle-aged white “leaders,” i.e. “socialism,” and it’s far from the original definition. So, let’s start by understanding that.
Me and “woke”
Secondly: I’ve been criticized a bunch online (mostly LI and Twitter) for how I deal with the term “woke.” My issue is largely performative wokeness, like posting a black square and then your next 15 posts are selling tummy teas or whatever. That’s bullshit to me. Getting better at diversity and inclusion is a practice, not a one-off, especially if you cannot realize your own privilege (which many, myself often included, cannot).
My other issue around “woke” is chasing woke, which is akin to performative wokeness, but it means you post “woke”-sounding stuff in order to get on panels, get work, get speaking gigs, etc. You don’t believe in what you’re saying, but it’s the modern moment, so you catch that flight and hope it lands in a beautiful beach resort (i.e. a panel that will pay you big money). I spent a few years writing in the HR Tech space, and 77% of “thought leaders” in that space are woke-chasers — white people who love tech and love product road maps and love chai lattes and love standard white people shit, but post flowery nonsense about “amplification” and “standing with others.” They don’t usually mean it, but it’s a good way to get more for yourself and sell into CHROs.
Alright, so that’s a bit about “woke” in general + me and “woke.” What do I mean by “chase woke, go broke?”
What is the role of a corporation in social justice issues?
Here’s what I mean: if a corporation does become “woke,” but in the process of doing so it doesn’t make revenue, doesn’t make payroll, etc… what’s the point?
Corporations have power for two basic reasons within this discussion:
- They naturally bring together groups of different people (mostly).
- They provide salaries to these people so that they can spend money where they want (i.e. causes, black-owned businesses, etc.)
If the corporation ceases to exist because all the CEO wants to do is issue statements on “standing together,” then both those bullets go away. The different people you worked with? You won’t see them anymore. The salary you had? You don’t have it.
So the power of the corporation on the racial and social moment disappears when woke > financials, revenue, lights on.
That’s what people seem to miss. Corporations get shit on because they don’t do enough, or because it seems performative. But it’s not really their job or function in society. Around social justice issues, corporations focus on the bullet points above: bringing different people together and paying them. Bam, that’s it. I don’t need a corporation to do diversity trainings every day, because the sheer fact is, those trainings likely are awful.
What I need is the opportunity to make money, so that I can use that money how I see fit, and what I need is the chance to interact with people who aren’t like me — so I need the company to do effective, diverse hiring, which sometimes is a massive ask.
Bogeyman vs. reality
The bogeyman view of “woke” is that corporations are zombies beholden to liberal ideologies who are coming for all of us and trying to change the core tenets of a free, accountable society. People will be cancelled. That’s not reality, and the fact is, most people focus on their day-to-day life: kids, home, tasks, meetings, goals, sex, Netflix, etc. Most people don’t really have time to be captured in a woke tsunami. It’s fun to yell about on Facebook, but if and when it comes for you, you’ll probably be worried about getting your son to Little League, not whether Pepsi has a critical race theory program.
The reality of “woke,” in the organizational sense, is that it almost has to be secondary. We’ve had this whole narrative for 10 years now that “millennials want to buy from purposeful, socially-conscious brands.” That’s true at some level, and it’s why Jessica Alba got rich selling fancy-ass diapers to subdivision new moms. But again, a lot of people go shop at Wal-Mart for produce because it’s cheaper, even though we generally know Wal-Mart is not “woke” and “socially conscious.” We do things because they are logical to us and fit within our means and needs at the time, not because “woke” is the altar we all need to worship at. If you lead a silo at a company, it’s much more important to clearly monthly revenue than to be woke — because by clearing monthly revenue, you provide the necessary avenues for these discussions and actions to happen. If everyone is broke and trying desperately to be the one of 20,000 applicants to get a job at Tesla, no one has the resources to advance any of the societal discussions. And, in fact, having been broke several times in the past 10 years, being broke makes you utterly selfish and focused almost entirely on self.
So, as a corporate leader, focus on hitting your numbers. Keep paying me, and I’ll get woke and check my privilege with a brain free from material stressors.
Takes?
