Strategy
Moving towards a more equal workplace requires action from both men and women, but oftentimes men don't speak up enough, says Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org.
"Guys often think sexist comments aren't cool but don't speak up," she wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. "If the goal is for all people to view the potential of girls and women in new bold ways, then we need those dude voices!"
In order to activate those dude voices, Lublin had to get creative, which is where the word "pineapple" comes in.
"Here at DoSomething.org, we've turned it into a trigger word. When someone says something sexist, another person can shout out the word "pineapple!" and the sexist offender has to drop and do 10 pushups."
Even a verb form of the trigger word has emerged in the office, and Lublin admitted to being pineappled a few weeks ago:
We were discussing the incredible leadership at another organization. I kept using masculine pronouns and saying, "that guy has done a terrific job!" One of the guys on my team shouted, "pineapple!" because it turns out, the CEO is actually a woman. Silly me for assuming the CEO was a guy! I dropped and did 10 feeble girl pushups...and when I said that, I was pineappled again!
Lublin hopes that companies nation wide will adopt this solution. "Pineapple-ing is fun, bonds a team, combats sexism, and gives you great abs."
Read the full LinkedIn post here.