As I write this, the Golden Globes award ceremony (where women wore black this year to honor the #MeToo movement) is topping the pop culture news reports. Like so many other so-called revelations about ills in society, sexual harassment has always been a fact of life if you're female.

You don't have to take my word for it. Take your own poll of co-workers, even family members. Ask your teenage daughter the last time somebody she didn't know made an inappropriate suggestion to her. You may be shocked by the answer.

As in any challenging turn of events, though, there is opportunity.

The meat processing industry is not known in general as being welcoming to women. Certainly some women have succeeded and some companies have done a great job making that happen. But in many more, women rarely rise beyond science and communications rolls into the executive suite.

You and your company should do everything possible to let it be known, far and wide, that yours is the company where women executives can find a home and chase their most ambitious dreams.

Here's why: The number and variety of studies showing that diversity in management pays off in growth and return on investment are legion. See here, here and here.

There is also the issue of liability. More and more, women on the production line who feel abused by demeaning treatement are willing to sue.

And because, honestly, your company's and your executives' approach to women is a matter of public knowledge. Social media makes certain of that.

At the bar, at the reception in the evening after the long day, it's a topic of discussion among women. If you've only participated in the discussions about which women on the show floor were the most attractive, you were not party to the most important conversations; the ones that could very well determine the course of your career.

My point in this: Your actions are representative of your company's entire corporate culture. And whether you are paving the way for talented female executives to reach their career apex, or blocking the same, is a topic of wider conversation.

People talk.

What are they saying about your company?

#MeToo

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