Microsoft CEO: Don't ask for raise, reward is good Karma

[ArmorPierce]

http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/09/technol ... osoft-ceo/

Microsoft CEO to women: Not asking for a raise is 'good karma'
By Charles Riley @CRrileyCNN October 10, 2014: 1:46 AM ET


Microsoft CEO's gender gap gaffe
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has disavowed controversial comments he made at a women's tech conference, including the suggestion that women who don't ask for raises will receive "good karma."
"Was inarticulate [on] how women should ask for raise," Nadella said on Twitter following his appearance at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference in Phoenix, Arizona. "Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias."

At the conference, Nadella implied that instead of asking for a raise, women should have faith that they will be rewarded over the long arc of a career.
"That ... might be one of the additional superpowers, that quite frankly, women who don't ask for raises have," he said. "Because that's good karma. It will come back."
Related: Microsoft CEO skewered on Twitter over 'karma' comment
Women make nearly $11,000 less each year than men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's latest report on income and poverty. That translates to women making 78 cents to every dollar made by men. For the last several years it has been 77 cents on the dollar, making this year's figures a tiny improvement.
Why investing in women pays off
Why investing in women pays off
In an email sent to Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) employees and published on the company's website, the CEO said he answered the question "completely wrong."
"I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work," Nadella wrote. "If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask."
Related: Satya Nadella outblunders Steve Ballmer
Nadella, a 22-year veteran at Microsoft, was elevated to the CEO position in February. He had been overseeing various aspects of the company's corporate software business since 1992.
His comments drew intense criticism on social media. The comments were also challenged by Maria Klawe, the session's moderator, who is also the president of Harvey Mudd College and a board member at Microsoft.
Klawe said she had lost tens of thousands of dollars by not being more assertive in salary negotiations.
Related: Sarah Silverman is tired of the 'vagina tax'
"Do your homework," she told the crowd. "Make sure you actually know what a reasonable salary is when you're offered a job. Do not be as stupid as I was."
Microsoft recently released workplace diversity statistics showing it has a problem with gender imbalance -- particularly at the leadership level -- as much like other leading tech firms.
Microsoft's workforce is 71% male, a figure that rises to 83% for both technical and leadership roles. Those figures are roughly in line with the gender breakdown at Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Apple.
-- Jillian Eugenios and James O'Toole contributed reporting.

Gee, I wonder how working under him must of been like.

[Raw Shark]

Yeah, this guy can go fuck himself. This is the same level of sexism that existed in corporate America at the point where it was possible to say, "Yeah, I'd promote her if she didn't flat-out refuse to just suck my cock," openly.

[K. A. Pital]

Sucking the cock of the boss is good karma, right?

[Raw Shark]

Sucking the cock of the boss is good karma, right?

Depends. Could possibly work out well, but I'd rank it in terms of validity with a handshake agreement.

[TheFeniX]

Well, the guy is Hindu. I'm not discounting that he's probably just sexist. But this could be a case of a huge nerd trying to explain that "well, you don't need a raise because we instead need to fix the wage gap. So, just put up with low pay while we never fix the wage gap, because if we ever did actually fix it, your raises would mean you're making more than men and that would be terrible. Bad karma or something."

I don't know. From reading about this guy, it seems he's kind of a goof with problems getting a clear message out. So, he's perfect for a post-Gates MS.

[phongn]

Nadella has since issued a retraction:

All – Today I was interviewed on stage by Maria Klawe at the Grace Hopper Conference – I encourage you to watch the video. It was great to spend time with so many women passionate about technology. I was honored to be a part of it and I left the conference energized and inspired.

Toward the end of the interview, Maria asked me what advice I would offer women who are not comfortable asking for pay raises. I answered that question completely wrong. Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap. I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, Maria’s advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.

I said I was looking forward to the Grace Hopper Conference to learn, and I certainly learned a valuable lesson. I look forward to speaking with you at our monthly Q&A next week and am happy to answer any question you have.

---

Well, the guy is Hindu. I'm not discounting that he's probably just sexist. But this could be a case of a huge nerd trying to explain that "well, you don't need a raise because we instead need to fix the wage gap. So, just put up with low pay while we never fix the wage gap, because if we ever did actually fix it, your raises would mean you're making more than men and that would be terrible. Bad karma or something."

His actual quote appears to have been on the order of "even if you don't ask for a raise, your good deeds and thus good karma will reward you." It's in the context of someone asking on what to do if they feel uncomfortable able asking for a raise. Nadella isn't being actively malicious in saying "don't ask" but he is rather mistaken in his idea of "good karma".

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Judging by the way he worded his response, I got the impression that he meant that employees in general shouldn't ask for raises, not just the female ones. This is a shitty attitude for a CEO to have about compensation in and of itself, but I don't think it was restricted to the 51%.

[phongn]

Judging by the way he worded his response, I got the impression that he meant that employees in general shouldn't ask for raises, not just the female ones. This is a shitty attitude for a CEO to have about compensation in and of itself, but I don't think it was restricted to the 51%.

