I wish this story wasn’t true, but it is, so I’m going to have to tell you about it. Brace yourself. I think people somehow forgot all of the progress that has been made over the past 100 years. If you can believe it, Hockey 101 was the name of a seminar introduced to women in business of how to learn about sports to help them with their career. This was last year. 2017. Just let that sink in for a second.
How it started
The program was endorsed internally at one of the major corporations in Toronto, in which a guy on a trading floor thought he would be “helpful” to his fellow women colleagues to offer them the opportunity to (and I quote) “get ahead by helping them increase their understanding of sports”.
…….PARDON?!
They then went on to say “It is an opportunity to learn about a topic that is often spoken about or referred to by many people in business settings”
…….PARDON AGAIN?!
Cue *steam coming out of my ears* - Ok let’s break this down:
So through some of the largest corporations in Canada, they are endorsing within their organizations that learning about sports will help you get ahead in your career?….. I need a moment to scratch my head. So you’re telling me that if I can name the star player of the Miami Heat, I’ll kill it in business? Why did I pay for an education?
And why women? Have you met Sophia Jurksztowicz? The amazing sports guru? Do you know a lot of men that don’t know squat about sports – YES! So why women? Ooh that’s right – stereotype.
Secondly, it’s 20 goddam 18, why is an organization internally reinforcing a stereotype environment? How is this empowering us or helping us in our career? It’s merely setting us up to just conform to this ongoing misconception that men enjoy talking about sports. As part of my job I take clients out, whether in casual settings or formal settings, and I can quite honestly say that sports get talked about MAYBE 10% of the time. So you can imagine how all of this makes a ton of sense…..
If you like sports, then talk about it! If you don’t like sports, then don’t talk about it! It’s that simple. Don’t try to go learn about sports just for the sake of talking about it.
Instead of setting up these sports seminars, the organizations should be setting up seminars to empower people (and not just women!) to better guide the conversations, to have the confidence and courage to discuss topics of their own interest. We are all so diverse, let that show! It’s one of the best things that we can offer. You will very likely find that people enjoy listening to what you have to say and learning from your experiences and interests.
The sad part is, I saw some junior women actually believe that they needed to learn about sports to get ahead and sign up for these seminars. This is what upset me the most. Where is the encouragement to be ourselves and be original? How can we live with the fact that these brilliant women with so much to offer are believing that they need to learn who the third baseman is on the Blue Jays just in order to get ahead in their career?
If you are a woman reading this, always remember to have the courage to BE YOURSELF, and let yourself shine as an individual and as a woman. We need to support and encourage each other on this every day because otherwise, things like this happen! Have the courage to speak up, and drive the conversation. What you have to say is important!
Lessons Learned:
1. Don’t ever target women and tell us that we need to conform to certain norms in order to move ahead in our careers.
2. If you’re going to offer a sports seminar, offer it to everyone!
3. Empower each other to show your true self at all times – that is what has gotten you to where you are today, so don’t give up on it.
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