Looking at a cross section of factors in the world of work is a rich source of -isms that are always topics of concern. How much new thought can be generated about the stars of these shows? Racism, sexism, ageism, nationalism and a whole herd of others that are dragged out, warmed up, and then served as leftovers in policies, podcasts and blog posts are necessary to remember, but those discussions are seldom memorable. This week I cast a wider net and brought forth five overlooked -isms for discussion… OK, admittedly I invented at least one of them, but it is about time that this discussion got serious about problems in reality that sometimes doesn’t have an assigned word yet. My fauxcabulary is unmatched when I make it up as I write.
Consider these -isms and see if you don’t agree that they are worthy of attention. Comments are always welcome as always, and remember that if you can’t find the right word to say it is always appropriate to just make one up… or call me.
Image credit: rtimages / 123RF Stock Photo
May 6 - Defense Against Dismissivism - I have not done an exhaustive study on the subject, but it seems to be human nature to simply dismiss people that are not like us. The first lesson in my [almost] adult life was when I was working a summer job between my freshman and sophomore years in college. Looking back, I can see the wisdom in my father’s push to get me a job in a factory environment as a place to learn about human nature and also as an incentive to go back to school in the fall. – more –
Â
May 7 - Taming Rampant HRism – One thing I have learned from working in the HR arena is that Human Resources professionals are most definitely not a protected class. The HRism bias is alive and well. This is not another cynical rant that we don’t have a seat at the table or a lament that employees don’t understand what we do. This vital work is often a thankless job caught in the no-man’s-land between management thinking and employee’s thinking. – more –
Â
May 8 - Controlling Capricious Culturism – I enjoy brainstorming with my professional colleagues about the value of having a cohesive culture within a company that promotes the achievement of business goals. Most people assume that this is a good thing, but productivity at the expense of individual employee beliefs might in fact be a form of bias. Multiculturalism is defined to be a where there is an environment of diversity embracing more than one culture. As you may expect, culturism is the opposite. – more –
Â
May 9 - Egoism: Enemy of Employment - One truth that we live by is that we need to look out for Number One… if we don’t toot our own horn nobody else will do it for us. It seems that we have all suffered from the perception that our trust has been betrayed by those we expected to help us. In a knee jerk reaction we rely on egoism to guide our actions and we learn not to expect help from anybody. – more –
Â
Â
May 10 – Corralling, Conquering, and Cultivating Cynicism -Â When somebody accuses me of being cynical, it is difficult to keep that smirky smile from showing up on my face. I am one that takes pride in being somewhat on the edge of everything, so I wear that cynicism label like a badge of honor. Like all human actions, the correct use of a symbolically negative thing can add punctuation to an idea. Have you noticed that when ordinarily civil people use profanity it raises attention to the words that they are saying? – more –
Â