BOSS GURU

Got a workplace gripe? Or just need some sage advice? BOSS Guru is your boffin on hand to help you navigate through the unwritten laws of the workplace. Please send your questions to boss@afr.com.au. Updated monthly.

2010

AUGUST

Q. Help. My company has overdosed on political correctness. Since Ms Gillard seized power, all the plum promotions around this place seem to be going to the sisters. I don't think this is a coincidence. Hopefully, the PM will get the boot come the election - but I fear I'm going to be answering to the skirted ones for some time to come. Yeah, yeah, I know it's unfashionable to be unreconstructed. But hell, there are a lot of us blokes' blokes out there. Any tips on coping? And why the hell should we change - what about them?

A. Dear bloke's bloke, we hear your pain. But unless you want to be a dinosaur, you really will need to get with the program. (And BTW, have you actually looked at the number of the sisters in the top jobs? It might seem like you're being overrun but it's still 10 to one your way.) If you don't start making a bit of room at the end of the bar, you'll end up with some dreadful affirmative action program.

There are a couple of things you can do. First of all, think about lingo. Some sisters love the sport but a lot of them don't care if they can't tell their blind side from their silly point. So maybe there's some non-sporting common ground you can find. Fashion? Hmmm. Risky. How long till MasterChef comes back?

There are also these things called unconscious biases - what you don't know you don't know. A few online quizzes can help reveal if you have a propensity to see the world through a gender lens. It then might be worth trying to figure out what it is about the sisterhood you can't stand, other than the fact they're different.

One last ditch possibility might be this: in psychology, counsellors often recommend "desensitising" people with phobias through a course of familiarisation. One antidote might be an all-women executive retreat - plus you. That'll help you understand how the shoe (or should that now be the stiletto?) feels on the other foot.

Yours, BOSS Guru