Nike Revolt: Why Nike's Apology Statement is PART of the problem

My open letter to Nike CEO, Mark Parker.

I recently heard about the 'revolution' at Nike and curious, looked up the article a couple of days ago published in the New York Times - 28 April 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/business/nike-women.html

The article tells of how a fed-up group of women 'sent six male executives packing', following a covert survey amongst past and present female employees. It corroborated their experience of Nike as an organisation rife with gender discrimination and sexual harassment. From overlooking women for promotions, to unsolicited sexual advances, to throwing keys at a female employee and calling her a “stupid bitch”. It was all there on a daily basis.

Whilst reading the article, my first shock was triggered by Nike’s spokesperson, KeJuan Wilkins who portrayed the problem as being confined to “an insular group of high-level managers” who “protected each other and looked the other way.” “That is not something we are going to tolerate,” said Wilkins.

Next, was your contention, Mr. Parker, that the vast majority of Nike’s employees work hard to inspire and serve athletes throughout the world and how it “pained” you to hear that there are “pockets” of Nike where “behaviours inconsistent with our values have prevented some employees from feeling respected and doing their best work”.

On the face of it, these statements may appear decisive and responsible, even empathetic. Ditch the spin-doctor script, however, and they are far from it. In fact, they are part of the problem. Let me tell you why:

1.      “…insular group of high level managers…”

Let’s start with this beacon of deflection. Even Management 101 learners know that if the Top is rotten, the rot will permeate the organisation and give license to - even actively encourage - others to follow suit. In fact, to fit in, it usually becomes a requirement to follow suit.

Being the guy in the room who tells your male colleague that it is not respectful to throw keys at anyone, let alone a female employee, whilst calling her a “stupid bitch”, will unquestionably earn you banishment from the boys’ club. Worse, you may be labelled a ‘pussy’ (just one more offensive highjacking of the female anatomy) or overlooked for promotion because you have 'low influence’ among your peers. So powerful is this fear of ostrasization that, despite feeling equally outraged in that moment, women who want to fit in will not say anything and sometimes even go as far as attacking the other woman to avoid being lumped in with the ‘girlies’.

2.      “…pockets of employees…”

Mr. Parker, if your top executives tolerate anything for longer than one week, it is going to become part of your culture. So no, these are not isolated pockets in your company. This IS your company!

3.      “…inconsistent with our values…”

And yet another missed opportunity for ownership here.

Value posters are my favourite. When I walk into an organisation where the walls are lined with words like ‘Innovation’, ‘Caring’, ‘People’ or ‘Respect’, all I see is BLAH BLAH BLAH! BLAH. Because when I observe how people actually listen to one another in many organisations; make space at meetings for a different opinion or cover their backsides by throwing colleagues under the bus instead of backing them – I know those value posters are basically decorative wallpaper.

My questions to you are…

What in the name of all common sense is someone like Trevor Edwards - identified as a perpetrator of gender discrimination - doing in line to succeed you as CEO?

Prior to these revelations that left you so “pained” did you honestly not notice the discrepancies in the rate of promotion of female vs. male employees? Did you forget to look around the room at your management and board meetings? Had you never heard stories about deplorable acts of harassment like the one where a sub-ordinate was shoved into a toilet for an unwanted kiss?

Or, did you like so many others say, ‘well, you know, there's just not a sufficient number of women to choose from to promote' or ‘it’s an isolated incident, a misunderstanding’ or ‘just a prissy woman with no sense of humour complaining over nothing’?

No, Mr. Parker, this behaviour is not “inconsistent with your values” – they are your values! You just haven't written them on the wall yet.

4.      “I’m pained …it’s prevented some employees [women] from feeling respected and doing their best work.”

This was the proverbial cherry on top. Until that point, I was snorting quietly to myself as I read the article. That was, until I saw the word “feeling”.

At this point, Mr. Parker, you failed miserably as a leader and a person. You failed to apologize with sincerity and you failed to commit to real change within your organisation. With that statement, you reinforced the belief of a healthy majority of men throughout the ages - that women are hysterical and emotional beings, their version is not to be trusted.

This is the point where you quietly killed the validity of these revelations for other men in the organisation and indeed, given your scope of influence, the business world at large. This is where you positioned it as 'a woman's problem'. Well it's not, Mr Parker. It's everyone's problem.

 It is a problem to the secretly gay VP who hears his colleagues joke about the other openly gay executive behind his back. It is a problem to Samantha whose promotion went to Sam because ‘she'll only make it uncomfortable for us to go to strip clubs with clients; we'll have to watch ourselves…you know how touchy women are nowadays’.

What you inferred is not only is it a women’s problem but it's also a women’s fault. It is their ‘perception’ of the situation - naturally, neither logical nor valid. It's ok, therefore, to carry on regardless as long as you don't get caught offending women’s feelings.

Minimising statements like this excuse for an apology are dangerous. They normalise behaviour for both men and women to a point where often both sexes have trouble identifying and stopping it. Leave this behaviour unchecked, and you have yet another ‘Uber CEO Travis’ situation.

And, if you thought that this isn’t about the bottom line - think again. Nike is struggling to get traction in women’s categories, the fastest-growing segment of the market. While Nike is the big dog now, we live in a world where if you're not ahead of the curve you're dying a slow death.

Ultimately, Mr. Parker, I invite you to own the fact that this is your problem because it was under your watch that it thrived. It's up to you now to fix it. Live your brand. Just Do It!