Grappling with the Gray #98: Watching me watching you?

Should there be a presumption of privacy in public always, never, or sometimes?

That's the question driving the discussion when Mark Brown, CSP, Mark O'Brien, and K Kimi Hirotsu Ziemski join me to Grapple with the Gray!

And here is our topic:

In the wake of October 7, Columbia University has taken center stage amidst concerns about campus anti-Semitism. After a May 31 open forum addressing student safety and campus culture, three college deans were suspended for exchanging dismissive texts during the program. These included vomit emojis in reference to an op-ed by a campus rabbi and the suggestion that Jewish groups were exploiting the issue to boost fundraising revenues. 

Ironically, the dean who announced the suspensions was a fourth participant in the email exchanges for which the other three were suspended. He made no mention of his own involvement, but he did decry what he called an invasion of privacy by the unnamed individual who photographed the text messages from a row behind the deans.

Does he have a point? Does this constitute an invasion of privacy? The photographer claimed in an op-ed, published anonymously because of fear of reprisal, that they considered it a moral imperative to report and publicize these remarks.

What if the texts had been about private medical information? What if they had been about human trafficking? Those cases seem more black and white, and less gray. Or is the subject matter irrelevant since, perhaps, there is no presumption of privacy in a public place?

Meet the panel:

Mark Brown is a world champion international speaker, executive coach, artificial intelligence software advisor and, most important, devoted husband of his wife Andrea.

Mark O’Brien is founder and principal of O’Brien Communications Group, a B2B brand-management and marketing-communications firm — and host of The Anxious Voyage, a syndicated radio show about life’s trials and triumphs.

Kimi Hirotsu Ziemski is Founder of KSP Partnership, providing project management and project leadership courses and workshops to improve team dynamics and communications.

#ethics #leadership #culture #accountability #grappling