Written By: Lauren Howard
Just because you haven’t experienced it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
I don’t know how else to say it.
I’m still shocked by the number of people who truly believe that something couldn’t have happened because it never happened to them.
Like, don’t get me wrong. There are things that I know better than the back of my hand, and I will tell you if what you’re saying doesn’t align with my experiences with those things. If it has something to do with telehealth, digital health, Medicare, and things of that nature, things that are tactical and replicable, sure. I will tell you if I don’t think it happened.
But someone else’s feelings? Someone else’s experiences with discrimination? Someone who identifies entirely differently from me?
Never.
I can’t know. I can only try to understand.
I had a post last week about women’s experience in the workplace, and this guy thought it was his place to chime in that he had never experienced that so it couldn’t be true.
As if he was capable of ever having experienced in.
His reasoning was that he was from Wall Street and only your production mattered.
Except a quick search about sexual harassment and discrimination on Wall Street yields all sorts of fun information that says that he is not only wrong but dangerously so.
And yet, he was not only confident but certain in his assessment.
Ignoring it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Looking the other way doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. You can still compensate someone well and treat them poorly. You can still harass people who are high performers.
Your experience is not the only experience.
Founder & CEO at elletwo
Wall Street from my experience (as this is predominantly my work history ) has come a long way from where I started in 1976 but has millions of miles to go…