Hey MSU… Photos Speak Volumes
Your message is going the wrong way!
For the last two posts, we’ve been talking about MSU’s b-school’s premiere business program (generously sponsored by GM) being an all male review - and as a result painting women as nonequals in the business world.
(Thanks to those who have been sharing their comments.)
MSU’s B-school dean, Dean Duncan, and I emailed back and forth a few times.
He felt I did not understand MSU’s real view of women in business.
He wrote, “Our current Annual Report provides some useful insights to our public front. http://www.bus.msu.edu/alumni/publications/annualreport/2006-2007/documents/AnnualReport2006-2007.pdf”
Wanting to believe MSU Business College was more supportive of woman than the premier program history indicated, I checked out the annual report and did a visual analysis of the photos in it.
- Who reads all the copy cover-to-cover?
- Most people will flip through and check out photos first.
- Photos speak loud and clear messages.
Here’s what I found:
In group photos…
- Student groups totals: 27 young women and 16 young men.
- In the alumni committee photo, the ratio flipped dramatically: 1 woman and 13 men.
- Once the women graduated, they seemed to have less value.
In the various smaller photos through the report, the numbers are sadly the same…
- Women in 8 photos.
- Men in 21 photos.
In the feature -sized photos the ratios were even worse…
- Only one woman was featured.
- 8 men were featured.
Talk is cheap - pictures speak volumes.
- MSU B-school you’re breaking my heart.
- I’ve been a proud Spartan since my first tour of campus.
- Dean Duncan and GM are you reading these posts and comments?
I just can’t believe this lack of diversity is the image you want to proudly project.
Makes me think of chapter leaders…do the photos in your materials and website reflect the values of your chapter?
Filed under: Getting More Members Involved, Savvy Leadership
Those Pesky Facts
This has been an interesting dialog. Interesting, that is, right up to the point where it obviouslybecame personal for you Cynthia. As fellow alum and someone interested in promoting a true picture of diversity of MSU I am disappointed in the blatant bias of this post.
Anyone can rant on and on and on and on. It take a person of integrity to provide a fair and balanced accounting of the facts. By focusing only on the pictures (and by my count you have taken liberty with your accounting there too) you omit some key facts.
You fail , for example, to include that 50% of Office of the Dean is female. This team represents the leadership of the Bus School.
I suspect your picture book review also failed to show you some of the awards GM has received. For example the Corporate Champion of the Year Award – Michigan Women’s Business Council or being named to the 2007 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies.
I was with you Cynthia, right up to the point this turned personal for you.
I hope you do get involved with MSU. I think you can make a difference. Just remember, you will have a lot more credibility if this is about progress and not just a rant.
Makes me think of chapter leaders….how do you avoid letting your own personal agendas interfere with your responsibility to provide fair and balanced reporting to your constituents?
Hi Ellen!
Thanks for stopping by and filling in some of the details.
I didn’t dig into staffing composition or previous awards. I simply looked at the information MSU had sent me - and GM’s sponsorship was noted on it.
I don’t think most people who receive promotional flyers do much background research. They assume the message is consistent with the company’s overall values and brand.
Living in Metro Detroit, it’s hard not to know about some of the great awards GM has received - and thus my surprise at GM generously sponsoring the all-male premiere review. It didn’t make sense.
It seems like a commitment to diversity needs to be an all the time thing - not a some time thing.
Do I have a personal agenda? You bet.
My goals were to:
* Raise awareness of the power of first impressions.
* Encourage organizations to review their materials to make sure they match their stated values.
*To remind people that in 2007 an all-male premiere business event is not okay.
No matter all the good they’ve done or are doing, MSU continued a tradition of their male-dominated event - and GM chose to “generously sponsor” it.
Hopefully in the future, all parties involved and those just reading these posts will think twice about how they present themselves to the business community.
Cynthia
Meh, Ellen;
I don’t believe Cynthia was ranting, nor having a “personal agenda” if you will.
You wrote: “You fail , for example, to include that 50% of Office of the Dean is female. This team represents the leadership of the Bus School.”
Just a thought. Are they decision-makers (aside from the Dean himself), or mostly secretarial/administrative or serving in some other type of lower subordinate role?
So Ellen then, based on what you’re saying as a woman, it’s okay to have an entirely male program as the top event of the year for your school? If women as a whole make a dollar for every dollar men make in the same job role this wouldn’t be an issue.
Yes, the issue is fairness. In my job, I live in a man’s world and and as an American white man, enjoy unwritten privilege and default ease of living that no person of color nor woman takes entirely for granted, no matter where their station of life finds them if you will.
Part of what keeps the game going is sending the message. And if it is entirely pale and male–it states the old status quo, no matter what changes have happened behind the scenes.
Attacking the messenger won’t change this.