6 ms·

Being the CEO of one of the largest tech companies, he should already have thought threw a monumental issue like the egregious sexism and racism in the tech ind

by JoergR 12y ago

Being the CEO of one of the largest tech companies, he should already have thought threw a monumental issue like the egregious sexism and racism in the tech industry. If he started thinking about it on a panel honoring one of the few women in tech, he's part of the problem.

kyllo 12y ago
Yep, he was speaking at a conference specifically about women in tech, he has no excuse for not having been prepared with a good answer for this question. That he admits to having learned something from this experience, though, is surely a positive.
- JoergR 12y ago
  I'm not holding my breath...
cookiecaper 12y ago
Neither the question or his response had anything to do with gender. The only connection is that it was incidentally asked at a conference marketed to women. He was asked what he thought about employees asking for raises. He said he thinks it jeopardizes the trust between a report and a boss. That's a perfectly valid answer, whether you agree with it or not. He should just avoid these types of conferences all together so that things like this don't get negatively construed by association.
- hnal943 12y ago
  He should just avoid these types of conferences all together so that things like this don't get negatively construed by association. Absolutely. And this shows how useless this type of conference really is. If there's only one right answer to the question, the only benefit to attending is to pose for holy pictures about how sensitive you are to the needs of $DISADVANTAGED_GROUP.
- albedoa 12y ago
  > Neither the question or his response had anything to do with gender. I wasn't there, but the article says that both the question and his response addressed women: > Earlier at that conference, Nadella was asked to give his advice for women wanting to ask for a raise. He said it's not about asking for raises, and that women should trust in the system to reward them as they go along.
  - cookiecaper 12y ago
    I transcribed the full question and response here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8437781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8437781 He was asked what he thought about women who are too afraid to ask for a raise. And he said he thought they were better off because people shouldn't ask for a raise anyway. The question did specify women, though really it's applicable to anyone who is too nervous to ask for a raise, and Nadella responded with a non-gender-specific response except an attempt to pander by saying being afraid to ask for a raise "might be an additional superpower" of female employees, in effect stating that women have superior political instincts.
andrewvc 12y ago
I fully agree! He should have just said "I know it's a huge problem, and candidly I don't have the answer, the research shows that women get short shrift for asking for raises, and there doesn't seem to be a clear good way to do it. Of course, that's something we don't like to see at Microsoft, but changing/countering subtle biases is extremely hard, and this conference has inspired me to allocate some resources, and take a hard look at what is possible here"

by JoergR 12y ago

kyllo 12y ago

Yep, he was speaking at a conference specifically about women in tech, he has no excuse for not having been prepared with a good answer for this question. That he admits to having learned something from this experience, though, is surely a positive.

JoergR 12y ago
I'm not holding my breath...

cookiecaper 12y ago

Neither the question or his response had anything to do with gender. The only connection is that it was incidentally asked at a conference marketed to women. He was asked what he thought about employees asking for raises. He said he thinks it jeopardizes the trust between a report and a boss. That's a perfectly valid answer, whether you agree with it or not. He should just avoid these types of conferences all together so that things like this don't get negatively construed by association.

hnal943 12y ago
He should just avoid these types of conferences all together so that things like this don't get negatively construed by association. Absolutely. And this shows how useless this type of conference really is. If there's only one right answer to the question, the only benefit to attending is to pose for holy pictures about how sensitive you are to the needs of $DISADVANTAGED_GROUP.
albedoa 12y ago
> Neither the question or his response had anything to do with gender. I wasn't there, but the article says that both the question and his response addressed women: > Earlier at that conference, Nadella was asked to give his advice for women wanting to ask for a raise. He said it's not about asking for raises, and that women should trust in the system to reward them as they go along.
- cookiecaper 12y ago
  I transcribed the full question and response here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8437781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8437781 He was asked what he thought about women who are too afraid to ask for a raise. And he said he thought they were better off because people shouldn't ask for a raise anyway. The question did specify women, though really it's applicable to anyone who is too nervous to ask for a raise, and Nadella responded with a non-gender-specific response except an attempt to pander by saying being afraid to ask for a raise "might be an additional superpower" of female employees, in effect stating that women have superior political instincts.

andrewvc 12y ago

I fully agree! He should have just said "I know it's a huge problem, and candidly I don't have the answer, the research shows that women get short shrift for asking for raises, and there doesn't seem to be a clear good way to do it. Of course, that's something we don't like to see at Microsoft, but changing/countering subtle biases is extremely hard, and this conference has inspired me to allocate some resources, and take a hard look at what is possible here"