When Crises and Ethics Test Museum Leadership

***** About a month ago, before the world turned upside down, Caroline Baumann, then director of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum abruptly resigned. Baumann's resignation was sudden, arriving with absolutely no information. A week later, there was more context. She was outed ostensibly by a whistleblower and charged with conflict of interest around the circumstances of her 2018 wedding. First, the Smithsonian suggested Baumann's dress, from designer Samantha Sleeper, which retailed for $3,000 cost Baumann $750. Getting a special occasion dress at a bargain price isn't an ethical breach, but the Smithsonian and the whistleblower accused Baumann of providing Sleeper with a free ticket to a Cooper Hewitt event. In addition, it was suggested that the location of Baumann's wedding ceremony (not the reception) was also a quid pro quo as she received it for free from a Long Island non-profit and then subsequently offered them meeting space for their board meeting. There are a few leadership lessons here. The first is if you're a director it isn't just conflict you need to be mindful of, but also the appearance of conflict. Second, as important as it is to have whistleblowers, they too can be flawed individuals, and looking for conflict is easier if you're already angry at your museum. I'm not suggesting this particular whistleblower was disgruntled, but it's one more thing leaders need to bear in mind, and if there is no appearance of conflict, there's no way a whistleblower can misuse the process. Next is the lesson that no matter what role you play as museum director--whether it's a city the size of Manhattan or a small town--there needs to be a firewall between your personal life and your work life. Baumann claims the Cooper Hewitt's PR consultant encouraged her to "shed light on her personal life." This resulted in the Cooper Hewitt highlighting Baumann's wedding. The last, and for me the most interesting, is the glaze of gender politics over Baumann's resignation. The Cooper Hewitt lost six trustees who resigned in anger, a boatload of money from each of them, and a 19-year employee who had risen to be director, and who outwardly had done an exemplary job. The failed novelist in me has tried again and again to imagine this scenario happening to a man. It's not impossible, but it is unlikely. Is it possible that while the Smithsonian followed its necessary protocols, its investigation wasn't without bias? Was there implicit bias on the part of the investigators and the inspector general leading to a less than nuanced outcome? It's likely we'll never know. What we do know is women leaders walk a different path than their male counterparts. As Kaywin Feldman concluded in her 2016 AAM keynote: "Our society will not benefit from the leadership of female museum directors, across all types of museums, of all sizes, until museum boards are more cognizant of their internal biases, and tendency to dismiss female leadership styles." Stay safe. Joan Baldwin Image: Anchorage Daily News