I can't be the only one who thinks this is bullshit, right? The scenario described in the article isn't a dilemma unless the gender of the CEO is part of your reason. If it's not, you will have some rational explanation and should be able to point to your history of not being a sexist asshole.
I'm really curious if the purported consequences of an accusation of sexism are so harmful for these wealthy investors. For example, Ellen Pao filed a lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins and wrote a whole book about sexist behavior she experienced while working there. That got a ton of publicity - what has the long-term impact been? Kleiner Perkins seems to be doing fine. I'm not saying investors don't perceive a risk here - many people are concerned about their reputation, but this idea that someone's career would be ruined doesn't appear to square with reality.
It’s definitely worth clamming up in the fraction of the fraction of situations that the author describes (female founder + potentially very negative feedback) if it means avoiding a Ellen Pao type situation. On one side you have something that could destroy your reputation, work, and cost you and on the other is holding back advice that may or may not help someone a bit.
Also, are really downplaying what happened and ignoring the fact that it could have ended up much worse for KP.
> Also, are really downplaying what happened and ignoring the fact that it could have ended up much worse for KP.
I'm curious to hear what I'm downplaying here. We're talking about a very rare case where the individual making the accusation had the wherewithal both to file a lawsuit against the company and to write a mass market book that got tons of publicity. And the company won the lawsuit and is doing just fine. Doesn't that mean the risk of real, actual consequences is vanishingly small?
