I AM TIRED OF WOMEN FIRST'S ANYTHING- WE SHOULD ALL BE TIRED OF IT TOO!

Very often, on LinkedIn and in the media, there are celebrations of women first's and thousands of likes, comments and articles of "joy" following such announcements. Hopefully, on LinkedIn and Facebook, those are real "likes" not bots. Hmmm....but, I digress. Well, these women and minority first's have been celebrated since Abraham Lincoln was president, okay, maybe not that long ago, but it often amounts to absolutely nothing. Sometimes, it results in worse treatment of those minority groups. Ask Yahoo workers under Marissa Mayer.

When Marissa Mayer and Indra Nooyi were appointed to head Yahoo and GE respectively, people rejoiced as if it was a big deal. It was not. In both instances, I cautioned that rejoicing was premature, unless these women used their first's to create policies which created a workplace that was neutral enough to engender the growth and sustained career progress of women. Sadly, I was right. The lot of qualified, experienced and forward leaning women worsened under both women, especially at Yahoo.

Research both women, and the outcomes of the work of Nooyi and Mayer on women and minority issues in detail. They barely did anything for women to advance in a workplace that evolved organically--- from the beginning---as it was created and dominated by men. Note: Men did not deliberately create a "jigsaw puzzle" or "Glass Ceilings" in the workplace for women. It worked out that way. People discuss it so so much that we sometimes forget that these problems that prevent women from being hired, and rising to the highest levels at work, usually happen when man made entities are not reshaped as they grow, but allowed to evolve organically in a limited space.

Men and women are equal but not the same. Please if you want to debate this issue, don't DM me, kindly research it instead, Thank you :) . The last time I made this comment, my Inbox was filled with information from irate folks who said men and women are the same at work and everywhere. They are not! The problem is not the differences between the sexes but lack of neutral policies at work.

There is no neutrality in a workplace, if women do not receive equitable opportunities for career progression as their male counterparts do. And wait for it, here is the ugliest worst kept secret in corporate America. Women hold women back, almost as much as other biased folk, and the often referenced "Good old boys club" holding up the glass ceiling.

I often share with minority groups that much earlier in my career, and even to date, too many minorities see other minorities as a threat to their lone minority status. One woman, I will refer to as "Ms. Nowe" once explained to me, during a minority lawyers meeting why she did not hire me for an Employee Relations SVP role role for which I applied a few years prior.

She said although I was the most qualified candidate interviewed, because she and her manager were women of color, she stated that including another woman of color would have created "terror" in the mind of the manager, EVP and some other imaginary person. Folks whose opinions she never sought in making the final decision. I think her assessment was very flawed. She wanted to be a lone executive in ER and she was, at least for some time, until she was terminated.

She was terminated many years later for not being a team player, and came to our organization for assistance, alleging consistent gender and color based discrimination. The complexity of resolving her matter was incredibly unique, as she had discriminated against scores of minorities too, despite being a woman and a minority herself. Fortunately, we resolved the matter. We are after all experts in resolving complex and high level matters.

Anyway, women in the workplace most times act similarly to "Ms. Nowe"... Senior level minority executives and managers, often keep out other minorities so they can retain their lone ranger roles. It hardly ever works out for the lone rangers, and we have years and years of data, metadata and evidence based situations to prove it. But, it seems the lone ranger crew never learn that hiring more qualified women and minorities, makes the task of creating/executing NEUTRAL policies, which elevate women at work, much more effective. [By the way, a policy is NOT neutral when it creates vastly different treatment of any group].

There are quotes on LinkedIn, and innumerable talks and clips on social media about lending a hand to others, helping folks, and giving opportunities etc. From my vantage position of working for many many years with employers and employees (even though we are an employee facing company, as executives, senior and mid level EMPLOYEES are primarily our clients), I estimate that women and other minority groups, rarely give folks like them, no matter how qualified, a hands up, an open door, or an unlocked window into the executive level jobs, or executive level contracts.

So, before rejoicing at any other first woman this, or first woman minority that... pause a little, and maybe wait and see? Remember that many of these first's are often the last's too. They do not open doors or create neutral opportunities to elevate others like them, who are as qualified (or more qualified), and as experienced as they are, to be elevated to similar positions. There are known solutions to this issue of First's and Last's. I hope more managers and executives of both genders, seek them out, learn and implement them.

This article is dedicated to Florence Cohen Petersen. The best mentor I ever had in my career. Thank you for opening every door, and every window you could for me. You made what I do today possible. I remain dedicated to creating a world of logic, fairness and kindness to all too.