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For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

bloomberg.com

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Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#31

Post by baq »

luckylion wrote: post #7
dang wrote: post #5

This is an interesting and in-depth article that was inappropriately flagged. I've turned off the flags. I understand the impulse to flag follow-up stories [1], especially on the hottest controversies of the moment, which always produce a flood of articles, most of which aren't very good. Curiosity and repetition don't go together [2]. But it's important to recognize the articles that are higher than median quality a…

> This is an interesting and in-depth article that was inappropriately flagged. I've switched off the flags. Consider that people are not flagging it because "it's a follow up article", but because a) it's Bloomberg, ergo hard to believe b) it's the seven billionth "minorities in tech" story in the past month c) it's not going to create an interesting comment section d) they don't find it as interesting as you do. It…

> It's your site of course, but if "moderators build the front page" is the new modus operandi, I'll be disappointed.

uh. nothing new about it. it makes this site great.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#33

Post by oh_sigh »

olivermarks wrote: post #26
olivermarks wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's BIPOC?

I looked it up - according to the NYT 'black, indigenous people of color'. Based on this shouldn't the correct wording for 'black lives matter' be 'BIPOC lives matter'? Surely people of color and indigenous people are taking offense at this?

It also somehow places black and indigenous people as not "people of color"(I assume they aren't counting white indigenous people like the Sami).

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#34

Post by Pfhreak »

api wrote: post #3
blueadept111 wrote: post #2

wow, it sure is fashionable these days to point your finger and call people racist. Had a rough day? Been confused with someone else? racism.

> Guest after guest walked past the pair of executives to greet their White employee, offer their congratulations and ask how he got the idea for the product. This sort of thing has never, ever happened to me. Nobody has ever suggested that I hire a wingman of a different ethnicity or gender or anything similarly asinine either.

It doesn't happen to me, so it doesn't exist is fallacious. (Or at the very least, anecdotal and not useful.)

There are plenty of things that have never happened to me, despite it being possible/probable that they should. In 20 years I've never been called for Jury duty. It's never, ever happened to me. Does that mean I should disregard the experiences of people who have experienced jury duty?

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#35

Post by tomp »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #21

I thought this was a great article. One of the most interesting things to me was how the embarrassment/defensiveness of the white people involved was one of the biggest blocks to the black CEOs in their advancement, e.g. the VCs who "just wanted to get the hell out of there" after mistaking a white subordinate for the CEO. I've recently been reading/watching some videos and writings by Robin Diangelo on systemic raci…

That's stereotyping, not racism. People make inferences. Like, if there's two folks, one dressed in a suit, the other in baggy clothes with thick glasses, most people (including VCs) would default to the former as the MBA CEO, and the latter as geek CTO Even though it might be the exact opposite! If you make a wrong inference, just accept the correction and move on, no hurt feelings. Similar for old vs. young.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#36

Post by exhilaration »

gamblor956 wrote: post #9

My boss did this to a client once. He was not amused and soon thereafter became a former client.

If the ONLY thing readers take away from this article is to stop assuming who's who when walking into meetings, then that alone is a valuable lesson.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#37

Post by cortesoft »

quadrifoliate wrote: post #29
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #21

I thought this was a great article. One of the most interesting things to me was how the embarrassment/defensiveness of the white people involved was one of the biggest blocks to the black CEOs in their advancement, e.g. the VCs who "just wanted to get the hell out of there" after mistaking a white subordinate for the CEO. I've recently been reading/watching some videos and writings by Robin Diangelo on systemic raci…

> I realize how outlandish that may sound writing that out, but I'd propose that the fact that it does sound outlandish is the main problem. That doesn't sound outlandish to me at all. For what it's worth, it doesn't have to phrased in a stilted manner like that. A quiet "That was racist and I have no excuse. I am sorry, and will do better in the future." is fine. I suspect that most people who want to "get the hell…

I think this follows a general rule I have found in my professional life.... people react WAY more forgiving when you admit a fuckup than you think they will before you admit it. It is amazing how quickly people want to forgive you and help when you admit failure openly and without excuse.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#38

Post by wbronitsky »

oh_sigh wrote: post #33
olivermarks wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked it up - according to the NYT 'black, indigenous people of color'. Based on this shouldn't the correct wording for 'black lives matter' be 'BIPOC lives matter'? Surely people of color and indigenous people are taking offense at this?

It also somehow places black and indigenous people as not "people of color"(I assume they aren't counting white indigenous people like the Sami).

I'm trying to be as inclusive as I can be, and I have been told that BIPOC is an inclusive term. If there is a better term here, please let me know so I can use it. I was discussing American society in particular, so the Sami might not be relevant.

Either way, it would be nice if we could look at my comment as doing what I can to not be offensive, instead of nitpicking an argument that is clearly trying. Instead of tearing it down, do you have another suggestion?

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#39

Post by [deleted] »

tomp wrote: post #35
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #21

I thought this was a great article. One of the most interesting things to me was how the embarrassment/defensiveness of the white people involved was one of the biggest blocks to the black CEOs in their advancement, e.g. the VCs who "just wanted to get the hell out of there" after mistaking a white subordinate for the CEO. I've recently been reading/watching some videos and writings by Robin Diangelo on systemic raci…

That's stereotyping, not racism. People make inferences. Like, if there's two folks, one dressed in a suit, the other in baggy clothes with thick glasses, most people (including VCs) would default to the former as the MBA CEO, and the latter as geek CTO Even though it might be the exact opposite! If you make a wrong inference, just accept the correction and move on, no hurt feelings. Similar for old vs. young.

[deleted]

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#40

Post by Pfhreak »

tomp wrote: post #35
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #21

I thought this was a great article. One of the most interesting things to me was how the embarrassment/defensiveness of the white people involved was one of the biggest blocks to the black CEOs in their advancement, e.g. the VCs who "just wanted to get the hell out of there" after mistaking a white subordinate for the CEO. I've recently been reading/watching some videos and writings by Robin Diangelo on systemic raci…

That's stereotyping, not racism. People make inferences. Like, if there's two folks, one dressed in a suit, the other in baggy clothes with thick glasses, most people (including VCs) would default to the former as the MBA CEO, and the latter as geek CTO Even though it might be the exact opposite! If you make a wrong inference, just accept the correction and move on, no hurt feelings. Similar for old vs. young.

Stereotyping and racism are not mutually exclusive. In this case, people are making inferences that the BIPOC is not the CEO.

Racism doesn't imply intent either. It absolutely can be the case that someone unknowingly makes a racist inference even with the best of intentions.

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