I have received many requests from my readers to speak into the current sexual harassment situation. For those who have attended my leadership programs, you know that I consider fair treatment, equal employment, and a harassment-free workplace to be boundary conditions. Leaders must make the expectations clear and not tolerate anything or anyone that violates those conditions. The expectations cannot be ambiguous, or contrived to meet popular agendas. In the vernacular of leadership theory, these are license-to-operate conditions, and anyone in a position of power who does not enforce them is not a leader.

My attention was heightened when Travis Kalanick at Uber resigned last year over allegations that he enabled an environment in the company that was toxic to women. I was appalled throughout the rest of the year as more sexual harassment allegations were raised, notably about Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Roy Price at Amazon, Bill O’Reilly, Charlie Rose, Disney’s John Lasseter, Representatives John Conyers and Al Franken, Garrison Keillor, VISA’s Jim McCarthy, and Matt Lauer. I’m still appalled.

To me, the question that needs to be asked now is, “Is it enough to expose and shame these men, i.e., will this solve what I consider to be fundamentally a leadership issue?”

In August, I was confused by Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, when he fired James Damore for expressing a concern about a liberal bias in the company’s approach to diversity. In my mind it was a missed opportunity in a high-profile company to elevate gender-related issues to a new level of challenge, a catalyst, if you will, that could ultimately create action. It should be no surprise to Mr. Pichai that he now finds himself with two opposing class-action lawsuits: one, filed by two former male employees, alleging that the company is hostile to employees with conservative views, and that it employs illegal hiring quotas to fill its desired percentages of gender and minority candidates; and another lawsuit, filed by four former female employees, alleging that the company systematically pays and promotes men more than women. Perhaps the courts will be the catalyst that I had expected Google’s executive management to be.

And maybe Hollywood will come to the rescue. The normal self-congratulatory celebration at the Golden Globe Awards was upstaged by sexual harassment issues, starting by host Seth Meyers’s opening the program with: “Good evening, ladies and remaining gentlemen,” through to Oprah Winfrey declaring, “… when that new day dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women … and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to a time when nobody ever has to say “Me too” again.”

Currently, it concerns me that the conversation is largely driven by a “shame” spotlight. This elicits moral concern, and that’s a good thing as it will focus attention and energy on the issue. But will it endure? Or, will it fade as attention shifts to other emerging issues? What is needed is a sustainable, open, thoughtful, and honest dialogue about these issues. Without this we could devolve to a workplace so uptight that whatever trust exists is impaired. Trust is the single most important determinant of whether an organization prospers or declines. The last thing we want is to creep into an environment where conversations and working relationships between men and women are unnecessarily constrained, or men treat women in the workplace in an exclusionary manner in order to eliminate the risk of being perceived as sexually inappropriate. One of my highly respected academic colleagues has already started to research that possibility. Here’s some of the big issues:

• Neuroscientists have long reported that men and women have different threat perceptions and response mechanisms. Due to genetic differences in the Limbic system between genders, a typical man will be less aware of threats in a general sense than a typical women. This means that what is seen as threatening or toxic is influenced by the gender of the perceiver, and the prospect of misreads between genders is high.
• Research has shown that due to the different balance of testosterone and estrogen in the genders, the synaptic take up of oxytocin tends to be greater for women than men. Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter and, among many other functions in the brain, it is a key causation factor in a person’s level of empathy. It’s been argued that this difference explains why in psychometric assessments women show higher levels of self-control and empathy, while men typically have greater sociability and motivation. This means that men and women might come to the workplace with different perceptions of behavioral expectations. Therefore, the determinants of, and the consequent awareness of, distress in the workplace are likely different for men and women.
• Power and success in either gender, particularly at extreme levels, tends to drive greater testosterone release which spurs aggression, less empathy, and more risk-taking. It can have a corrosive effect on behaviors and sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings.
• Behavior is learned and we have the power of choice. In any organization, behavior can be nurtured, staunched, or developed. Given the structure of the human brain, thoughts come into our consciousness randomly as a “smear” of potentials. Generally, the potential of an action emerges from our subconscious .2 seconds before the action occurs. We can’t stop a thought from emerging, but we can veto the action. Regardless of gender, humans can learn to control their behavior. And, organizations can learn shared behaviors – that’s called culture.

Fundamentals of Leadership = The Cure for Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

In my mind, any serious consideration of sexual harassment in the workplace must address these issues, else the proposed solutions will be superficial, ineffective, and short-lived.

Lastly, it’s not clear to me that the current push for more sexual harassment training is going to accomplish anything. Typically, this training treats the problem as a compliance issue, one that can be addressed by compliance training. As noted above, and at the root cause level, sexual harassment is a leadership issue. Any training solution must incorporate the fundamentals of leadership. Here’s a reminder of the fundamentals:

• Leaders define success in others’ successes
• Their attention is on common goals
• They value courage, integrity, and a future orientation
• They are verbally involved, informed, and seek out others’ views and perspectives
• They meet others’ needs and understand that people around them have a deep need for what they have to offer
• They model the way for others
• They breathe life into others’ dreams and aspirations
• They change the way people think about what’s possible
• And, an organization will be its highest potential when all employees operate from their highest future potential

Any person who genuinely embraces and lives by these fundamentals could never create or tolerate a toxic work environment. Contextualizing the fundamentals of leadership in all organizations and industries is the ultimate cure for sexual harassment.