What are you risking when you speak up to your boss, or accept an ethically dubious task?
Susan Kim risks:
- Mr. Moon getting upset,
- Leading to a bad impression on the company,
- Leading to no return offer,
- Possibly leading to a difficult time with future employers,
- Leading to the inability to do the cybersecurity work that excites her most.
Personally, I’d also worry about:
- Being blackballed in tech recruiting / the industry,
- Leading to a very difficult time landing interviews,
- Leading to not working in the field I wanted to,
- Leading to years of specific college education not being applied in my work.
How might the intern follow this plan to achieve their desired effect?
1) First, realize how psychologically difficult — and worthwhile — speaking up can be.
- Susan feels in her gut that this is wrong and that she should speak up — this deserves commendation.
- Moon chose to heighten the power dynamic by CCing.
- Mentor figures like your father or Melissa were discouraging — they are only a couple perspectives.
2) Second, work to lessen the social threat that speaking up creates.
- Find camaraderie with other interns: did they have similar experiences? What had they done?
- If possible, try to set up time with Emma, the head of marketing CC’d, other HR reps from the company in order to ask for feedback on this kind of practice. This will allow others to hear your perspective (hopefully giving you a support system) and allow you to gauge if it’s a company-wide or a just-Moon culture.
- Hear from people from other cybersecurity companies that you might see yourself at.
3) Make a plan.
- Plan a 1-1 meeting time to address concerns.
- Write out bullet points of exactly why the shadowing is unethical and what you want to address.
- Practice speaking to a mirror or a trusted person.
