Just Don’t Ask and Get Good Karma??!!

ADR Prof Blog by Andrea Schneider, Michael Moffitt, Sarah Cole,Art Hinshaw, Jill Gross and Cynthia Alkon.

As many are probably aware, Microsoft’s CEO recently said that women who don’t ask for raises will enjoy “good karma.” So, his negotiation advice seems to boil down to just don’t ask and you count on the universe rewarding you in this life (or the next).

As every reader of this blog knows, that advice is problematic on many levels. For me, the fact that someone in such a high position in such a key industry feels free to say something like this just highlights how far we still have to go.

The friend who forwarded a link with this story commented that “this guy must be hoping for a job on Mad Men and think it is the 1960s…or worse.” Indeed.

Unfortunately, this guy holds tremendous power. He later recanted and said he was “inarticulate.” I’m not sure what is a good way to say women shouldn’t ask for raises. Despite efforts to manage this latest public relations storm, I think we can count on only one thing changing: This guy will be more careful in the future who he says things like this to. It’s unlikely to change how he thinks, and, I’m guessing, who gets hired, promoted, or pay raises, at Microsoft.

For a nice short analysis on why these comments are such a problem, click here.

                       

Cynthia Alkon

Cynthia Alkon joined the faculty at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in 2010. She was an assistant professor of law at the Appalachian School of Law from 2006-2010. Prior to joining academia, Professor Alkon was a criminal defense lawyer and worked in rule of law development in Eastern Europe and Central… MORE >