The Fraternity of Leadership continues….
February 12, 2009
by Amy Siskind
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Major Bank CEOs yesterday on Capital Hill
Our country is an a financial mess of epic proportion. And who got us here? A fraternity of leadership that has led our country astray.
We see example after example of groups composed exclusively of men, or predominantly of men, running our financial system into the ground. See above the fearless leaders of Wall Street Banks yesterday on Capital Hill. The Wall Street Journal’s article title about sums it up: Lawmakers Pull Few Punches With Bank Executives . Meanwhile, where are the top three female executives on Wall Street? They were all fired by the male CEOs.
In yet another example of blatant fraternity behavior, The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Merrill Lynch moved up its bonus date to shell out $3.6 billion in bonuses after losing $27.0 billion for fiscal 2008 and accepting government help. In the article titled Merrill Gave $1 Million Each to 700 Of Its Staff:
In his review of the bonus payments, Mr. Cuomo said he found that 696 individuals at Merrill received more than $1 million in bonuses, with 14 individuals receiving a combined $249 million.
Do these men have no shame?
Our friend Jill Miller Zimon wrote a piece yesterday on her blog Writes Like She Talks which details the fact that there was NOT A SINGLE woman Senator or Congresswoman serving on the conference committee set up to iron out differences in the House and Senate versions of the stimulus bill. Here’s the list courtesy of Jill’s piece:
* Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
* Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.
* Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii
* Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa
* Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
* Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey, D-Wis.
* Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
* Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
* Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.
* Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Dave Camp, R-Mich.
Which brings me back to my piece in The Daily Beast titled The Hillary Groping and Other Signs We’re Back in the 1950s where it was noted that our Senate Automotive Bailout Committee only had one woman and was interviewing a group of, you’ll guess it, all men!
It is time to end the fraternity party and bring some sense and sensibility back to our country.
Perhaps those of us who care about repairing our financial system should take the lead from Iceland where Times Online is reporting:
Iceland, ravaged throughout history by volcanic eruptions and natural catastrophes, is struggling with a man-made disaster so overwhelming that the women are taking over. It is, they say here, the end of the Age of Testosterone.
Next week a newly minted left-leaning Government led by Johanna Sigurdardottir will start to tackle the tough agenda of cleaning out the old-school-chum networks that have led Iceland to the verge of bankruptcy.
Half of her Cabinet will be women..
My mom (71) got blasted with some porn spam this morning for the first time. She was horrified. After I explained to her that the internet is 97% porn and spam like she’d seen was computer-generated, she calmed down a bit.
Later, she came back to me and said, “If that’s the way women are being depicted [degraded, dehumanized], feminism is fighting a losing battle.”
I told her, no, it’s a winning battle, but a very, very long one.
Thanks for the great post, Amy.
Sheryl – Love you comment!
Amy – Is there any way there can be a feature whereby when we refresh, we can elect not to have to see the photo that accompanies any given post (this one if particularly horrid!). I feel like I’m getting PTSD everytime I have to look at those faces. Oh, man….(literally).
Iceland is in a catastrophic state at this point. I wish their new leader well. She is surely a tough one to take this mess on. I will be interested to follow the story, which I hope will be a successful one.
Funny, Anna – that was my reaction to that photo, too: it’s hideous.
And to answer your question, not from our end, but perhaps you can block images on your browser. Not selectively, though – it would block everything.
Also: the women will get to clean up the mess when it has totally gone to shit, because women always get to clean up the shit. That’s the way it works.
Sheryl – I calculated a little equation to get me through:
1. Click “Refresh”
2. Wait 8 seconds (this number will vary depending on the speed of one’s computer and how active the site is).
3. Place hand on mouse.
4. Close eyes.
5. Wait another 5 seconds just to be safe.
6. Slowly scroll down.
7. Open eyes.
8. With eyes open, scroll up as needed to (re) read post or comments, keeping a close watch on the bottom edge of the photo.
9. Once the bottom edge of the photo (or top of the post, whichever comes first) is seen, STOP.
10. You may then read down in a relaxed fashion, thus avoiding needlessly repeated exposure to offensive images.
Warning: This takes practice and skill. Do not try this at home.
