Allowing employees to help decide what snacks to include in the break room or how to decorate cubicles and the front entrance for Halloween is how many, or most, large, influential businesses allow employees to feel included in corporate decisions.
It’s doubtful that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella holds a town hall in Microsoft’s largest conference room to get a consensus on big decisions like the the company’s expansion into AI. But the sense of entitlement for employees in at least one particular company is so advanced it led to some of them crying at work.
Penguin Random House Canada made a business decision to publish psychology professor Jordan Peterson’s forthcoming book called “Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life,” which will be released in March of 2021.
Vice News spoke to four employees at Penguin Random House Canada and reported that the publisher actually did hold a town-hall style meeting and numerous staffers not only openly criticized and complained about the decision, but some began crying.
One employee called Peterson “an icon of white supremacy” and another said “the company, since June, has been doing all these anti-racist and allyship things and them publishing Peterson’s book completely goes against this. It just makes all of their previous efforts seem completely performative,” the employee said.
Peterson is a Canadian college professor who gained notoriety by essentially posting the message of his teachings on YouTube, and has authored several successful books. He’s made a name for himself by critiquing political correctness and being a proponent of order in society.
Peterson has called himself a “classic British liberal” in the past, but The New York Times once labeled him as “conservative-leaning.”
So, welcome to 2020 and the announcement that a book of his will be published causes open weeping at the office. One reason a company, such as a major book publisher, will publish different books that criss-cross the political and social sector and showcase numerous voices is because it makes good business sense. There is a demand for them.
Peterson’s daughter, Mikhaila Peterson, thankfully brought some comedic levity to this entire bizarre saga with one tweet.
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