There are few things more awkward than being asked in public to declare what your pronouns are. I mean, I am a bearded, happily married man with children. Is it really that difficult to figure this out?Not really, but the last time I was asked this in a public setting I was skipped — though it was probably to the benefit of the professor to skip me. The given understanding is that we are allowed to say whatever tickles our fancy that day and everyone must go along with it— can I get an M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E? I guess you see why I was skipped.Yet, there are many who think it is normal to attach either their completely obvious or completely made-up pronouns to their titles, socials and emails. There are many reasons why this is happening, but there is something far more challenging just below the surface that needs to be understood.Neutrality is a myth. For those older than 40, who remember the secularist dream of a neutral public space, you need to accept that we were played.Neutrality cannot exist because subjects like science, math and english have pre-formed biases written into their pedagogies and systems of knowledge. If you do not believe that statement just look at the differences in how science is done now versus 2004.The assumption of neutrality allowed others to grab the steering wheel when no one was looking. Here we are years later, and people don’t know what a woman is.What does this have to do with anything? If you choose to ignore this concept it will result in compounding frustration with the new staff hired in your company over the next five years.Neutrality cannot exist. Civility can, but not neutrality.Google is, maybe, waking up to this reality— or at least they should have a clue by now.Recently, Google was faced with a gathering of employees who thought it was their duty and right to protest technology being used by Israel in its war against Hamas. The employees staged a sit in, thinking this would lead to effective, and life fulfilling change — what they received were arrests and termination of employment.How did this happen and what is driving this mentality? In short: education. To be more specific, publicly funded education with university being the catalyst.Before you write me off as another crazy, opinionated and conspiracy laden scribbler, let me tell you about a fourth-year university class I took. Communications 4501 was a class to prepare communications students for the workplace. So, naturally we covered topics like news/press releases, social media and copy writing, internal memos and such right? Not even close.We covered things like: the wage gap between the genders, de-colonizing communications, DEI and craftivism. Craftivism is combining crafts/art with activism, and it was everything you can imagine it to be.My professor also took the time during the semester to explain to us how neutrality cannot exist because everyone brings their own beliefs, values, and ethics wherever they go. Therefore, you must embrace the need of the hour and be agents of change in your workplaces. The assumption was that everything young people valued was right and old values had to change.I kid you not, this was actually taught.Now I agree, in part, with my professor. I know that neutrality in the public/private sector will not happen. All neutrality accomplished was creating space for a self-righteous employee to publish their manifesto at a retirement party. I am certain Google was quite proud of their policies and politically conscientious employees, right until they smelled avocado toast and heard songs.This is the mantra and the mentality of many — but not all — college grads these days. If you want a hardworking, mission-focused and meritocracy minded employee to fill the vacancy at your company you are probably wondering what to do about now. If only there was a way to identify people who are aligned with the now defunct Google freedom force.I will let you in on a little secret. Anyone using pronouns are either true believers in this system of thought, or they are useful idiots/pawns of the system. True believers will start a revolution in the lunchroom if unattended for 30 seconds. The useful idiots are prone to join in thinking the receptionist will value them for their resolve.Why else would sexual minority activists, the ones demanding pronoun recognition for all, be supporting Hamas in universities across the West? They have common enemies, that is why.We need to return to showing decency and respect for differences where they can be tolerated and drawing lines in the sand where it is necessary. Young people will now bring their values with them to your workplace and demand recognition for it. Your task is to figure out if they are compatible with your company mission or not… Skills can be taught but beliefs may lead to protests.In case you think I am being too belligerent, ask yourself how many HR professionals at big companies in Calgary will discard a resume if they DO NOT see pronouns in a candidate’s bio? We all know this, so it is not wrong to set aside resume’s that do.Google had to learn this the hard way, and many more companies are going to find out too late who they hired.You can do whatever you want with this information, but if I was looking over resumes, I would check for pronouns before hiring.Ryan McMillan is a graduate of Mount Royal University and the owner of Corsair Communications. X @ryanimcmillan
