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Why Goldman Sachs’ behavior in Bully Market by Jamie Fiore Higgins is just not that unusual

I have just finished reading Bully Market – the story of how Jamie Fiore Higgins rose to MD at Goldman Sachs while hating the culture but loving the money. It’s a fast fun read, not great literature but a compelling insight into the behaviors women have put up with in the last 30 years that are all too common, and yet still egregious enough to be shocking. She’s brave to write so frankly about what she experienced – hats off to her. You can read the NY Times review here. The [...]

By |2022-11-08T13:29:58-08:00November 7, 2022|Career Advice|Comments Off on Why Goldman Sachs’ behavior in Bully Market by Jamie Fiore Higgins is just not that unusual
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Golf is an old man’s game (in Silicon Valley at least)

It's different here. Yes it's not perfect, but it is so different. We don't care if Mark Zuckerberg wears a hoodie, men don't wear ties here and the last point in Julie Steinberg's recent WSJ article on the Nine Rules Women Must Follow To Get Ahead  --- that as a woman you need to "Dress well and play golf" is just out of touch. Successful young people (men and women) in Silicon Valley certainly don't need to play golf here to get ahead. In 25 years of being a high [...]

By |2017-12-06T16:58:03-08:00May 10, 2012|Equality|1 Comment
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Is it ever acceptable to use the term “Rape” in a business context?

Are you made uncomfortable by the repeated use of the word "rape" in a work setting? To my surprise I was. First let me preface this by saying I am no shrinking violet. I'm a CEO who grew up in the semiconductor business where blue language and sexual harassment is/was common. I'm tough to shock and I will drop an F-bomb myself to make a point (although I am trying to stop this!). But I found myself in the middle of a conversation about how a class of vendors would [...]

By |2017-12-03T02:44:36-08:00May 10, 2012|Equality|2 Comments
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Girls and 1000 tech jobs in Nashville

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 [...]

By |2017-12-06T17:01:10-08:00February 3, 2012|Equality|1 Comment
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5 leadership keys for women

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 [...]

By |2017-12-03T02:44:41-08:00September 16, 2011|Equality|0 Comments
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Go ahead and ask the “girl questions”

So often women long to ask the “girl questions” – the ones tied to their roles as mothers and household managers – and yet fear asking them in a male dominated workplace.Every time I talk with groups of women about anything I am swamped with questions about child care, sharing house work and what my husband and/or kids think about me working and being a CEO. It’s as if there is a pent up demand for answers or guideposts along the road and yet, in reality, there are none.Yesterday’s excellent [...]

By |2017-12-06T17:05:38-08:00July 5, 2011|Career Advice, Equality|0 Comments
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Women want to make money too – and this is news?

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 [...]

By |2017-12-06T17:06:58-08:00May 3, 2011|Equality|3 Comments
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Is a broken arm a priority?

I found myself telling this story to a journalist last week as I described some of the weird and funny experiences that come with my choices in life. I've written before that I think balance is a myth - it's impossible to achieve if you are a CEO and a mother - and there are days when you just have to choose.One day when my son Sebastian was 8 years old - it was the last day of the quarter at Simplex. We had the traditional kind of business where [...]

By |2017-12-06T17:12:06-08:00December 7, 2010|Equality, Leadership|0 Comments
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Video interview – on raising venture capital as a woman

Pemo Theodore of EZebis is creating a series of interviews with women, and a few men, around the challenges and successes women face raising venture capital.The low number of women entrepreneurs getting funded (see the WSJ chime in on this, and Techcrunch be controversial as usual) is a hot topic right now. And how and whether women should get extra help. Dip into the comments on these two articles to see how intense people get on the subject.Here's my interview with Pemo which she published today:I've been fortunate enough to [...]

By |2017-12-06T17:13:57-08:00September 6, 2010|Equality|1 Comment
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