Meryl Streep's speech at the Golden Globes last night has been the talk of Hollywood and beyond. The standing ovation speaks for itself.
If you've been avoiding the celebrity gossip, I'll summarise. Streep very adeptly used her platform as an artist and her position of popularity to call out Donald Trump for his apparent mockery of a disabled journalist during the election campaign. Read here for the full transcript of her speech.
I won't dissect her entire commentary; however one quote that resonated with me, and most likely with anyone tuning in, was this:
"Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose."
I couldn't agree more.
But amongst all the doom and gloom, this also spoke to me in another way - how the reverse of this statement is true too.
So, to turn Streep's thoughts on their head, here's my more positive version: (perhaps a Merry Streep version of events!)
"Respect invites respect, peace incites peace. And when the powerful use their position to support others, we all win."
As an eternal optimist, I want to explain how, on a much smaller scale, this type of attitude can be supportive, not only in politics, but particularly in the workplace.
Working in a fast-paced, innovative environment means I get to work with some of the most seasoned and experienced people in the business. My colleagues are supportive, they deal with issues in a peaceful manner and most of all, no matter what level of seniority, they are respectful. This environment has allowed me to flourish personally. I've seen us grow into the thriving global company we are today - where we work together, supporting each other in challenges and beyond. But crucially, we celebrate diversity and make efforts to support inclusivity in the workplace. Ultimately we are winning!
My colleague Lauren Martin recently wrote a thought-provoking post on improving diversity in the workplace and looking at issues such as cognitive bias. One thing I extrapolated from Streep's speech is that as a society we need inclusivity and to quote Lauren Martin's idea:
"Inclusion is the support for a collaborative environment that values open participation from individuals with different ideas and perspectives that has a positive impact on business. Leadership, (here comes the action part) at such an organization is transparent, communicative, and engaging."
Take from this the points on leadership - now this is the key! Strong leadership breeds strength in the workforce.
That's exactly what we need from Trump (and of course other political leaders). And whether it's Meryl Streep or "Merry" Streep who calls him out, I just hope that something positive comes from this week's event in Hollywood.