Sexual harassment can create a climate where employees leave, the company gets sued and shareholder value evaporates. Consultant Minoo Saboori shines a light on steps a leader can take to get beyond #MeToo to a healthy, sustainable culture.

1. Overview of Program to Eliminate Corporate Culture Maladies Page 1
Overview of a Program to Identify and Eliminate Issues of Sexual Harassment
and Other Cultural Maladies in the Workplace
Presented by Minoo Saboori, Principal
Eden Central Associates
Henderson, NV
Moving Beyond Current Cultural Challenges in the Workplace
Companies can do good and do well, simultaneously, increasing value for the
triad of stakeholders. It’s a choice.
Foundation
A company’s culture is something a CEO establishes at the outset, and
cultivates over time, refining it, revisiting it, making sure it’s on point for the ever-
growing ever-evolving organization. It is in the domain of the CEO’s
responsibilities to make sure that what has been stated in a document of Values
matches the behavior of them.
Current Situation - Fear and Loathing
Those companies who have suffered from allegations of sexual harassment and
misconduct forgot those foundational aspects of their business development.
Others outright ignored them, perhaps thinking they didn’t really matter. The
results are a myriad of loss, including key employees and morale, leading to
decrease in productivity, revenues, and valuation. And then, there’s the public
embarrassment, in the press and social media. There are those facing a
dismantling, as we have read recently, including the Weinstein Company (who
faces a class action law suit, and now, has filed for bankruptcy), and Uber
(whose founder was ousted), Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks organization, not
to mention the countless celebrities who no longer have careers. These are
examples that we know of, there are countless instances of harassment, both
reported and unreported, where we have to believe it a rampant, insidious
characteristic of many organizations, and has been for very long time.
A January 2018 study, found on LeanIn.org reveals: "Since the recent media
reports of sexual harassment, almost half of male managers are uncomfortable
participating in a common work activity with a woman, such as mentoring,
working alone, or socializing together.”
TEL 818.694.3322 Eden Central Associates EML minoo@edencentral.com

2. Overview of Program to Eliminate Corporate Culture Maladies Page 2
Another shocking statistic, from a nationwide recruiter, shows that a good 40%
to 50% of executives hired are lost within 18 months.
Thoughts and Questions
We have to figure out how to navigate this fear, together. And only together
will we get beyond it. Fear is a tool, and is, sometimes, necessary. Fear can also
destroy if we allow it to consume us, as people AND as organizations.
Wouldn’t it be better to understand the underpinning of the fear. Wouldn’t it be
more productive to define and construct an environment that looks at it in the
face and eliminates it? Before public embarrassment, before litigation, before
massive loss?
Adopting policies and regulations that are fear-based, such as zero-tolerance,
do not work. Rule and Regulations Training are not enough.
A Way Through the Muddle
Those CEOs who want to continue to do what they love, cultivating what
they’ve built, creating value along with their vision, will pay attention to current
conditions, and adjust and refine their company’s culture because they know
there’s a better path.
Reflection, deliberate refinement, and constant attention to the underlying
health of the organization become paramount to realizing value goals. We
know it starts at the top. If the CEO cares, it will trickle through the organization,
regardless of size. And just saying you care is not enough. Action, behavior, and
example-setting are the impetus for a shift in the cultural temperature of any
organization.
People keep asking how do we get beyond #MeToo, along with other
organizational issues.
TEL 818.694.3322 Eden Central Associates EML minoo@edencentral.com

3. Overview of Program to Eliminate Corporate Culture Maladies Page 3
Here’s a clear way:
1. Ask and answer, in 100% honesty, some questions of yourself.
- Answering these questions, about 15, will establish the beginning.
2. Get your organization to do the same.
- Collecting this data will underpin the path.
3. Make sure your company has an effective path to hearing complaints.
The operative word being effective.
- Architecting this path will set behavior expectations.
4. Construct an internal program to resolve those complaints. Test it on a
continuous, KPI basis.
- Constructing this program creates a self-correcting mechanism.
- HR paradigm must shift.
5. Get disruptors and harassers help or fire them.
- This step needs to be called out, and is part of the program.
The time is now to institute cultural changes for your company's health,
creating optimal productivity of your staff. This will uplift your company to a
better, more respected and desirable place. It will increase the value of your
company, in direct and indirect ways.
Ed Tuck, inventor of the Magellan GPS and noted VC, once said, “there are
three equal participants in a company: its customers, its employees, and its
shareholders. The best companies are those in which each third of the triad
receives equal consideration.”
Your company can be one of the best. It’s your choice.
TEL 818.694.3322 Eden Central Associates EML minoo@edencentral.com