Karima-Catherine Goundiam is the founder and chief executive officer of digital strategy firm Red Dot Digital and business matchmaking platform B2BeeMatch.
A woman being accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. Illustration published 1895.Christine_Kohler/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
We’ve all heard the expression “witch hunt.” That’s because of the long shadow cast by actual witch hunts across Europe and eventually in the United States between 1300 and the late 1700s. The general consensus among historians is that, in total, some 110,000 people were tried for witchcraft and between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed. In North America, the most famous example is the Salem witch trials, which occurred in Salem, Mass., in 1692.
But what was – or is – a witch hunt, really, and how does it relate to today’s business world?
In their historical period, witch hunts were essentially about whole communities persecuting and blaming unpopular people for everything from bad weather to curdled milk to unexplained illness. They were a form of scapegoating: piling all the community’s fear and rage onto a small handful of people, subjecting them to bogus tests and prejudiced legal trials and then punishing them, up to and including by death. The “witches” were mostly marginalized women: women of colour, enslaved Black women, poor women, disabled women, old women, women who crossed class boundaries (such as higher-class women who slept with servants), women who didn’t go to church. The list also included a handful of men. No evidence was required, or certainly nothing that would hold up in a legitimate court of law today.
With authorities and community members caught up in the frenzy of trying to root out witches for their supposed evil deeds, it became risky to go against the crowd. In the Salem trials, according to Britannica, “many in the community who viewed the unfolding events as travesties remained mute, afraid that they would be punished for raising objections to the proceedings by being accused of witchcraft themselves.”
I see so many parallels to things happening in our world today, particularly in the United States – but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking we’re not at risk in Canada, too. When gay people were being hunted out and purged from American public service under Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Lavender Scare, starting in 1953 and only ending in 1995, the RCMP was busy doing the same here in the famous LGBT Purge, which took place over a similar time frame and ruined some 9,000 lives.
Of course, these government programs set the example for private businesses to follow. For decades it was common for people to be fired for being gay across many fields. It’s staggering to think of all the wasted time and money spent on these pointless hunts, all the incredible talent they pushed out the door and all the lives they ruined.
It wasn’t until 2020 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled people can’t be fired for being gay and the ruling still has exceptions. In Canada, sexual orientation was added to the Human Rights Code in 1996 and gender identity and expression were added in 2017.
Today, the two major groups being “witch hunted” are immigrants and trans people. We’re seeing mass deportations in the United States, with immigrants who have committed no crimes being deported and sent to dangerous foreign jails without due process. Trans people are being falsely accused of grooming children and harming women in bathrooms, among other evils. And laws against job discrimination on these grounds certainly don’t stop it from happening.
Today’s witch hunts are a business concern, just as they were in the 1950s. They waste time and money, fracture work relationships and ruin lives. But they’re also far bigger than a business concern. They’re about what kind of world we want to live in and who we’re willing to harm in order to follow a political trend.
This is a time when we, as business leaders, need to use all of our power and authority to put a halt to this kind of dangerous groupthink. In times of tension, change and chaos, leaders need to create environments that rely on facts, not fears. We need to use the courage and savvy that has gotten us to where we are as leaders both within our businesses and in our public-facing roles such as speaking engagements, media commentary and board memberships. To the extent that we have social influence, we must use it to bring a halt to the modern-day witch hunts going on all around us.
What does that mean, concretely? Here are some ideas:
Refuse the pressure to drop your diversity, equity and inclusion endeavours. Review your harassment policies and make sure they are explicit about not tolerating discrimination against trans people. Protect your immigrant employees by offering them solid employment, supporting their citizenship applications or anything else that will help keep them secure. Insist on making business and policy decisions based on facts and fairness, not on fears and scapegoating. Be brave and make your commitments clear in your branding and advertising. Maintain your corporate social responsibility commitments to Pride festivals and other examples of supporting diversity – or start now if your company hasn’t already. Some of these moves may make you unpopular in certain political circles, but they will earn you undying employee and customer loyalty from others.
Here are some questions: Without searching online, what were Salem’s best-known exports? What innovative companies were founded there and have stood the test of time? Did Salem ever become a major industrial centre?
I could look all this up, but my point is that the thing Salem is known for today – the big mark it made on the historical record – is the violent scapegoating, persecution and execution of marginalized women. And I can promise you it didn’t fix the bad weather, uncurdle the milk or cure anyone of the flu.
How do you want to be remembered? How do you want your business to be remembered? What legacy do you want to leave behind as a leader? And what kind of leader do you want to be right now? It’s crucial that we ask these questions in our current moment. And I hope you’ll join me in deciding you want no part of a modern-day witch hunt.
This column is part of Globe Careers’ Leadership Lab series, where executives and experts share their views and advice about the world of work. Find all Leadership Lab stories at tgam.ca/leadershiplab and guidelines for how to contribute to the column here.