Are you cancelling yourself?

It was announced this week that TEDxLondonWomen has been rebranded as TEDxLondonWomxn. They said that the addition of the x was meant to shed ”light on the prejudice, discrimination, and institutional barriers women have faced and explicitly includes non-cisgender women”. Predictably, the Twitter response has been furious (and, in places, hilarious).  

Meanwhile WPP’s CEO is in hot water for ageism after saying, when being asked if he had the right balance of people with skills in TV and digital: 

“We have a very broad range of skills, and if you look at our people—the average age of someone who works at WPP is less than 30—they don’t hark back to the 1980s, luckily.” 

And a self-defined “liberal, well-meaning CEO” has been admonished internally for using the pronouns he and she because it excludes those with a different gender identity. 

Command + Z

These blow ups are creating growing frustration among many that “no one can say anything anymore”. 

In response, a group of three journalists has launched Uncancelled, a news site to counter cancel-culture and allow the expression of different views in one place. Talking about why it is needed, co-founder Miranda Levy explains that the site is designed to stimulate more debate and encourage independent voices at a time when debate seems to be being shut down.

But is it true? Are people being cancelled and constrained in new ways?

Many would argue not—those getting the flack generally have high profiles. What has really changed is that the nuance and subtlety of conversation has been lost in a techy world. Anything we say can be robustly challenged by strangers with no thought or care for our delicate feelings. 

When we work remotely

More important is how these dynamics play out, day-to-day. Teams are reporting escalating feelings of inhibition around potentially difficult, nuanced, and sensitive conversations. The kind of chats that used to be had in corridors, lifts, and loos are now either not happening at all or they occur online, without trust, connection or eye contact.  

Steve’s bad week that might have led to a chat about how things are at home, is now an unaired problem about missed deadlines. No one is raising it on the team Zoom while he is on there. 

Meanwhile, online chats are leading to serious misunderstandings and splits within teams. Jokes are being interpreted as bullying. People are feeling more and more sensitive to perceived exclusion or attack. 

So, the take-away this week is to share more openly with the people around us: to ask more, take the time to listen and check, assume good intent, working to create a culture of honesty and openness, even when we can’t chat in the loo.

- Christine x