It might well be informed by his experience in Microsoft: he's something a very talented fast-riser and probably never had to ask! Totally different experience from, oh, everyone else.

[Elheru Aran]

Yeah, while the remark itself is rather asshole-y, apparently he simply didn't think his words through when making his original statement. I doubt it's indicative of any company-wide attitude, more his personal approach to business.

Edit: In general my understanding of standard business ethics basically says that one should be promoted based largely upon their performance. As such, requesting a raise should be supported by that, rather than simply going up to your boss and asking for a raise. I get the impression that's (more or less) the root of what he's trying to say-- don't ask for a raise, do good work and we'll give you one.

I could certainly be off base on that though...

[ArmorPierce]

Yes I agree, it looks like he was referring to all employees in general. Culture comes from the top down, so I do wonder how the rest of the company culture.

It really does demonstrate his disconnect from reality though and it's probably a common theme in most senior management. As a fast riser, he probably never needed to ask for a raise. He probably thinks hard work and salary/pay is inextricably linked and hard work will eventually pay off. Being his background is Hindu I think that is part of his belief system, even though Karma is something that is supposed to work over several life times, not necessarily this life time.

It honestly came off as caste system, know your place, keep your head down work hard and don't question authority.

Anyone else get that vibe?

[Raw Shark]

It honestly came off as caste system, know your place, keep your head down work hard and don't question authority.

Anyone else get that vibe?

A little. It's not that much different from the, "Protestant Work Ethic," that dominates much of the US job market. "Oh, you want overtime pay because that's the law? Spend thousands to take us to court, bitch." Whatever favors the bosses will tend to become law.

[UnderAGreySky]

How Satya Nadella Sounds a Lot Like My Brother

And why that is not a good thing.

I had just emerged from teaching a class in media studies at Seattle University last Thursday when I saw numerous posts on social media about remarks made by Satya Nadella. The recently installed Microsoft CEO was acting as the keynote speaker at a female-focused technology event when he was asked if he had any advice for women who are uncomfortable asking for promotions.

“It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” he said. “That might actually be one of the superpowers that women who don’t ask for raises have, because that’s good karma.”

I felt like someone had reached out across continents, punched me in the gut, and stripped me of all sense of accomplishment in my chosen home. Yet my next response was to protect Nadella, to shield him from any orientalist backlash over his South Asian roots.

In the next few hours, as apologists came out of the woodwork in his defense, and even as his own “apology” had me searching in vain for the word “sorry,” I grew increasingly uneasy. I could no longer hide my head in the sand over the fact that his remarks—and his almost-instant recovery—was a naked spectacle of the CEO’s upper-caste Hindu Brahmin male privilege reaching out across continents to high-five his American capitalist male supremacy.

Watching the video of Nadella’s remarks, I couldn’t help but feel that I had heard his message before. I had heard it over and over in the lessons I was taught growing up in India: be a good girl, be undemanding and uncomplaining, and trust that as a female, my special karma had my back. As my brother was allowed to go out and be just another boy, I was told by society that I could be a deity, a goddess, superior on account of my sacrifices. When I hear Nadella talk about these “superpowers” that women have, I cannot help but hear, despite his hip Americanized accent, that same call to rise above it all, like a Durga in waiting, a Draupadi for whom Krishna would one day arrive with yards of sari. “That’s the kind of person I wanna trust,” Nadella said. “That’s the kind of person I really wanna give more responsibility to.” I hear him asking women to be Lakshmi, to be content with his reverence, as she waits, with deific patience, this Goddess of Wealth, for a raise in her own paycheck.

The remarks were not, as he later said—in what one suspects was a scripted message swiftly crafted by the crisis-communication experts of Microsoft—“inarticulate.” They were not unfortunate or uninformed or clueless. They were, in fact, a clue hinting at the unchecked baggage of privilege that some of us immigrants brought with us to a country that holds special rewards for exactly this privilege, nursed as it is on the perfect milk of karma’s confluence with free-market economics.

Far from being inarticulate, the remarks provide an uncorrupted view of the Indian-American dream that played out at the U.N. General Assembly on September 28, when thousands of elite Indian Americans in New York City’s Madison Square Garden roared in a spectacular song-and-dance welcome for India’s free-market-focused Prime Minister Narendra Modi—a leader who was until recently banned from entering the country by the United States government for his reported role in a Hindu-supremacist pogrom against Muslims in his home state of Gujarat.

(more at the link)

[Eulogy]

It's never occurred to him that good karma doesn't pay the bills, or that not everyone has reason to blindly trust those in charge, or even expect apotheosis for not daring to ask for what is rightfully theirs.

[phongn]

Nadella expanded on his comments in an internal memo

In today’s monthly Q&A session, I want to give some perspective about the past few weeks — my trip to Asia , Gartner Symposium, the Adobe MAX conference, the Grace Hopper conference and Windows 10, as well as focus on Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) (and, of course, anything else on your minds). In November we’ll have a tightly focused conversation with Terry about Windows 10 more broadly.

