![]() Keeping an eye on the perspectives of the beer drinkers and teetotalers, carnivores and vegans, tough mudders and museum goers, video gamers and craft makers pays off, as it fosters better team bonds and is just the fair thing to do. When planning social events, particularly in the male dominated tech industry, I’ve always tried to make them inclusive and interesting. That’s not to downplay the point of the study, which from my observation seems accurate, as I have seen junior people leverage a shared interest for greater access, for example, scheduling their gym workout so it was at the same time as that of a senior person. Hmmm, maybe if I was better at schmoozing men, I’d really “get ahead”. It reminded me of some family events from years ago, where my extended family’s male participants would park themselves on the couch for hours watching football and I’d be in the kitchen deep in conversations with the women of the family. ![]() As the years passed, I would have two more female bosses, both of whom I would develop strong relationships with and whom I enjoyed spending time with professionally and socially.Īs I thought more about the article and its focus on gender, I realized the more traditional male oriented occasions and places at which to socialize (the gym, during team sports, golfing, etc.) weren’t of particular interest to me. He was right in a way, though in contrast to the male-centered perspective of the HBR article, the person I was “schmoozing” with at the time was my female boss, who would like to have a glass of wine or two after work and discuss organizational dynamics and management philosophies. He turned it down as he thought the organization’s culture would “require a lot of schmoozing”. A recent Harvard Business Review article, Study: How Schmoozing Helps Men Get Ahead, made me recall a story from years ago about a young man I was recruiting for a technical support position on my team.
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