Imagine being a successful entrepreneur and founder, attending tech conferences – often as a speaker – only to be asked by male venture capitalists “whose assistant you were?” Such were the experiences of Kathryn Minshew, CEO and co-founder of The Muse. She was named to the Forbe’s 30 Under 30 in Media list, as well as Inc.’s list of 15 Women to Watch in Tech. She is the co-author of The New Rules of Work: The Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career.
Minshew is generous in her assessment of that sexist sleight, blaming ignorance and unconscious bias rather than something more malevolent. She notes that this sort of bias is common. The recruitment industry is broken, and especially failing young women.
But the old ways are going away, as the rules are changing for this generation of employees. The Millenial generation has figured out “they are in the driver’s seat” of managing their own careers. She cites data showing 79 percent of job candidates check out a company’s social media pages when considering employment with them. The power dynamic is rapidly tilting towards the employee from the employer – especially but not exclusively in tech.
Some of her favorite books are referenced here; our conversation transcript is available here.
You can stream/download the full conversation, including the podcast extras on Bloomberg, iTunes, Overcast, and Soundcloud. Our earlier podcasts can all be found on iTunes, Soundcloud, Overcast and Bloomberg.
Next week, we speak with Jerome Schneider, head of short-term portfolio management and funding for PIMCO. Morningstar named him Fixed-Income Fund Manager of the Year (U.S.) for 2015.
