HR leaders are going quiet on the topics that matter most. This author has a fix |
HR leaders are going quiet on the topics that matter most. This author has a fix
HR leaders are doing the math on whether to speak up about issues like layoffs, benefit changes, DEI, and other charged workplace issues. For many, silence can feel like the safest option. Radical Candor author Kim Scott argues that calculation is incomplete.
Her message to HR: silence is not a risk-free strategy. When leaders avoid hard conversations, they may sidestep short-term backlash, but they also create deeper problems inside the organization, including confusion, mistrust, uneven standards, and performance issues that are harder to fix later.
“If you do a pure ROI calculation, it’s not worth it to speak up, but you’ve got to do a different kind of calculation in this environment,” Scott told me and my Fortune colleagues last week. The risk leaders often focus on is reputational. But she argues that the real cost is something more value-driven: “The cost to your soul of remaining silent is not something you need to pay.”
Speaking........