In the News–Women & Girls Leadership
The Doyenne of ‘Courage’ in Crisis
Bridget Paverd, PRSA, May 13, 2019
I spent a morning in New York City with Davia Temin last week.
While respectful of the knowledge of others, and always open to learning, there are just so many accomplished professionals that I am seldom blown away meeting a specialized superstar.
Davia is an exception.
Davia and I discussed crisis as we see it now, in 2019…. A world of ‘alternative facts’ and the MeToo movement. We shared war stories. I wanted to write down every word she said – she was so generous with advice. We talked about the value of the truth. And of listening. Of “hearing” both clients and audiences and moving our clients into recovery as quickly as possible.
Davia Temin has shaped, and continues to define, contemporary crisis communication. All of us who work in reputation management have been influenced by her leadership. Even those who don’t know her name follow her best practices. Barely a month goes by that she is not quoted in major media. […read more]
The Fixer
Dora Mekouar, VOA Connect, April 12, 2019
Davia Temin is featured in this Voice of America Connect story with reporting by Dora Mekouar. In this video she shares the story behind her woman-owned crisis and reputation management firm and the different tools firms and people can use when faced with catastrophe. […read more]
California to Mandate Gender Diversity in the Boardroom
Sonny Santistevan, CyberVista, September 11, 2018
California legislators have recently passed a bill that would mandate publicly-traded companies that are headquartered in California appoint one woman (at a minimum) on their board by the end of 2019. Boards with five or more directors will need to have at least two or three women by the end of 2021, contingent on the size of the board. Although California Governor Jerry Brown has yet to sign the bill, if he does, non-compliant companies will have to face financial penalties if they don’t adhere to the legislative mandate.
“There are many roads to Mecca and many ways we can accomplish strong, wise, smart, and diverse boards” said Davia Temin, President and CEO of Temin and Company. “On a principal level, I’m not very much for quotas. However, I think that the law is going along with the drumbeat of interest in getting more women on boards. I think it would happen regardless whether there is a law or not because I think the momentum is there, but I do think this is going to hurry it along.”
When asked if the legislation would test the pipeline of potential qualified female candidates, Temin seemed less concerned. “I do think there is a great pipeline for women directors – and a full pipeline for women directors that exist already, so I think that should this law be on the books, they will find some great people to populate the director ranks.” […read more]
Moonves Resigns Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Richard Quest, Quest Means Business, CNN Money, September 10, 2018
It’s a pivotal moment for the #MeToo Movement and for CBS. Their Chief Executive, Les Moonves, is leaving the company immediately, pushed out by fresh accusations of sexual assault. Moonves is the first Fortune 500 CEO to be ousted through the #MeToo era.
The controversy isn’t over because the details of Moonves’ payout is still to be decided. CBS shares have regained some of the early losses. They are still down for the day, that’s partly because with Moonves gone, the battle for control of CBS has come to an end.
Richard Quest talked to media reputation strategist, Davia Temin, about Moonves’ exit and potential payout, the #MeToo Movement, how a board should respond to years’ old allegations, and Serena Williams’ response to her fine at the U.S. Open. […read more]
Why You Should Serve on a Board Now
Jan Alexander, Robb Report’s Muse, May 29, 2018
If you follow the news of workplace sexual misconduct—and who doesn’t these days?—you’ve no doubt heard that investors in any number of companies are clamoring for more women on the board of directors. There are two great reasons for highly accomplished women to serve on the boards of corporations both large and small. One reason is that they need you—and not just because of Me Too. The other reason to serve on a board is that the experience will do a lot for your professional savvy, even when you’re at the top of your game, which you pretty much have to be.
Charges of sexual harassment or any kind of discrimination are a risk to a company’s reputation and therefore its shareholder value—and women board members and executives are the best assurance against a “wink-wink, nod-nod” culture, as Davia Temin puts it. Temin has been advising corporations about how to avoid becoming “Weinstein Co. 2.0“, but she says boards also need women because “some of the smartest and most thoughtful governance is being done by companies that have more women on their boards.” […read more]
Boy Scouts to Drop ‘Boy’ From Name of Main Scouting Program
Valerie Bauerlein, The Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2018
The Boy Scouts of America is changing the name of its marquee scouting program to reflect last fall’s historic decision to include girls. The Boy Scouts program for children aged 11 to 17 will lose the “boy” and be renamed Scouts BSA, effective in February of next year.
