#MeToo in the Corporate World: Power, Privilege, and the Path Forward

Economist and award-winning author Sylvia Ann Hewlett blends vivid stories with powerful new data in assessing the impact of the #MeToo movement in corporate America and provides concrete action to help executives and companies create more inclusive and safe work environments for women, people of color, and LGBTQ employees.

While the #MeToo movement has exposed the enormous harm done by sexual misconduct in the workplace, the movement’s full promise has not been fulfilled, Sylvia Ann Hewlett argues. Showcasing new data on the incidence of sexual harassment and assault at work, she reveals how the movement has focused almost exclusively on white women and failed to support other vulnerable groups who are also targets of abuse. Black men, gay men and women, and Latinas experience particularly high rates of sexual harassment and assault.

In addition to exploring the movement’s limitations, Hewlett examines the collateral damage inflicted by #MeToo. She looks at the significant business risk and hits to the bottom line (lawsuits and settlements, tarnished brands, and stock devaluations) and hits to the talent pipeline. In particular she shows how male leaders, fearful of gossip and legal action, are increasingly skittish about sponsoring young women, no matter how high performing they are. This makes it much more likely that women will stall out mid-career and will deprive companies of diversity in the C-Suite and “gender smarts” around decision-making tables. Digging deep into examples that range from Fox News, Nike, and Google to CBS, Michigan State University, and the Catholic Church, Hewlett lays bare the financial losses associated with sexual misconduct scandals. No wonder corporate chief risk officers newly have #MeToo in their line of sight!

A third of this book is devoted to solutions and Hewlett offers a three-pronged strategy, combining legal remedies with individual and corporate action steps that can be used to protect employees and businesses they work for. Drawing from companies as different as IBM and IPG she discusses “experiments at the edge” as well as more evolved initiatives that can help any corporation build a roadmap toward inclusive leadership and a safer environment.

Hewlett’s research provides a crucial roadmap for leaders navigating this new landscape, detailing:

• Data-Driven Insights: Go beyond the headlines with groundbreaking new data that reveals the true scope of workplace harassment, including its surprising prevalence among men, people of color, and LGBTQ employees.
• Collateral Damage Assessment: Understand the hidden costs of a toxic workplace culture, from the financial fallout at major corporations to the chilling effect on male sponsorship that stalls women’s careers.
• Beyond the Standard Narrative: A nuanced exploration that moves beyond the typical story, examining complex power dynamics where women can be predators and men can be prey.
• Actionable Company Playbook: A concrete, three-pronged strategy combining legal, individual, and corporate action steps to help executives protect their employees and build a safer, more inclusive culture.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett is the founding president of the Center for Talent Innovation, a Manhattan-based think tank where she chairs a task force of eighty-two multinational companies focused on fully realizing the new streams of labor in the global marketplace. Her book Forget a Mentor: Find a Sponsor was named one of the ten best business books of 2013 and won the Axiom Book Award.