A recent article in the Chicago Tribune has been on my mind a lot. The article, titled “Shut off from the boss—unless there’s a chaperone” was written by Catherine Rampell and is about a young woman on staff for a legislator in Washington, D.C. The young woman complained that she felt discriminated because of unwritten rules about her access to the congressman for whom she worked. She could not ride in a car alone with her boss. She was not allowed to attend events without another male staffer present, and no closed door meetings.
In her article, Rampell asks a good question: “Can men and women ever just be colleagues?”
I believe they most certainly can and the majority of people work well together, but they don’t make the news.
Rampell’s article reminded me of a conversation I had recently over a cold brew with my older brother and Bob*, a retired fire chief. After a pause in the conversation, the chief looked at his watch and remarked he could probably go home because the cleaning lady should be gone. (*Names have been changed to protect his identity.)
“Do you get in her way?” I teased Bob as he paid his tab.
“No. She’s in her mid-forties and sort of attractive,” Bob replied, and added that he did not like to be alone in the house with her while she was cleaning. “I don’t want to be in a position that she could say that I said or did something to her.”
Bob explained that many years ago when he was a new chief, he attended a leadership conference for fire chiefs. A long-time fire chief from Louisiana gave a presentation on leadership and stated there were three “B’s” that got fire chiefs in trouble: “Booze, broads and bribes,” said the old chief.
As Bob got ready to leave the bar, he added, “I don’t put myself in any situation where a woman could say I said or did something to her and I would have to defend myself.”
Today the three “B’s” would be politically incorrect and best described as alcohol, sex and money. As Bob repeated the three “B’s” I began to think of the local—and national--fire chiefs that had lost their jobs over alcohol, sexual allegations or financial mishandling. I mentioned that today’s technology would probably add the Internet to the list of career-enders.
Bob agreed and said, “Even our interim police chief posted a photo, nude from the waist-down, on his Facebook page! What was he thinking?”
It’s not just public safety, the same risks with alcohol, sex or money also occur in corporate, political and educational organizations. The scenarios have expanded to include accusations from same gender colleagues too. It boils down to people working together, finding a common ground and developing friendships.
I don’t know if these negative stories are on the rise or if news media and the Internet find the stories more popular. As quick as we are to hear of accusations and arrests, we don’t always hear the outcome, especially if the accused is vindicated.
The bottom line?
As first responders, situational awareness requires you do continuously assess your surroundings. Why not practice that same concept of situational awareness at all times?
