5 ms·

Interview with Heather Sullivan of Discord

27 points by notatechie 7y ago

himinlomax 7y ago
Is there a Chief Novlang Officer to come up with those titles?
maallooc 7y ago
> For every 100 men promoted and hired to manager, only 72 women are promoted and hired. Oh no! We should fix this by promoting under-talented women. > For every 100 women having relationship more than twice in their lives, only 68 men did. That's just gender difference. What do you expect? > For every 100 men killed in the workplace by an accident, only 8 women died. Genders have their differences, and if you don't accept it you're a misogynist. > For every 100 dollars earned by men, women earned only 82 dollars. Oh no! This is America's worst discrimination! We must fix this by overpaying women.
rijoja 7y ago
Yes and 0% unemployed people in management positions as well. Why is everybody so convinced that there should be an equal amount of every trait in any given set of people? c.a. 50% of all humans are men but 0% of men give birth, how do we fix this inequality. Seriously why would having X % of anything in set one mean that it should be exactly X % in a totally unrelated set?
- lunias 7y ago
  Some good points haha ;P. I think it's more about the gender distribution in the set of managers (a single set). I agree that purposefully making it into a 50 / 50 distribution is at worst harmful and at best a waste of time. I think the goal should be (and mostly is) to remove bias and allow the distribution to be decided "naturally". I also believe that these things take time in order to manifest. Let's see an article comparing the statistics from 1970 to today. I bet we've come a long way in reducing bias and that our hiring practices continue to reflect that.
  - notatechie 7y ago
    I agree that bias has started reducing, that is what researchers call, 'the glass ceiling has started to break'. But we still have a long way to go when it come to that change percolating deeper into the system. Women, may not get equal opportunities as men when they start out their career. And that is where the real work needs to happen, I think.
GaryNumanVevo 7y ago
Diversity efforts are often looked at as just a numbers game. Get that ratio of men and women to 50/50 and everything will sort itself out. In reality, it's a critical mass problem. To better serve and manage a diverse workforce, you need diversity in management. It's the same from a product prospective; it's a lot easier to understand a diverse user base if your team is also diverse. Heather is absolutely right that promotions are largely based on politics and having a strong communication style, which inherently limits talent at the managerial level.
- notatechie 7y ago
  I agree with you and Heather. I think what she says about what women can do on their own to promote themselves is also quite interesting.

27 points by notatechie 7y ago

Is there a Chief Novlang Officer to come up with those titles?

> For every 100 men promoted and hired to manager, only 72 women are promoted and hired. Oh no! We should fix this by promoting under-talented women. > For every 100 women having relationship more than twice in their lives, only 68 men did. That's just gender difference. What do you expect? > For every 100 men killed in the workplace by an accident, only 8 women died. Genders have their differences, and if you don't accept it you're a misogynist. > For every 100 dollars earned by men, women earned only 82 dollars. Oh no! This is America's worst discrimination! We must fix this by overpaying women.

rijoja 7y ago

Yes and 0% unemployed people in management positions as well. Why is everybody so convinced that there should be an equal amount of every trait in any given set of people? c.a. 50% of all humans are men but 0% of men give birth, how do we fix this inequality. Seriously why would having X % of anything in set one mean that it should be exactly X % in a totally unrelated set?

lunias 7y ago
Some good points haha ;P. I think it's more about the gender distribution in the set of managers (a single set). I agree that purposefully making it into a 50 / 50 distribution is at worst harmful and at best a waste of time. I think the goal should be (and mostly is) to remove bias and allow the distribution to be decided "naturally". I also believe that these things take time in order to manifest. Let's see an article comparing the statistics from 1970 to today. I bet we've come a long way in reducing bias and that our hiring practices continue to reflect that.
- notatechie 7y ago
  I agree that bias has started reducing, that is what researchers call, 'the glass ceiling has started to break'. But we still have a long way to go when it come to that change percolating deeper into the system. Women, may not get equal opportunities as men when they start out their career. And that is where the real work needs to happen, I think.

GaryNumanVevo 7y ago

Diversity efforts are often looked at as just a numbers game. Get that ratio of men and women to 50/50 and everything will sort itself out. In reality, it's a critical mass problem. To better serve and manage a diverse workforce, you need diversity in management. It's the same from a product prospective; it's a lot easier to understand a diverse user base if your team is also diverse. Heather is absolutely right that promotions are largely based on politics and having a strong communication style, which inherently limits talent at the managerial level.

notatechie 7y ago
I agree with you and Heather. I think what she says about what women can do on their own to promote themselves is also quite interesting.