6 | theceomagazine.com
Editor’s letter
TALK TO ME... @TheCEOMagazineEMEA @CEOMagazineEMEA company/the-ceo-magazine-emeaSusan Armstrong
Editor-in-ChiefH
ere’s something you
may not know: 12 years
ago, civil rights activist
Tarana Burke created
Just Be Inc., a not-
for-profit organisation
that helps victims
of sexual harassment and assault. She gave her
movement a name: Me Too.
It wasn’t until it was adopted and hashtagged on
Twitter by actress Alyssa Milano on 15 October last
year that it created the kind of revolution that will
be documented in history books. Within 24 hours
#MeToo had been used more than 12 million times
on social media; within two weeks it had reached
more than 85 countries. Since then it has changed
the way we work together forever.
How so? Simple. If someone sexually harasses
or assaults a colleague, boss, employee or business
contact, their job will be at risk. This has altered and
amended company culture, policies and procedures,
and the way employees are hired, fired and managed.
What’s more, according to Lyn Goodear,
CEO of the Australian Human Resources Institute,
it has provided the “shock value” the HR industry
so desperately needed. In our feature Managing
#MeToo (page 16), Wendy Kay looks at why this
movement was the accelerant the world required,
and the challenges the workforce now faces.This is not a fight between men and women,
however. It’s a fight over whether one small sub-
group should be allowed to interfere with people’s
ability to turn up to work and simply do their job.
It’s why we all need to be part of the conversation,
with men in particular driving many of these
discussions, not just because it’s the right thing to
do, but it’s the smart thing to do.
In fact, it’s the only thing to do. The work
environment now is much different from what it
was even a year ago. There’s no going back, only
forward. To quote Oprah Winfrey, “A new day
is on the horizon. And when that day finally
dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent
women ... and some pretty phenomenal men,
fighting hard to make sure that they become the
leaders who take us to a time when nobody ever
has to say ‘Me too’ again.”
Enjoy the issue, see you next month.