Gender Wars Part 2 A Look at Affirmative Action

Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in

I am everyday people, yeah yeah

Sly and the Family Stone

Before launching into this post let me start by saying I hope you all enjoyed the video!  

That video in retrospect was "deeper" than I certainly imagined at the time.  However, it was made as a spoof of the AIG Culture which frankly I found invigorating and from my perspective as a very "Merit Based" environment which while dominated by "Men" had a very strong connection to China and had a diverse community of staff  from all over the world.  Now don't get me wrong.  some of the women in that video expressed frustration at times that it was a difficult environment for women.  I often reminded them that the division I established was formed by "us" in 1999 under the direction of my boss who was a women (she left to become President of ACE in 2002).  Internally the women in the video who wrote 1.1 Billion on a sticky paid started with me in 1993 as a Clerical Supervisor.  She had no college degree, but was one of the brightest individuals I ever met.   When I announced my retirement she left to help establish a Managing MGM working for that women who left AIG to be President of ACE.

One of the biggest part of the spoofs was my swaggering into New York a typical Male AIG executive with women swooning over his swagger....only to have to negotiate our plans with a Senior Actuary...also a women who I assure you was as tough a negotiator as any man.  It was with her help and counsel we grew into a 3 plus billion a year division at AIG.  The video was actually meant to crudely depict to those independent brokers who we sold our products through how we made decisions on pricing our product and paying them for selling it. 

 One thing I want to convey to my blog readers is my own perspective that getting the best people to do the job is should be the primary objective of any business manager.  I would add  that prejudices and biases should not enter into the equation.  I would also add that no organization should avoid "diversity" including race, religion (Note my comment we are not a "Catholic Company") or gender.  Ingraining an organization with any one "type of person i.e. college degrees only" can lead to hubris .

OK enough about the video already.

So I must have always been against "Quotas" right?  Wrong, I was not always against quotas, even when they affected me.  More on that shortly.  

In previous blog posts I have talked about the importance of family, friends and community.  My own self interest when we discussed Climate Change was maximizing my ability to make life easier for my own immediate family.  This has been the bedrock of humankind since we became "Human".  This imperative has been a key to human society and we all do it-Liberals and Conservatives alike.  I tried (unsuccessfully I am afraid-they hated it) to get my sons into the "insurance business" by getting them a summer job at AIG.  My friend and fellow blog follower "Whitey" was instrumental in helping get the son of another blog follower "Lester" a job as an insurance actuary.  It's what close friends can and should do. 

So why have "quotas?  Well sometimes because of that very reason, quota's can help correct historic injustices, caused structurally by historic circumstances.  Which has lead me to an incredible discovery just a few minutes ago.....and now for my newest "Karma" revelation and my own quota story.  All this is true as god is my judge.

In queuing up today's writing I  decided to relate my own experience with quota's.  I wanted to write about my recruitment and ultimate rejection by Dartmouth College which occurred in 1969.  

I attended my freshman year in High School at Central High in Philadelphia.  It was a school for boys only, designed for "gifted" students from all over the city.  I only attended one year-I hated it and transferred back to my neighborhood High School.  While at Central I played freshman football, something not available to my neighborhood High School which started with 10th grade.   As a result of my having that experience I was able to talk our Varsity coach into letting me try out for the Varsity-the only sophomore to do so, and I made the team!    I had the good fortune of playing three years and made all league as a defensive tackle in my senior year and was selected as Public League Scholar Athlete of the year.

While playing freshman ball  at Central High I became a casual friend with a nice young man...who happened to be black named Wayne Moody.  Our paths crossed again a few years later when we were both recruited by Dartmouth College.  We  flew to Dartmouth together on the Scott Paper Company Plane (my first plane ride) and spent the weekend meeting coaches etc.

Wayne ended up getting in to Dartmouth, I did not.  The reason frankly was he was black and I was not.  I loved Dartmouth (must be that Ski Country Karma) but it was not to be.  Instead I attended Lafayette, quit football to Party and well the rest is History.  I would add that I never felt slighted or deprived (my parents were initially miffed but I think were happy I went to Lafayette).  At the time and even now I felt that giving expanded opportunities to underrepresented minorities was necessary at the time.  Today I am not so sure we haven't carried this way to far, particularly when it comes to hiring and college entrance "quota's"  But let's save that for my next post.

So how many of us get to look back at the specific person who was given an opportunity over one's self based on a quota?  I did today when I Googled a few hours ago....Wayne Moody Dartmouth College.

