✊Boss Betty✊ Newsletter: Two questions for YOU – the president’s ‘ride or dye’ – the art of self-promotion

Ride or dye.

Like all sentient beings (on earth, anyway), we watched the president’s “ride or dye” (h/t Jake Tapper) Rudy Giuliani get roasted for the dark rivulets of what appeared to be hair coloring (or mascara, or…) running down his face during Thursday’s press conference (that wasn’t all he got skewered for).

Sure, he got his helping of Internet dis, but can you even imagine how utterly vicious and personal the reaction would have been if that had happened to a prominent female attorney? One who had just asked for a $20K daily retainer? We can’t stop thinking about that. There’d be no recovery. The blowback would be downright dangerous in its ferocity. And we’re not just talking about the “melting face” issue. The kind of wild-eyed vitriol being spewed by Rudy and his boss and other complicit men in power simply would not be tolerated from a woman. And, to be clear, we’re cool with the part where people don’t get away with behaving in an absolutely bonkers fashion — let’s just apply the rules equally.

Also, we’re thinking of starting a company called Ride or Dye Four Seasons Total Landscaping for all of your hair care and gardening needs. Let us know if you want in. Okay, MOVING ON, because we’re mature adults.

2 quick questions for you, ❤️dear readers ❤️:

1. What kind of work-world news are you most interested in? Professional development/how-to stuff, profiles of successful women leaders, data-driven stories, industry dirt, general news about workplace inequality, other coverage…?

2. What publications do you like to read? Doesn’t have to be work-related, we’re just curious about what kind of content — and style of content — people are into these days.

Send an email to heather@bossbetty.com with your answers whenever you have time. A very happy Thanksgiving to all!

Pearls of wisdom + good conversation fodder (🦃Thanksgiving discussions optional & at your own risk!)

Feminist activist and Smith Professor Loretta Ross on call-out culture: “I am challenging the call-out culture … I think we actually sabotage our own happiness with this unrestrained anger. And I have to honestly ask: Why are you making choices to make the world crueler than it needs to be and calling that being ‘woke’?” Ross advocates for “calling in,” which means first challenging whomever you take issue with privately, from a place of love. Importantly, she notes, “I have no problem calling out politicians who aren’t living up to the oaths that they swore to,” or others in positions of great power. READ IT

Venture capitalist Charlie O’Donnell on female founders being held to much higher standards than their male counterparts: “My biggest fear is not that there’s some toxic workplace lurking around in the dozens of companies run by female founders I backed that I don’t know about — it’s that there’s a female founder who won’t even bother starting up because she knows she’s one bad day’s Slack thread or one heated office exchange away from being roasted on a spigot while her investors duck and cover.” Worth noting is the fact that all of the founders mentioned in this column — both male and female — are white, because that’s who gets the big $$$ and who gets the big coverage. READ IT

Economist Mariana Mazzucato on why today’s capitalism doesn’t work for feminism: “Private companies are driven by shareholder mandates that do not inherently align with feminist and intersectional priorities — and it is these companies which are viewed as the most innovative, and the most valuable. But history tells us that innovation is an outcome of a massive collective effort — not just from a narrow group of young white men in California.” READ IT

Feminist writer Rebecca Traister on the country using imagery of girls to market empowerment while fearing the powerful adult women they ultimately grow into: “Children have long been useful when it comes to selling America on women in public life … Children are easier to feel good about because, as children, they have less power than adult women. They are not currently competing for your job, or arguing that they can command your armed forces or pick a cabinet, or being smarter than you or rejecting your advances or talking to you like a teacher or bringing up your record on school busing.” READ IT

Top attorney Petal Walker on obstacles to more diverse hiring: It’s “not the skill set, it’s the relationships,” Walker says, explaining that people hire those already in their circle, friends and acquaintances that they golf with or with whom they have cocktails. Walker said “intentional action” is required to break out of that habit. Amen. READ IT

How to manifest your inner superstar 🤩

Now that we have a woman veep and the potential for a record-breaking number of women in the new administration’s Cabinet, it seems like a good time to re-up this piece on the art of fearless self-promotion so that we, too, can reach the highest pinnacles possible of our careers. Tips include picking your three superpower words and learning how to not verbally undercut yourself (chances are, it’s happening more often than you think — but what do we know 🙄). READ IT

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