Why GoDaddy Is The Key To Solving Hollywood’s Weinstein Problem

Author: Bruce Weinstein / Source: Forbes

has done what many tech insiders thought was impossible: it has transformed its workplace culture from sexist to respectful and fair. This is a company that made its bones on degrading Super Bowl ads, but as Charles Duhigg of the New York Times reported in July, CEO Blake Irving had the wisdom to see that promoting gender equality is both the right thing to do and smart business move too.

Here are Irving’s leadership lessons and why Hollywood studios should follow suit.

Admit Your Own Bias

You’re biased, and so am I. Better to accept that fact and work toward minimizing or eliminating our biases than to delude ourselves by saying, “I’m not sexist.” That’s how GoDaddy began overhauling its corporate culture.

“The most important thing we did was normalize acknowledging that everyone has biases, whether they recognize them or not,” Debra Weissman, a senior vice president at the company, told the Times. “We had to make it O.K. for people to say, ‘I think I’m being unintentionally unfair.’”

An antidote to bias is getting a second opinion about your judgment. Don Feldmann, a Director of Rippe & Kingston Capital Advisors, Inc. of Cincinnati, told me that this helps him make good hiring decisions.

“If I’m bothered by something a job candidate as done, I pay attention to this feeling, but then I ask myself, ‘OK, what’s really going on here? Do I feel this way because of something that’s genuinely wrong with the candidate, or is it my bias?’ Sometimes your instincts are valid, and sometimes they’re not. It’s a hard call. We’re capable of fooling ourselves a lot.

The musical Avenue Q, written by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, includes a…

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