Well boy was I surprised or what.  I could not believe my eyes.  

Like me Wayne went for premed-and decided to change majors because of the difficult curriculum.  I went Anthropology, he went Geology.  Wayne never graduated... but frankly went on to what appears to be a very successful career as an ASTROLOGIST in San Francisco.  He also BLOGS!

I am not sure how to end this piece except whoa boy.  What truly makes this country great is that all of us the OPPORTUNITY to find our bliss-whatever that may be.

I share a couple of links about Wayne.

First from Dartmouth Alumni Magazine

http://dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/articles/wayne-moody-%E2%80%9973

Second for Wayne's Blog!

Wayne Blog

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Gender "Wars"

When you see a deer you see Bambi
And I see antlers up on the wall
When you see a lake you think picnic
And I see a large mouth up under that log
You're probably thinking that you're going to change me
In some ways well maybe you might
Scrub me down, dress me up all but no matter what
Remember I'm still a guy

Brad Paisley (Continued)


I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'Cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor

Helen Reddy

My last post was short and sweet and while I am glad it was I confess that my Brad Paisley lead in was intended to include some preliminary comments on "Gender Differences".  As Brad succinctly states in his song at he as a man sees the world differently than his "women" does.

I could not believe that after I decided to shorten my topic last post, virtually at that moment,  an employee at Google started a social media left/right divide controversy based on that very subject.  Who would have thunk it!  I may go back to my Karma topic!

Anyway, this topic might well be a minefield from which I never return.  I may well alienate some of my male and/or female readers no matter how I approach it, but like a moth to a flame I am drawn forward.

However, in the spirit of interjecting some humor FIRST I am going to share a video from 2004.  This video was made while I worked at AIG, well known for how seriously it took itself . It was also known for being a tough place for women to work.  I like to think my Division attempted to shatter some of those images by poking fun at the company and ourselves.  Our piece was actually made and shown at an insurance brokers conference we sponsored every year, where we shared our business plans with those who sold our products.

Anyway, the commentary at the beginning is grainy, the dialogue at times hard to hear, and there are many inside jokes.  However, early in the video Aretha Franklin's "Respect" is in the soundtrack a subtle clue on our own philosophy.  However I think you may get a chuckle at my John Travolta imitation a little more than half way through the video.  Overall the video is about 18 minutes long and I realize some of my readers may feel they do not have the time for that.  I do hope most of you give it a shot.  I will confess that two blog readers, Steve and Debbie Clark have seen this several years ago.  I think they got a chuckle from it, more because Steve was a competitor in our field!

I will save further discussions on this topic for next  week.  Hopefully at least a few of you will watch, and may even get something fun out of it!.

AIG Zone Specialty Workers Compensation

Until Then
Adieu

AIG Zone Video

Welcome to A Colorado Ski Town-A demographic Primer

When you see a deer you see Bambi
And I see antlers up on the wall
When you see a lake you think picnic
And I see a large mouth up under that log
You're probably thinking that you're going to change me
In some ways well maybe you might
Scrub me down, dress me up all but no matter what
Remember I'm still a guy

Brad Paisley




This post, at the suggestion of my editor, will be short by design.  I will try to tackle some offshoots (gender relations in our society) in some future post.  Meanwhile I wanted to share a "keeper" quote from a casual conversation Barbara and I recently had over a few glasses of wine.

About three weeks ago our "new neighbors" invited Barbara and I onto their porch for some wine and introductory "chit chat".  The couple happens to be the only other "full timers" who live in our HOA.  He is retired from the military (and now to kill time and meet people he drives a ski bus), while she is the head of HR for the Winter Park Ski area.  Her previous job was the head of HR for Whole Foods and she and her husband decided that life in Winter Park was worth "downsizing" for and would,  for her at least get them of the "rat race".  Overall a typical "modern marriage" .  Somehow we got onto the topic of local demographics while chatting about her challenges in recruiting seasonal workers etc. 

Barbara happened to mentioned that there was a disparity in Male to Female ratios in Winter Park (More men than women) and how single females here had better odds than say in Stowe (where the ratios favor men).

Our neighbor responded with this gem:

"Yes but while the odds here might be good most of the goods here are odd".

We got a real laugh on that one and then shared some laughs about the kind of workers attracted to life in a ski resort town. I am certain that some of my Stowe readers can relate to that!

Until next time
Adieu.