Women and men in the workplace must speak up and stand for Jane Doe in any and every reported account of sexual harassment, discrimination or sexual violence at work or work-related functions.

The brutal account enumerated in a lawsuit brought recently by Jane Doe, a Cornell University student who names seven male fraternity brothers in her accounts of sexual assault in 2024, underscores the urgency for systems in place to end sexual harassment and assault everywhere, including the workplace.

Stories of workplace sexual harassment seem as old as time, going back to Hollywood representations including the 1937 film, “Ever Since Eve,” the role reversals of Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in the 1959 blockbuster “Some Like It Hot,” the 1980 blockbuster, “9 to 5,” as well as the 2022 “She Said,” about Harvey Weinstein.      

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The glass cliff is not new. And yes, it is a very real and dangerous precipice for women leaders around the world in every industry.

Just ask Chris Bradley, an Australia-based McKinsey & Company senior partner who was removed  “from his leadership role at the firm’s research arm after he posted online comments questioning the uphill battle female executives face in the workplace.”

The McKinsey Global Institute director who has been at the firm 27 years was removed from that role—but kept his partner position—after posting on LinkedIn that the glass cliff is not real. It is “a very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain,” he posted, according to Financial Review.

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The common assumption in the workplace about trust is that you can’t trust the people around you. That needs to shift.  Trust with colleagues, leaders, clients, associates and employees must always be on the menu.

At the recent Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference 2026, Minda Harts, best-selling author, consultant, filmmaker, equity specialist and workplace communications expert, spoke with David Smith, Professor and Co-Director of the Gender and Work Initiative at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, about what trust—and the assumption of its absence—means today.

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 “The workplace is broken.”

W. Brad Johnson, founder and CEO of Workplace Allies, told a crowd at the recent Take The Lead Power Up Conference, with great certainty that how employees who are caregivers are treated must change.

Moderating the panel, “The Power of Care: Women Leading at Work and at Home,” Johnson said, “More than 73% in society identify as caregivers and we struggle with archaic norms. It is not an issue of ambition, it is a choice for self-preservation,” said the co-author with David Smith of Fair Share: How Men and Women Can Create a More Equitable Workplace Together; Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies For Women In The Workplace; Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women.

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Sometimes your heroes are small and the lessons of their legacy unimaginably enormous.

Margaret Atwood, 86, iconic author and truthteller, told a grateful audience at Take The Lead’s  Power Up Conference 2026 on Women’s Equality Day recently in Washington, D.C., that she has always used the tools at her disposal to demonstrate power and utility—including the truth.

Growing up spring, summer and fall in the backwoods of remote, northern Quebec, with her parents, a brother and sister, Atwood said she did not attend school until she was 12.

“I’ve got three chainsaws—big, medium size and a circular saw. You learn to use tools and you learn that girls can really do just about anything,” she said in an onstage conversation with Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead.

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She was the F word.

Gloria Steinem embodied, embraced and shared the mission of feminism globally for millions of women in many generations around the world who --because of her influence--knew they could become whom they wanted to be.

The co-founder of Ms. Magazine and the Women's Action Alliance, passed this week at 92 years old. The author of nine books, she touched the lives of women and girls with hope, optimism, determination, support and a new definition of what it means to be female. First, second, third, fourth wave and post-feminists owe her immense gratitude.

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