AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson Addresses the Racial Tension in American Society

I have worked in the wireless industry as an engineer for decades.  Two years ago, the wireless carrier for which I had worked for the past fifteen years was acquired by AT&T.

The adjustment to such a huge bureaucratic institution as AT&T has been difficult for me. Part of the problem for me is that the culture of political correctness is rampant within the company.

I have worked for several large corporations over my career and it used to be that we would simply get by through treating each other with respect and dignity regardless of our differences, but now we are "strongly encouraged" to toe the line on politically correctness in all of its various iterations.  Now, stating an opposing opinion to the PC doctrine would likely result in a reprimand at best and termination at worse. Dissent is not tolerated these days.

Indeed, I have to fight for a new position within the company as my old company is dismantled.  I figured in the "interview" process that is forthcoming, the first thing that will be done is the perusing of my personal FaceBook account by the hiring manager or HR.  As I tend to be honestly outspoken there too, I figured it would be a good time to suspend that account. Freedom of speech only applies if you don't say anything that can be construed as controversial by the PC progressive elements of society and major corporations such as AT&T.

With all of this said, I have been largely critical of the Black Lives Matter movement since it has, in my opinion, been more about identity politics than anything else, in what I have seen thus far. However, my CEO, Randall Stephenson, did recently speak at a meeting of employee resource groups regarding the recent rise in racial tension we have seen in our society.  I found his comments to be enlightening and thought-provoking and figured I would share them here accordingly.

It is my opinion that we need to have more thoughtful discussions such as this instead of simply shouting our positions over one another.  By doing the former rather than the latter, perhaps we can come to understand each other better and learn to respect our brothers and sisters in society as human beings.  Kudos to Randall Stephenson for leading by example in this matter!