A “sinking” gut feeling is what I had in a meeting. It’s when your
brain decides you don't need digestion anymore. Instead , it pumps more
adrenaline because you should either be fighting or fleeing — not giving a
presentation to a predisposed group of mostly white men.
It’s hard being a woman of color in a leadership role reporting to bosses who are primarily male or white male.
Forget transparency with your senior management! YOU become transparent.
They don’t want to hear from you. Even when you run the meeting, convene everyone. No, you don’t even get to summarize or say why we are gathered. They interrupt every sentence, rather the beginning of your every sentence, because that’s the most you’ll get to.
They don’t read what you write. Not just your email, nobody reads serious email anyway. Even when you’ve taken the pains to explain things in a document and project it, so everyone could read it in a meeting.
Instead, senior management, who look alike in race and gender have this unspoken, unwritten rule of blind allegiance to each other. "Barney hugs" - you pat me, and I’ll pat you back. Even if what they say and write makes no sense! Even if it means they are rehashing what you were saying or were about to say. And when they are not rehashing, they are man-splaining, because somehow you don't understand.
When will the time come so I can do this with a primarily female audience? When will women "sit at every table”, take decisions and TRULY, run the show? I’m waiting for the tables to turn so we could give “Karly hugs “and not “Barney hugs”.
It’s hard being a woman of color in a leadership role reporting to bosses who are primarily male or white male.
Forget transparency with your senior management! YOU become transparent.
They don’t want to hear from you. Even when you run the meeting, convene everyone. No, you don’t even get to summarize or say why we are gathered. They interrupt every sentence, rather the beginning of your every sentence, because that’s the most you’ll get to.
They don’t read what you write. Not just your email, nobody reads serious email anyway. Even when you’ve taken the pains to explain things in a document and project it, so everyone could read it in a meeting.
Instead, senior management, who look alike in race and gender have this unspoken, unwritten rule of blind allegiance to each other. "Barney hugs" - you pat me, and I’ll pat you back. Even if what they say and write makes no sense! Even if it means they are rehashing what you were saying or were about to say. And when they are not rehashing, they are man-splaining, because somehow you don't understand.
When will the time come so I can do this with a primarily female audience? When will women "sit at every table”, take decisions and TRULY, run the show? I’m waiting for the tables to turn so we could give “Karly hugs “and not “Barney hugs”.