Alternative Directions:
After hitting “submit” to submit your comment, while keeping your hand on the mouse, immediately close your eyes.
Wait 10 seonds, then skip to step 3 above.
While I wholeheartedly agree with your harsh criticisms of those CEOs and other big-wigs who have put us in these dire straights, is it really simply because they are men and there are so few high level female players in this game? I think the culture of greed that exists in many financial services is a learned behavior that would effect women just as much if they were in these same positions. To say somehow that women would have handled this financial system of recent times more properly is merely playing into the gender stereotyping that your organization (and many others, including myself) hopes to eliminate.
Use Firefox browser.
http://www.Google.com
Admire Google’s salute to Darwin. Wonder briefly why natural selection doesn’t seem to work for men.
Put “Firefox” in Google search engine
Go to Mozilla Firefox page, download Firefox, It will do it for you
When it’s downloaded, go Tools up top
Find Options
Uncheck “load images automatically’
And if you’re feeling really cranky, uncheck all that Java shit too.
I have a post in mod. It offers the fix for the sickening images.
I am so sorry I used a swear.
Alex – I agree that there’s no evidence to suggest that women would necessarily be immune to greed, corruption, etc. So, I think it’s on target to make the case that TNA makes that women are not adequately represented in positions of power and it is also on target as you point out to be careful to suggest or assume that if women had power, we wouldn’t screw up just as much as men do. But, we’d like a shot at it!
Alex: Sorry until you prove that women are equally as corrupt as men I am sticking with my intuition that they aren’t. But I think we all can agree that women could not be more corrupt. Look at what men have done to religion, corporate America and the Government. Do you expect us to believe that this sort of man somehow accidentally just manages to always rise to the top of men’s power structures? It is more likely a flaw in male personalities.
I have no doubt that Johanna Sigurdardottir can and will pull it off. When women are in charge, shit gets done. Do you think England could have been an empire without Queens Elizabeth and Victoria? In both cases the women where cleaning up after the men. Henry the 8th almost lost England to religious division and papal conquest; King George the 3rd lost the whole frickin’ colony of America. In both cases, the women cleaned house, cleaned up, and left the country in way better shape than any man ever had. It rules when women rule. More, please!
The argument that we wouldn’ t be in this mess if women shared power is right. Not only do women have different priorities than men, they have different ways of achieving goals. Furthermore, I would suggest that greed does not preclude a person from creating fair change in this world. Who would argue that FDR was a privileged white man who sought to preserve that privilege, who also did a lot out of an authentic altruism for his fellow humans?
I just cited two great examples of how women wield power, and it isn’t like men. Are women saints? No. Is there a stereotype that they are, or try to be? Yes. So what. We’ll never know what the world will look like until we get to share power, because we never have. We aren’t even allowed the opportunity to be corrupted in the same numbers men are, so I don’t know what that argument is about, except that it’s typically sexist. I’m so tired of hearing “We’re the same! We’re the same!” We aren’t the same. Our exclusion from power because of our biology defines our differences.
I want to thank Amy for noting what I’ve written about the same kinds of issues that you all are examining and critiquing. I know many though not all of our ideas overlap.
I will give you a trigger warning: this post I’m about to link to does have that photo and two other re: men, men and more men in the NYT today – I was pretty livid when I dumped my paper out of its soggy bag this morning. But, I then wrote about how the media’s lack of editorial originality leads to these kinds of presentations, both graphic and in written content and that we really need to be working on so many levels to increase the presence of women in decision-making roles, as Amy notes in this entry.
Consider yourself forewarned.
Here’s the link:
http://www.writeslikeshetalks......ker-greed/
Having worked for women in power positions, deans, etc., I can tell you that power can corrupt women as well as men. The trick is to get women who have a core of ethical principles that cannot be quashed by power. Not so easy. But it can be done. As someone noted, we need to have a chance to either succeed or not. Could it be worse?
Cannot locate it at this minute but some time ago there was a study that demonstrated a disparity between the total dollar amount awarded by the NIH (and other funding agencies?) for successful grant applications per female faculty member when compared to male faculty members. You’ve guessed it – women applicants received significantly less than the men! What may be surprising though (or not) is that we women asked for less.
Anna,
Opera browser makes it easy to toggle images on each separate page as no images, cached images, all images.
