Ernest Hemingway as an icon is profitable for the village of Oak Park, IL however, he had many issues that made him an OD Nightmare. If it was focused upon by a consumer base, it would deter many from holding him in such high regard. So the question from an Organization Development perceptive is could these negatives be turned into positives? If one could turn those negatives to positives would that add to his profitability as a brand?
Could one turn these Hemingway negatives into positives?
- Hemingway’s bouts with depression and the stigma of mental health
- Use of the “N”-word
- Hemingway’s attitude towards women
Hemingway had various bouts of depression which would take a lot more space than I have here to explain about. But let it be known that it is the reason or guiding force behind this Icon’s demise; suicide. From an OD perspective, something as grim as this could be a huge negative when reaching out to younger audiences.
On the flip side, the stigma of mental health issues has gotten better over the years, and treatment for depression has come light years since Hemingway’s death and explaining that as an OD person we have not only turned a negative to a positive we have found a new way for Hemingway to be profitable (Martin, 2006). For example, linking local mental health sand the need for better understanding of depression in the present day, the tragedy of Hemingway’s fight with depression can lead to profitable partnerships with local medical facilities. That would enlighten Hemingway’s gruff exterior or negative image when it comes to depression and cross-section Hemingway to an entirely new audience. Plus, it could allow such organizations like the Hemingway museum to gain more traffic if they are discussing say, new treatments digital cognitive behavioral therapy (dCBT) and how it helps patients today. To the Randomized Controlled Trials, that deals with major depressive episodes either could then be slightly linked to Hemingway as treatments that could have prolonged his life, if introduced at that time. The goal here is given local medical groups an avenue, a partnership to discuss these issues and have another (yet famous) subject to discuss this issue with while drawing attention and revenue to all the organizations involved. These changes as part of the presentation of Hemingway exhibits can reach a newer audience: professionals in the field of psychology, and other related fields.
Hemingway as a womanizer and his overall attitude towards women can, from a clinical psychological standpoint could be traced to his mother. Unfortunately, that could have negative connations as well. Hemingway can be used instead as a lesson of how women’s rights and roles that women play today have evolved. Hemingway’s portrayal of women in his novels, his multiple marriages. and multiple affairs paint the picture of a man that does not hold women in high regard (Assemi, 2012). In this is a foundation to connect how women rights, for being the stay at home mom as the only aspiration for their lives to being able to enter the workforce on an near equal footing as their male counterparts (Cobble, 2005). The Hemingway museum or any other Hemingway-themed organization could add “comparison-discussions” of these changes as part of the presentation of Hemingway exhibits to reach again a newer audience: young women. This new audience would definitely be intrigued by these new discussions (services) offered by these organizations and increasing the organization's customer base.
With Hemingway’s use of the n-word in the short story “The Killers”, Hemingway becomes a polarizing figure much like Mark Twain, from an OD Perspective there is a need to explain the usage of this word was commonplace at the time when Hemingway wrote this story (Hamilton, 2010). It does not make it right, however, it confronts Hemingway’s negative blemish and starts a discussion that Hemingway-themed organizations can partner themselves with civil rights groups, local schools, etc., to introduce why this is not acceptable, in the present day. These discussions would again increase the traffic to Hemingway-themed institutions, by tying Hemingway as a great novelist who is a product of his time, explains this negative blemish that would cripple most organization nowadays. With this type of presentation organizations that romanticize Hemingway can still do so but explain the negative issues of using such language today, without the fear of stigma that would usually go along with it.
In each general approach that I have aforementioned here, is a broad way that an Organization Development specialist can approach a brand that has as many negatives as Ernest Hemingway does, three that are organization killers nowadays. Sexism, Racism and the stigma of mental health would make many shy away from celebrities, brands and organizations, the collateral damage and public relations nightmares that each would cause today could be epic depending on the status of an icon like Hemingway. But with each paragraph is a broad-based approach of how from an Organization Development standpoint one would work to repair that damage wrought by these negatives and bring people back to the brand known as Hemingway.
Assemi, A., Asayesh, M. E., Jabraili, A., Sheikhzade, M., & Hajmohammadian, M. (2012) “Women Ignorance in Short Stories of Hemingway.” 2012 International Conference on Language, Medias and Culture IPEDR vol.33 (2012)
Books Against Time http://www.counter-currents.com/2010/09/race-in-ernest-hemingways-the-killers/
Cobble, D. S. (2005). The other women's movement: Workplace justice and social rights in modern America. Princeton University Press.
Hamilton, Andrew (2010) “Race in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers” Counter-Currents Publishing
Luik, A. I., Bostock, S., Chisnall, L., Kyle, S. D., Lidbetter, N., Baldwin, N., & Espie, C. A. (2016). Treating Depression and Anxiety with Digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia: A Real World NHS Evaluation Using Standardized Outcome Measures. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 1-6. Martin, C. D. (2006). Ernest Hemingway: a psychological autopsy of a suicide. Psychiatry, 69(4), 351-361.
Magnani, M., Sasdelli, A., Bellino, S., Bellomo, A., Carpiniello, B., Politi, P., ... & Berardi, D. (2016). Treating Depression: What Patients want, Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Primary Care. Psychosomatics.
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