The same issue comes up every time. "I offer an idea at a meeting, no one listens to me and then a man says the same thing and everyone listens". This is what I hear again and again from women in tech. Often they are the only woman on a team and so the only woman in the room. Often they are smart, nerdy and not very assertive. Sometimes, not always, they are very polite too. Their ideas get overlooked and it upsets them. And they ask me for advice. [...]
The evidence would say so, but perception would differ. I read the new survey by Zenger Folkman "Women do it Better than Men", as featured in the Harvard Business Review last week, covering the differences in leadership between men and women this morning with a heavy heart... The good news is that in 12 of the 16 categories women were ranked higher than men by their peers, their bosses and by their direct reports. And not only on the traditional softer areas like nurturing. "Specifically, at all levels, women are [...]
We have a real problem with jobs in tech. We have more jobs than qualified people.This is not in the news today because for much of the US population there are not enough jobs. Not enough jobs that people are trained for. And yet in Silicon Valley we have 1 tech position open for every 2 that are filled. Hiring great technical staff is tough and increasingly expensive.But this is not just a California problem. At the Nashville Technology Council’s annual meeting last week the theme was Diversity – and [...]
When someone takes a strong, clearly personal position and claims it is the majority is it journalism, controversy for it's own sake or an unprincipled pursuit of traffic?Penelope Trunk's recent blog Stop Telling Women To Do Startups is one such example that begs the question. With statements like :"Here’s a post by Tara Brown wondering why women don’t comment on VC blogs. Here’s the answer: Because women don’t care." We don't? All of us? Are you sure? Maybe we are just very focused in the use of our time as [...]
Do women lead differently than men? Yes, usually. Do women face more barriers than men? Frequently. But do women often hold themselves back ? Yes.I gave a leadership talk and Q&A, at a tech company in Silicon Valley a couple of weeks ago where I was meeting with female leaders in a hardcore semiconductor company. Because it's hardcore it was a small group, and because I grew up (professionally) in a hardcore technical environment like that I spoke to the things I have seen women do that hold them back [...]
Sometimes I read articles about women in tech that make me angry, sometime they make me laugh. They rarely make me sad but this one did.Penelope Trunk wrote a piece for BNET titled: Are Startups Better as Single-Gender Affairs? Based on the author's experience in three startups it reinforces the stereotypes that women and men can't work together because they are too different and just can't get along.This is just simply not true, but feeds the confidence of the men who don't want to bring women into the workplace, or [...]
In a world where women still make less money than men for the same job, iVillage and Today.com have released a survey that shows - shock horror - that salary is the most important criteria for a woman choosing a job."97% of working moms surveyed saying that salary is most important to them, followed by a family-friendly work environment (91%), job enjoyment (91%), flexible hours (86%), a short commute (83%) and health insurance for the family (81%)".Why is this news?The report attributes this to "today's fragile economy" and this infuriates [...]
It's great that President Obama came to silicon valley to meet with the leading tech CEOs. But the lack of diversity in the leadership of the Valley is made even more stark when the President is half African-American.Look a this "iconic" picture as Fortune dubs it. All white men except the President, Carol Bartz (the only one in color) and a blond woman with her back to the camera who does not even warrant a name. If we needed one more reminder of the need to recruit more women into [...]