‘Cached images’ would be good when the undesired image is a photo that appears in only one entry.
Anna,
LOL! I’m just now seeing your post about scrolling up from the bottom because I *AM* reading up from the bottom.
I don’t get that about scrolling down. I use Ctl-End to get to the bottom. Do this all the time at H44 and often here.
Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan have a great article, “In Banking Crisis, Guys Get the Blame: More Women Needed In Top Jobs, Critics Say”, in the Washington Post (2/11/09). Here are a few quotes from the story:
This is a good time to push for gender parity, opportunity and pay equity, etc! ! You can read the entire article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....98_pf.html
ER,
Your post reminds me of an article during the campaign, about a Palin rally that was full of ‘redneck’ men saying that men had made a mess of things, it’s time we had a woman in charge. Odd the same idea coming from two very different sides of the world and the cultural divide.
FYI research study http://www.catalyst.org/public.....-on-boards: stronger-than-average results prevail at companies where at least three women serve on the board of directors.
There are some other good, and specifically germane, studies out there on this topic (I will keep looking) that illustrate that women bring a different management style and approach than men to the workplace. They also bring a higher concern for teamwork and people. At a minimum, while all people can be corrupted, a better diversity of men, women and minorities with varying professional and life experiences in Executive Management lowers the probability of groupthink (and group justification of unethical corporate acts).
The valid concern is not only that these were all majority men, but also that there direct reports were probably majority men and their executive teams were predominantly majority men.
Thank you Kevin! The more studies we can find and disseminate publicly the better. Here’s another one to follow up:
More details here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....98_pf.html
As I’ve said elsewhere, material on such differing attitudes of male and female executives can be found in books by Deborah Tannen (TALKING NINE TO FIVE, etc) and Suzette Elgin.
Thank you, Jill. (Warning SO appreciated!!!)
Flora – I’m such a ninny when it comes to technology that I haven’t a clue what you’re referring to regarding browsers, cached images and toggled images, but I’m having a lot of fun creating my own definitions! (Don’t even both to explain if you are so inclined – my foundation of knowledge and my interest level and patience are at about zero. Sad, but true. So happy I can type and “submit!”)
Thank you Kevin, Flora, ER and others. This is a great thread.
I would also like to add the following quote to the discussion about whether women are different from men. At least one IT leader understand it:
.
Link
We realized this fact long ago and try to do business with women only as much as possible. After years of doing business, we realized the most lucrative and productive business deals were with women, and the most disastrous and wasteful were with men. Not all men are like this, but many many many are. It is untrue that women don’t take risks. Women are more balanced. However, women do tend to take a back seat when men are around. But, when women are left to their own devices, they excel. Women need to learn to be forthright and bold in the presence of men.
Men are a disaster in business. Women are efficient and focused, their number one priority is getting the job done and getting it done well. Men are inefficient and emotional and stumble around their petty egos. Their number one priority is feeding their ego and anxiety that they will “lose.” They create artificial conflicts on top of real conflicts and nothing gets done, and usually they make a mess of things. This is especially true if you are female and you are doing business with a male. The male will always waste energy working at cross-purposes – trying to defeat you to prove his manliness at the same time he is trying to do business with you. It is psychotic. If you are an attractive female, the male’s behavior really gets nutso.
We learned this through empirical experience. It is especially pronounced if you are a female hiring an attorney. Women, try to hire female attorneys as much as possible.
I don’t lean toward generalities about men are this and women are that. That we are different, there is no doubt. But, I think being human is just so complex. Some things may boil down to having a strong link to gender, others to individual differences, others to cultural context and norms, others to how men and women function when working together vs working in groups that are gender exclusive, etc. For me, it’s enough to know women appear to be second class citizens and, as such, we need to do everything in our power to combat that reality and change it. How we fare once greater parity is achieved remains to be seen. Since we haven’t reached that goal, it seems there are precious few examples to draw upon to serve as evidence one way or another as to whether we will be able to make certain claims. I don’t think th e point is that we have to prove that we would necessarily be BETTER at something. It’s enough to know we deserve the chance to have a seat at the table, to be as exceptional as the next, as mediocre as the next, or as corrupt and greedy as the next. That’s part of the point: Newflash: We’re human!.
