Sherry and Rob have a discussion about sexual misconduct among people who are in power.  They highlight a few talking points that listeners can use to discuss important conversation with teammates, colleagues, and family members. Given the current climate, its an important topic to be aware of for successful people as well as the danger of becoming entangled in a distorted ego.

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Episode Transcript

Sherry:

I just sent the revisions for the book off this morning.

Rob:

Congratulations. Excited?

Sherry:

I’m not going to be excited until it’s in my hand. Until then. I’m just working.

Rob:

It takes a lot longer than you think it’s going to.

Sherry:

Yup. Yup, that’s true. We had really a lot of feedback about our last episode, when we talked about what life has been like this fall, and talked about the new kiddos in our family. That was really cool, to hear from people who e-mailed or reached out to us on social media. I already felt really supported by our inner circle, but now I feel even extra supported by our wider community, but the ZenFounder community.

Rob:

Yeah, it’s always nice to know that people care and people are following the story and that people are impacted by hearing other folks go through struggles, and not just impacted but … I don’t know, there were a lot of thoughtful responses that I think were really appreciated by us.

Sherry:

We’ve been talking a lot with friends and thinking a lot about this sort of epidemic of news articles about sexual misconduct among people who are in power. We thought we would talk about that today. If you are listening with kiddos, we are going to be talking about the existence of sex and how it’s sometimes misused, so if that’s not a topic you’re ready to discuss with your children today in this moment, then maybe hold off and listen to this podcast when you are in the company of other grownups.

Rob:

Yeah, and as we’ve talked about this, both between you and I as well as with friends, I’m just astounded at the sheer volume of sexual harassment and misconduct claims that are coming out just all at once, over the course of this few months, and all the stuff that has happened over the years, that essentially women now feel like they can come out and tell the truth. The volume of it is just, it’s sickening. For me, it’s shocking and sickening.

Sherry:

I wish it was a little more shocking to me. Part of my life as a psychologist is to talk with people who have been survivors of mistreatment, whether that’s sexual abuse as a child, or assault or harassment as an adult. I mean I think the statistics on this are very, very consistent. It’s about one in four women and one in six men who experience unwanted sexual contact, unwanted sexual attention and some point in their lives. The fact that it’s coming to light and we see this pervasiveness among certain men who are in power is … I wish it was more surprising to me, but it’s not. This kind of thing happens all the time, unfortunately.

Rob:

Yeah, that makes sense, and I think it’s becoming more obvious and it’s playing out as these accusations come out. How do we want to cover it today?

Sherry:

I’ve been thinking a lot about why this happens, like what’s happening. I think about why this happens with the intention of wanting to