Coach’s Corner: The Next Shoe(s) to Drop

J.D. “Jim” Fox, Head Coach, Next Act CoachingAlong with being a coach, my resume includes stints as a reporter/producer at three network affiliates, so I have to admit that the high-profile TV departures — O’Reilly, Ailes, Rose, Lauer, Keillor — didn’t come as a total shock.I also worked on Capitol Hill as a press secretary, so I’ve had pretty much the same reaction to Franken, Conyers, Barton, and — let’s not forget  — Trump (Wikipedia counts “at least 15” different women alleging sexual misconduct, not to mention Trump himself bragging about one of them on tape to Billy Bush).Now, I’m waiting for more shoes to drop — in C-suites, I’m guessing — and then the pushback.Most leadership theorists agree that workplace culture starts at the top, and I’ve seen board and department chairs, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, VPs, partners, deans and professors treated with at least as much deference as TV anchors and elected officials.   As journalists are taught, power corrupts — especially when you live and work in a bubble, surrounded by “yes.”And the pushback?  Not so much yet in the public sphere, but I’ll bet you’ve heard it in private just as much as I have:  “boys will be boys.”If I had a crystal ball, I would use it, but who knows where this goes now.   The ground is shifting under the feet of once-protected predators.  I don’t worry about them — they’ve had lots of time to save for this rainy day and the soaking to come.I empathize most with those being victimized not at the top, but at the support level.  I’ve seen plenty of that too, haven’t you?Put another way, when will the low-profile workers now just enduring it — on the evening cleaning crews, delivering the food, keeping the lights on behind the scenes — get their justice, or even a moment in the sun?