Indiana Lessons

From every event in life. . .from every sideshow, there are lessons to be learned.    Which is why we are talking about the debacle that was/is Indiana's RFRA law.

1.   Be realistic to the world that surrounds you.   When Indiana lawmakers were thinking of passing the RFRA, I would hope that someone had the awareness to say, "You know, if we pass this thing the wrath of major corporations and nearly every blue state will come upon us. . .not to mention a sizable portion of the state of Indiana itself."   And yet, they did it anyway.  Or, worse yet, the Indiana General Assembly was so into itself that perhaps it thought it was being a shining beacon for the world. . .instead of a lightning rod.

Whatever the case, the Indiana Assembly was clearly out of step with the larger, and very important issues facing Indiana, the nation and the world today.       Often I see the same things happen in companies. . .they realize that what they are about to do is radically out of tune with their constituency - yet they insist on doing it anyway.   And then, justifiably so, they face the wrath of their employees and customers.  

Let's be smarter and wiser. . .sooner.  As leaders, let's take a realistic measure, daily, of the world that surrounds us and tailor our leadership to what people really need.

2.   Be careful of the spin - it will get you.   The more that Governor Pence insisted that the RFRA was not  aimed at the LGBT community, the more photos started popping up of prominent anti-LGBT individuals present with the Governor at his signing of the law.   Learn this:  ultimately you can not claim that something wasn't what you intended it to be.

Lesson:   from the get go, be very certain of your intent and be honest about it.

3.   Get out of your own BS.     There is one line that drives me more crazy than any other;   unfortunately, I've heard several variations of it lately, but in this case, it came from a pizzeria.  Paraphrasing:     "We don't discriminate;   we just won't offer members of the LGBT community what we offer to everyone else."    That, folks, is discrimination.  Seriously, if you can't be honest with yourself you cannot be honest with the rest of the world.   Similarly,   "team members are my top priority," and then not making time for them.     "People are our greatest resource,"  only to cut staffing to preserve Wall Street's perception of your management acumen.

When things like Indiana's RFRA comes along, I would hope, first and foremost, that we would object;   secondly, from everything that went wrong, I hope we can learn to do things better.

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