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David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after sexist remark

nytimes.com

11–20 of 33 posts

Re: David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after sexist remark

#11
I can't find it now, but there's a video of one of Ben Horowitz's lectures where he says one benefit of hiring women is that they communicate more openly and effectively, at least with each other. If a woman feels marginalized by another woman during a meeting, she's more likely to communicate that and solve the problem, rather than holding onto it.

I don't know if this is true or not, but since there was no backlash over this, it goes to show that context and tone influences what's seen as disparaging.

Re: David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after sexist remark

#12

I can't find it now, but there's a video of one of Ben Horowitz's lectures where he says one benefit of hiring women is that they communicate more openly and effectively, at least with each other. If a woman feels marginalized by another woman during a meeting, she's more likely to communicate that and solve the problem, rather than holding onto it. I don't know if this is true or not, but since there was no backlash…

Also, what's actually said surprisingly influences what's seen as disparaging.

Re: David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after sexist remark

#13
post #8

The remark: At an Uber staff meeting earlier in the day, Arianna Huffington, another Uber board member, said one woman on a board often leads to more women joining a board. Mr. Bonderman responded “that it’s much more likely to be more talking.” Seems ironic that Arianna's own site posted this: Biological Evidence May Support Idea That Women Talk More Than Men, Study Says http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/wome…

If you can't say anything without someone getting offended, maybe your communications stack is out of date.

Re: David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after sexist remark

#15
post #5

I wonder where the pressure came from that actually made him resign. His firm?

Maybe just the awkward air in the room that he just can't shake. Perhaps the comment in a different setting would have merited just an apology to the room...but tossing that out there, in that particular time and place. Just wow.

Re: David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after sexist remark

#16
post #8

The remark: At an Uber staff meeting earlier in the day, Arianna Huffington, another Uber board member, said one woman on a board often leads to more women joining a board. Mr. Bonderman responded “that it’s much more likely to be more talking.” Seems ironic that Arianna's own site posted this: Biological Evidence May Support Idea That Women Talk More Than Men, Study Says http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/wome…

There's two things I'd like to say:

1) The media rarely characterizes the actual underlying science correctly.

In this case, the journal entry [0] and an author of the paper herself[1] characterize it as simply a "difference" and are careful to not concretely link it to human-observable behavioral differences (such as "Women talk more", which the media is more than happy to expand upon to clickbaity levels in order to get more ad revenue).

2) History has shown that science, which strives for impartial and unbiased results, often has its results applied by biased and partial people who have agendas. Said agendas may include justification of the current status quo.

In my opinion, keeping these two points in mind is just an exercise of healthy critical thinking. When applied here, I reject your idea that this Huffington article justifies Bonderman's behavior as being unoffensive.

[0] http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=128545&Cult... [1] https://www.sfn.org/Press-Room/News-Release-Archives/2013/La...

Re: David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after sexist remark

#19
>"In a statement, Mr. Bonderman said his comment “came across in a way that was the opposite of what I intended, but I understand the destructive effect it had, and I take full responsibility for that.”

Is this just a very selective part of the statement then? Because saying something wildly inappropriate and "something failing to have its intended affect" are very different things.

Re: David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after sexist remark

#20
post #8

The remark: At an Uber staff meeting earlier in the day, Arianna Huffington, another Uber board member, said one woman on a board often leads to more women joining a board. Mr. Bonderman responded “that it’s much more likely to be more talking.” Seems ironic that Arianna's own site posted this: Biological Evidence May Support Idea That Women Talk More Than Men, Study Says http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/wome…

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