Has anyone here heard of something called the ‘retirement corridor’? I must admit it’s a new one on me.
I saw it mentioned in a story featuring David Watts, UK & Ireland managing director of TD Synnex, on the ITChannelOxygen website. The phrase came towards the end of the article after Watts had shared his thoughts on AI (“Most people are nowhere with it”) when he was discussing staff demographics and the progress of women in the company’s top management team.
In that context, the retirement corridor would appear to be the space you walk through on the way up to the doors marked “Exit for retirement”. Believe it or not, there is actually something called the ‘corridor principle’, created by Harvard professor Robert Ronstadt which, according to an article I found on the Web, argues that starting any venture “creates a ‘corridor’ of opportunity….Retirement is often viewed as a time to slow down, but it can also be a time to accelerate toward dreams you’ve deferred.”
Watts cited the examples of Lynnette White, who was promoted to run the distributor’s Dell business and Amy Brady, who achieved the role of sales director for major accounts. “That’s very interesting from a DE&I [diversity, equity and inclusivity] point of view,” he said, “because one of the things we always said was, regardless of all the efforts we were putting in, there needs to be just a demographic change at some point. We had so many women who were just ready for that next stage. They’re two great examples of people who have moved into our senior team.”
It’s interesting how, in that context, the notion of retirement as a time “to accelerate toward dreams you’ve deferred” can be applied equally to the retiree and the person taking his place.
The DEI factor
The substance of what Watts is saying here is that the demographic trend as more women advance within businesses, including those in technology, works almost in tandem with DEI. Which makes complete sense. More women are going to progress to positions of seniority as more are employed in the tech sector. It’s inevitable that there will be more female candidates for the top jobs. As the old saying goes: Time waits for no man.
Not that there aren’t some trying their best to keep it waiting for as long as they can. I’m talking about the people for whom DEI is like garlic to a vampire. There’s no need to name them here. You can guess who they are. They pitch this as a wider battle to halt DEI because it’s ‘unfair’ or ‘biased’, but in reality they’re fighting against the demographics of participation in the workforce beyond straight white Christian males.
If DEI is ‘unfair’, why does Watts specifically note that “one of the things we always said was, regardless of all the efforts we were putting in, there needs to be just a demographic change at some point”.
It raises the question, doesn’t it, of just how powerful DEI can be when all the efforts to make it part of the organisation’s ethos were still less effective than simple demographics? What seems to be happening now, with the push against DEI, is an effort to tilt the balance against an inevitable demographic trend to protect and preserve the status of one group.
Unfortunately, technology can be misused to reinforce this effort to turn back time. The misogynistic messaging conveyed through social media platforms and their deployment for the promotion of noxious and demeaning views about females is helping to strengthen the effort to delay and frustrate the progress to a more equal society.
The fact that nearly all AI leaders are male and white (and that at least one of them is deeply misogynistic) does not provide much comfort for those who wish to believe technology will help usher in a fairer, more equal society in the future. It should be noted, however, that it doesn’t require technology to create a two-tier society where women are denied equality and independence as the Taliban have shown.
Nevertheless, it seems to me right now that there are countries (such as the Trump administration and other heavy promoters of the poisonous manosphere ethos), that are in a retirement corridor of their own making. The question is where will it exit? Will the corridor lead to the end of efforts to deliver equality for all or the end of the forces fighting tooth and nail to reverse it?
TD Synnex created a corridor of opportunity that offers a glimmer of hope. It would be shocking if, after being forced to wait so long, the vast majority of people who aren’t white males should have their progress denied again. And even more shameful if technology provides the platforms to reverse that progress.
Ltd