Before our discussion, I want to provide additional thoughts from the Grace Hopper conference last week. Thank you to the many people who sent me comments and feedback over the past few days. It was a humbling and learning experience.

One of the answers I gave at the conference was generic advice that was just plain wrong. I apologize. For context, I had received this advice from my mentors and followed it in my own career. I do believe that at Microsoft in general good work is rewarded, and I have seen it many times here. But my advice underestimated exclusion and bias — conscious and unconscious — that can hold people back. Any advice that advocates passivity in the face of bias is wrong. Leaders need to act and shape the culture to root out biases and create an environment where everyone can effectively advocate for themselves.

Make no mistake: I am 100 percent committed to Diversity and Inclusion at the core of our culture and company. Microsoft has to be a great place to work for everybody. I deeply desire a vibrant culture of inclusion. I envision a company composed of more diverse talent. I envision more diverse executive staff and a more diverse Senior Leadership Team. Most of all, I envision a company that builds products that an expansive set of diverse and global customers love. As we make Diversity and Inclusion central to Microsoft’s business, we have the opportunity to spark change across the industry as well. This is the accountability the Senior Leadership Team and I own.

There are three areas in which we can and will make progress — starting immediately.

First, we need to continue to focus on equal pay for equal work and equal opportunity for equal work. Many employees have asked if they are paid on par with others at the company. Here’s what HR confirmed for me: Although it fluctuates by a bit each year, the overall differences in base pay among genders and races (when we consider level and job title) is consistently within 0.5% at Microsoft. For example, last year women in the US at the same title and level earned 99.7% of what men earned at the same title and level. In any given year, any particular group may be slightly above or slightly below 100 percent. But this obscures an important point: We must ensure not only that everyone receives equal pay for equal work, but that they have the opportunity to do equal work.

Second, we need to recruit more diverse talent to Microsoft at all levels of the company. As you saw in the numbers we recently released, we have work to do at Microsoft and across the industry. These numbers are not good enough, especially in a world in which our customers are diverse and global. To achieve this goal — and especially in engineering — we will have to expand the diversity of our workforce at the senior ranks and re-double our efforts in college and other hiring. Each member of the SLT will be goaled to increase Diversity and Inclusion.

Third, we need to expand training for all employees on how to foster an inclusive culture. Although we already offer training and development in these areas, we need to ensure the right level of accountability for modeling inclusive behaviors in all our work and actions. We all need to think about how Connects are written, performance feedback is delivered, new hires are selected, how promotion and pay decisions are made, etc. We need to focus on both the conscious and unconscious thinking that affects all these things, and mandatory training on D&I is a great place to start.

I am personally fully committed to these efforts and so is the rest of the Senior Leadership Team. We are going to work side by side with Gwen Houston, GM, Diversity and Inclusion, each month to drive progress on the three actions above, and Gwen and her team will continue to gather input, refine our existing plans and develop new approaches. I’ll report back to you in future all employee Q&A sessions starting in November.

When I took on my role as CEO I got advice to be bold and be right. Going to the Grace Hopper conference to further the discussion on women in technology was bold, yet my answer to a key question was not right. I learned, and we will together use this learning to galvanize the company for positive change. And I’ll certainly go back to Grace Hopper next year to continue the dialogue. We will make Microsoft an even better place to work and do great things.

Satya

He also went on CNBC and expanded on this

But I was completely wrong in the answer I gave to the question that was asked around how should women promote themselves and make advances to their own careers. Because I basically took my own approach, to how I’ve approached my career and sprung it on half the humanity. And that was just insensitive. [...] I just gave a very generic answer — based on, quite frankly, what I’ve believed and how I’ve practiced and lived my life — without thinking through, what if someone was faced with bias in their career?

How would they feel by sort of getting advice that says, ‘Be passive’? [...] n the face of bias, the last thing I want anyone is to be passive. If anything, both leaders like me need to take on responsibility to break down the barriers, break down the biases, create systems that are better functioning; and every individual faced with bias should also not be passive.

[...] And I just was, I would say a bit naive in thinking of my own personal experience versus understanding that I’m speaking to women who really, really want to make sure that people like me are making it easy for them to be able to participate in the workforce fully.

[amigocabal]

Yes I agree, it looks like he was referring to all employees in general. Culture comes from the top down, so I do wonder how the rest of the company culture.

It really does demonstrate his disconnect from reality though and it's probably a common theme in most senior management. As a fast riser, he probably never needed to ask for a raise. He probably thinks hard work and salary/pay is inextricably linked and hard work will eventually pay off. Being his background is Hindu I think that is part of his belief system, even though Karma is something that is supposed to work over several life times, not necessarily this life time.

It honestly came off as caste system, know your place, keep your head down work hard and don't question authority.

Anyone else get that vibe?

I wonder hows the Microsoft Board would react if he ever asked for a raise.