zlacker

>>femfos+(OP)
The other day, I was in a Zoom meeting with another man and a woman. The call had too much latency, and the conversation was a tad heated, so we were all interrupting each other to some extent—but I noticed halfway through that I was interrupting the woman more, and she was speaking the least. Just like in all the research. While I certainly didn't go silent for the rest of the meeting, I made a concerted effort to let the woman talk more, and I'm glad I did, because she had good things to say.

I'm aware that I have the same biases as the rest of society. I do my best to recognize them, and, where applicable, to add a small mental counterweight before making decisions. I don't think this always leads to better outcomes, but I do think it's a net positive. And if investors act on similar frameworks, they've probably doomed some companies and saved others. The future is unknowable, and we'll never know what would have happened.

I wish this investor had acted out of a desire to be a better person, or a more successful VC, rather than from fear of a mob. I'm not a fan of mobs. But none of us are immune to cultural biases, and we should second-guess ourselves accordingly.

>>Wowfun+zA
You shouldn't be interrupting people unless they go to unreasonable lengths without providing a pause for others to chime in.

>>fermie+9K
I don't actually think that's reasonable. The next time you're watching a conversation, really pay attention to when people chime in. They may not interrupt mid-word, but they'll often take advantage of mid-sentence pauses, when the other person otherwise would have kept going. It's a natural part of discussion.

This is also why call latency can really destroy the quality of a discussion, even when its presence isn't obvious.

>>Wowfun+5L
> It's a natural part of discussion.

It isn't natural, it's part of the culture.

The worst I've seen was so bad that when I refused to interrupt, I waited 45 minutes without an opportunity to speak and then the meeting was over. Literally a 45-minute chain of people interrupting each other. That's not natural, that's adapted behavior.

Fortunately, it's a rarity at my current place of work :)

All it takes is a few bad apples and everyone else will adapt and interrupt as well.