When a guy named Harvey Weinstein is suddenly fired from a company called the Weinstein Company, it should serve as a blaring alert to every powerful person in America who has preyed on less powerful people: Don't think you can avoid the consequences.
If one of Hollywood's biggest moguls is losing his position at the successful film studio he co-founded, no harasser is safe. If this sort of behavior can't be ignored in an industry where the casting couch is a perennial cliche, no company that tolerates harassment is safe. The era in which superiors can freely subject those below them to unwanted advances or comments has ended. Those who don't change will quickly become extinct.
In a statement, Weinstein admitted that "the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain," saying he came of age "when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different." Still, his lawyer said he "denies many of the accusations as patently false."
Will this be the scandal that finally forces abusers and their employers to realize they have to change? Maybe so. But there have been plenty of other cases that should have put them all on notice.
Roger Ailes, who built Fox News into a colossus, was fired last year after some two dozen women came forward to accuse him of using his position to try to extract sexual favors. He was followed out the door by Fox News megastar Bill O'Reilly, ruined by credible allegations of similar conduct.
Uber founder Travis Kalanick was forced out as CEO for allegedly tolerating a company culture of sexual harassment.
CEO Mike Cagney got the boot from the personal finance lending startup SoFi amid multiple claims that he and some of his managers engaged in sexual harassment.
Weinstein had the power to make careers, and his accusers had much to lose by stepping forward. But he failed to grasp how the ground had shifted beneath him.
Another obvious question: Where on Earth was the board of directors? The settlements paid to buy silence go back decades.
Directors there and elsewhere should be more vigilant going forward. Turning a blind eye to misconduct invites costly lawsuits and settlements for the companies they are supposed to be supervising.
Directors at this company and others who have ignored such conduct should stop assuming sexual harassment can be covered up. And the episode should deliver a strong message to executives who think they are entitled to take advantage of those beneath them for sexual pleasure: Clean up your act or clean out your desk.