There are few things more awkward than being asked in public to declare what your pronouns are. I mean, I am a bearded, happily married man with children. Is it really that difficult to figure this out?Not really, but the last time I was asked this in a public setting I was skipped — though it was probably to the benefit of the professor to skip me. The given understanding is that we are allowed to say whatever tickles our fancy that day and everyone must go along with it— can I get an M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E? I guess you see why I was skipped.Yet, there are many who think it is normal to attach either their completely obvious or completely made-up pronouns to their titles, socials and emails. There are many reasons why this is happening, but there is something far more challenging just below the surface that needs to be understood.Neutrality is a myth. For those older than 40, who remember the secularist dream of a neutral public space, you need to accept that we were played.Neutrality cannot exist because subjects like science, math and english have pre-formed biases written into their pedagogies and systems of knowledge. If you do not believe that statement just look at the differences in how science is done now versus 2004.The assumption of neutrality allowed others to grab the steering wheel when no one was looking. Here we are years later, and people don’t know what a woman is.What does this have to do with anything? If you choose to ignore this concept it will result in compounding frustration with the new staff hired in your company over the next five years.Neutrality cannot exist. Civility can, but not neutrality.Google is, maybe, waking up to this reality— or at least they should have a clue by now.Recently, Google was faced with a gathering of employees who thought it was their duty and right to protest technology being used by Israel in its war against Hamas. The employees staged a sit in, thinking this would lead to effective, and life fulfilling change — what they received were arrests and termination of employment.How did this happen and what is driving this mentality? In short: education. To be more specific, publicly funded education with university being the catalyst.Before you write me off as another crazy, opinionated and conspiracy laden scribbler, let me tell you about a fourth-year university class I took. Communications 4501 was a class to prepare communications students for the workplace. So, naturally we covered topics like news/press releases, social media and copy writing, internal memos and such right? Not even close.We covered things like: the wage gap between the genders, de-colonizing communications, DEI and craftivism. Craftivism is combining crafts/art with activism, and it was everything you can imagine it to be.My professor also took the time during the semester to explain to us how neutrality cannot exist because everyone brings their own beliefs, values, and ethics wherever they go. Therefore, you must embrace the need of the hour and be agents of change in your workplaces. The assumption was that everything young people valued was right and old values had to change.I kid you not, this was actually taught.Now I agree, in part, with my professor. I know that neutrality in the public/private sector will not happen. All neutrality accomplished was creating space for a self-righteous employee to publish their manifesto at a retirement party. I am certain Google was quite proud of their policies and politically conscientious employees, right until they smelled avocado toast and heard songs.This is the mantra and the mentality of many — but not all — college grads these days. If you want a hardworking, mission-focused and meritocracy minded employee to fill the vacancy at your company you are probably wondering what to do about now. If only there was a way to identify people who are aligned with the now defunct Google freedom force.I will let you in on a little secret. Anyone using pronouns are either true believers in this system of thought, or they are useful idiots/pawns of the system. True believers will start a revolution in the lunchroom if unattended for 30 seconds. The useful idiots are prone to join in thinking the receptionist will value them for their resolve.Why else would sexual minority activists, the ones demanding pronoun recognition for all, be supporting Hamas in universities across the West? They have common enemies, that is why.We need to return to showing decency and respect for differences where they can be tolerated and drawing lines in the sand where it is necessary. Young people will now bring their values with them to your workplace and demand recognition for it. Your task is to figure out if they are compatible with your company mission or not… Skills can be taught but beliefs may lead to protests.In case you think I am being too belligerent, ask yourself how many HR professionals at big companies in Calgary will discard a resume if they DO NOT see pronouns in a candidate’s bio? We all know this, so it is not wrong to set aside resume’s that do.Google had to learn this the hard way, and many more companies are going to find out too late who they hired.You can do whatever you want with this information, but if I was looking over resumes, I would check for pronouns before hiring.Ryan McMillan is a graduate of Mount Royal University and the owner of Corsair Communications. X @ryanimcmillan