This is a great thread. Wonderful comments, all.
Thank you.
Thank you Amy! How can we get this information disseminated in the regular press, media outlets, to the general public?
I think the silver lining (if one could call it that) of the worldwide economic crisis is that it focuses on how the men–who ignored, discriminated against, and fired the women– completely blew it, and how millions of people are affected by their “bad boy’s club” behavior. This is a window of opportunity for TNA and other like-minded groups to demand and legislate, for the good of us all, that women hold a certain percentage of positions at the very top levels, and at all levels, of every corporation, business, government, academic and other institutions, boards, etc.
ACTION STRATEGIES:
1. Bottom line: I propose a continuous, professional, scientific (i.e., supported by studies) ongoing effort to keep prominent in the media long term, the issue of why it should be mandated / legislated / required that a certain percentage of WOMEN SHOULD HOLD POSITIONS at the very top levels of every corporation and institution in this country. It is time now for parity / equal rights / affirmative action for women in the US. And it’s clearly dangerous for us all when the men run our financial and other institutions and women have little or no voice or power!
Why? Here’s some of the rationale
• The men blew it big time.
• The women warned and tried to have a voice to prevent this huge economic crisis but were ignored and devalued.
• The men discriminated against, and, in some cases, fired the very women who may have saved the country had they been listened to.
• The men have driven this country, and the world, into an economic crisis of monumental proportions. The resulting human suffering is enormous.
In addition to the facts and figures regarding the percentages of men in each corporation / institution that failed or is doing poorly, our strongest arguments may be the scientific ones. It’s harder to argue with data. Studies show the following:
• In France, Michel Ferrary, a professor at the business school Ceram, recently conducted a study that concluded that French companies with the greatest percentage of women in management have performed the best during the crisis.
• John Coates, a researcher at Cambridge University, who once ran a trading desk on Wall Street, recently conducted a novel survey that analyzed saliva from 17 male traders in London’s financial district. Coates concluded that traders made the highest profits when they had the highest levels of testosterone in their spit. The downside, he said, was that ELEVATED TESTOSTERONE ALSO LED TO RISKIER BEHAVIOR, a formula for disaster as well as profit. “If you had more women on the trading floors, you would probably eliminate some of this instability,” Coates said.
• Catalyst found that stronger-than-average results prevail at Fortune 500 Companies where at least three women serve on the board of directors. http://www.catalyst.org/public.....-on-boards
2. Kevin is looking for additional studies (thank you Kevin!). I encourage all of you to help in this endeavor. Quoting from Kevin on another TNA thread:
3. I propose a series of press releases, editorials, commentaries, blogs –a continuous and steady dissemination in the media – to keep the above data in the media. Let’s spotlight every study. Let’s frequently point out the numbers – until the public is on board with the need for change.
4. And, as we do the above, let’s propose legislation that will guarantee women a place at the table. Call it affirmative action for women, quotas, civil rights, or whatever. Such legislation worked for race; it must now work for gender.
ER, nice work! Laura Tyson had some (brief) comments also.
Is she still close to Obama? I don’t think she was named to his Economic Advisory Council…
On this issue, one point we should be ready to defend is, ‘Which is cause and which is effect?’ Some people may argue that the companies hired women or allowed them to rise, because their management already had more enlightened philosophies which included wanting more women.
[...] we discussed in our recent blog piece,The Fraternity of Leadership continues: Our country is an a financial mess of epic proportion. And who got us here? A fraternity of [...]
This is absurd, women aren’t finance CEOs and Senators because, frankly they don’t want to be. The ratio of men to women within all top financial corporations is at least 4:1. In addition, most of these women leave the industry by the time they’re 40 years old. That might have something to do with the lack of female financial CEOs. The thing is, in the financial industry performance is rewarded, no caveats. After all, if these banks are at fault for anything, it is their cutthroat competitiveness. Women are less likely to thrive in finance’s environment and less likely to enjoy it: fact. Second, its a known fact that far fewer women run for Senate and even fewer are interested in serving on the Senate banking committee. To conclude: women are the same as men, they would make the same mistakes and be just as greedy. This isn’t a sexual problem, wake up, its a societal one.
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