I've been watching Project Runway since the beginning. My college work-study job at The New School was in the Financial Aid office and Tim Gunn was the Dean of Parsons School of Design. He was one of THE LOVELIEST MEN I HAD EVER MET…especially being a newbie to New York and especially in Fashion at Parsons. He was who you saw on TV. I even followed him and Heidi to the duplicate copy of the show at Amazon when they both left. And reluctantly I'm back because I really like Christian Siriano, the former contestant turned winner turned advocate impeccable designer for all bodies.

I also love watching people create on TV - food, fashion, and survival (I really like Alone but I digress). I love the process of discovery, creation, and reveal. What I always loved about Project Runway was the way the feedback was thoughtful - a fashion designer, a model, and an editorial director. For seasons upon seasons we have seen a vast array of talent sketch, cry, run through Mood, fail, succeed, and discover their voices. Knowing me, you know where I'm going with this, right? I do pop culture meets the workplace because people don't sever their interest in pop culture once the workday starts so we might as well use it.

Which brings me to this season. To be honest, this season feels like last season - it's one big long side-eye (not from me but from the judges). But this season feels like we have hit a bump we may not recover from. It's less about the work and more about the "feedback." We have the cattiness, the backstabbing, and the insults that take up more time than the creation. We have hit the moment where this season feels workplace intruded on pop culture.

Law Roach is one of the smartest stylists out there. The magic he creates with his talent like Zendaya is incredible. But he has some feedback baggage. He's brought the mean biting verbal punches he probably picked up early in his career. I know those verbal punches well. I worked for a CEO that used to scream at us (his support staff) and sometimes hit himself upside the head out of frustration. Every terrible boss cliché you can think of. And so I get why Law could have these actions in his vocabulary. But I want it to end. I want him to drop it like I had to. Because he's perpetuating the idea that we can't learn how to give the kind of feedback that helps people grow. You can give direct feedback that's clear, fair, and transparent that doesn't attack people's personality and character. Law literally did that in last week's episode. We weren't talking about fashion. We are reduced to watch an attempt to torture Joseph McRae's character and Law kept throwing daggers.

This was the worst of Law's infractions and I was already teetering on not watching but I wanted to support my high school mate, Aaron Potts, a VERY talented and experienced fashion designer with a CV that would run circles around most.

But at work we can't change the channel or opt out. We have managers who subscribe to the Law Roach School of Feedback - where personal blends with professional. Where the opinions dress up as critique. Where the goal isn't to help but to right-size according to one's opinion. Feedback is an art and it's not absolved of biases or microaggressions. If you pick up the feedback habits of what has come before you without examining why, all you are doing is carrying old baggage. Not vintage. Old. If Tyra Banks is the person who has to tell you to chill, you are in trouble (we won't even get into the overlay of America's Next Top Model).

The good news is that if you are a manager of people, you can fix this without the cameras on you. And trust, social media is ablaze with how Law's "feedback" went too far. Feedback is structured, measurable, tied to goals - department, individual and company. Feedback is supposed to propel you towards always getting better with useful information. Some of my favorite immediate resources are my dear colleague and friend dani herrera and Ashley Herd’s Manager Method. 

We don't have to continue with the "beautiful gowns" in feedback, do we?

My good friend and practitioner dani herrera is booking up for Hispanic Heritage Month! 

She has 10 sessions planned for the season, and they're all built around what Latine employees are really asking for (career development, allyship, and leadership skills). Connect with her and check out her deck!

One my dreams is coming true. I’m joining THE Hebba Youssef and the WorkWeek Team at the next SafeSpace Summit in CA!

Fellow Theatre Kid and HR Strategist Kim Rohrer invited me on her podcast, So Drama, where we talk about how work and theatre intersect and how theatre actually prepared us for work.

Highlights include:
🎭 Why playwriting builds a thicker skin than almost any other professional training
💡 The power of the reframe: "I am not for everyone AND everyone is not for me."
🪞Show, don't tell: what bad theater and bad leadership have in common
🤝 The "one slot" problem: how gatekeeping in theater mirrors gatekeeping in HR
📚 Why impact outlives title, and what that means for how you measure your own success

Check out here and let me know what you think!