zlacker

While I have no doubt that the author's examples are true, and of course sometimes feedback is misinterpreted. However, I've never found this line of argument compelling.

Yes, as a man, sometimes you do have to be careful about how you give feedback to female founders, coworkers, or employees. It's a skill to be developed just like 1,000 other little skills you need to develop be reasonably successful in life.

This same "but men might get in trouble for an innocent mistake" argument was used when women first entered the workforce to decry the unreasonable burden having to work with women placed on men. You still see variations on it today.

Yes, Twitter mobs are a thing and the people who participate in them are horrible. But if you are having trouble giving feedback to women, that is not women's fault. It is simply a skill you need to develop.

>>timoth+(OP)
In the public sphere the risk/reward is quite different. What you are talking about is relatively private.

>>timoth+(OP)
If that were the case, HR wouldn't require oftentimes to have more than one person in an interview or a different sex involved when there is a male HM with a female interviewee.

The vocal minority of these twitter feminists have in essence, made most womens lives move difficult because they have actively sought doxing methods of firing people for honest mistakes. They think everybody needs to be perfect and it's impossible for anyone to make mistakes.

>>timoth+(OP)
There are a lot of emotions involved in a startup, and everyone can be close to a breaking point (a lot of people thought Musk was falling apart during a low point for Tesla).

Being the bearer of bad news or unwelcome advice carries social risk, period.

>>daniel+p
It's not a public vs private thing.

I've been in plenty of panel discussions where I have offered advice to female founders publicly. I was in a semi-open mentoring session just a few days ago when I did so. In fact, I've been called out in the pas for not being sensitive to women's perspectives. (No twitter mobs, thankfully)

Giving good feedback is a skill. Giving good feedback to people of different races, genders, ages, nationalities, etc is an important subset of that skill.

>>timoth+Z5
Perhaps i misunderstood the quantum of founders v coworkers etc - I assumed the latter would have been more frequent.d

Regardless, I do believe you aren't properly weighing the cost/benefit or risk/reward properly in public v private situations. One can have all the skills in the world, it isn't going to get the risk to zero. And if the reward is little, it doesn't add up for many folks.

I'm not a public person so I'm speculating.

>>timoth+Z5
I hope you're paid for it!