The rebranding announced Wednesday sets the century-old organization in direct competition with the Girl Scouts of the USA for a membership base that has been dwindling for decades.
Girl Scout alumna and volunteer Davia Temin said the organization must fight back aggressively against attempts to poach members. “They are executing on a hostile takeover, not just for the organization, for the girls of America.” […read more]
#MeToo Now Means Business
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Forbes #BigBusiness, April 30, 2018
Everyone asked whether the #MeToo movement storming through the political and media worlds would spread into business. Nike has explosively answered. A brand admired for its women’s empowerment messages, diversity and corporate social responsibility has just delivered a cautionary tale of leaders contradicting the corporate line. Over the past month, the company has fired half a dozen male senior executives for “conduct inconsistent with Nike’s core values and against our code of conduct.”
Not surprising that a group of Nike employees took things into their own hands and invited colleagues to respond to a survey about sexual harassment. Since the results were delivered to the CEO in March, six senior executives have left or soon will. Nike will now be in full crisis mode and will want to proactively execute the 15-point plan laid out by crisis management expert Davia Temin. […read more]
Banks wrestle with sense of futility on sexual harassment
Jackie Stewart, National Mortgage News, March 12, 2018
As titans of entertainment and media resign over sexual harassment charges, many bankers argue that their industry already had its reckoning two decades ago and is largely free of the worst problems as a result. But scratch beneath the surface, and there is a lingering feeling among many that harassment is not only present, but it may actually be inevitable, based on responses to a new survey that SourceMedia, the publisher of American Banker, conducted across the banking industry, including mortgages and payments professionals.
Banks have other ways to combat sexual harassment, experts agreed. One of them is simply to reject the notion that the problem is unsolvable.
“Sexual harassment has been around for decades, centuries, probably even longer,” said Davia Temin “But just because something has just reached a tipping point and is beginning to change, that doesn’t mean it is inevitable. It just means change has taken a long time to come.” […read more]
Investor Focus Shifts to Gender Pay Equity
Lindsay Frost, Agenda, January 29, 2018
The World Economic Forum kicked off last week in Davos, Switzerland, bringing together corporate heads and political titans to discuss, among other things, how the “Me Too” movement, pressure to provide equal opportunities for women and regulations in the U.S. and abroad are driving gender pay equity further into the spotlight.
“As discussions around women and the workplace and having a harassment-free, gender-neutral kind of presence in the workplace at the highest level gets raised over and over again, hopefully every time some fixes come with that,” says Davia Temin, CEO of strategy and communications consulting firm Temin and Company. “Extinguishing sexual harassment in organizations is here to stay, so with that comes a host of other issues [being addressed] — pay being one of them.” […read more]
Johnson Makes Rare Speech as Fidelity Deals With Harassment
Charles Stein, Laura Colby and Miles Weiss, Bloomberg, October 24, 2017
Fidelity Investments’ Abigail Johnson took center stage on Tuesday and counseled money managers gathering in Washington about charting their future in the digital world. But the chief executive, a featured speaker at one of the industry’s biggest conferences, is also struggling with a stubborn legacy of the past: the treatment of women in the world of finance.
Over the last two months, Fidelity, one of the largest investment companies, has dismissed two portfolio managers — one over allegations of inappropriate sexual comments and another over claims of sexually harassing a female junior employee.
Fidelity and other money managers may face a flood of complaints “now that the lid is off,” said Davia Temin, president and CEO of Temin & Co., a New York based crisis-management company.
Going forward, Johnson has to continue to “set the tone” that the organization will take every case that comes to light seriously and emphasize there’s also a business case for doing so, said Temin. While Fidelity is a closely held company without public shareholders, its customer base cares about these issues, she said. Some public pension funds already demand that women be included on teams that manage their money. […read more]
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