Can women be leaders if they've never created anything?

Im an engineer for a tech consulting company full of smart men with master's degrees in things like applied physics and computer science.

Recently, our company (privately owned) is going through an initiatve to have more women (we currently only have female administrative assistants). Our president is starting this initiative by hiring his niece, a graduate of harvard business school as VP of business development.

this women is supposedly a psychology major who knows nothing about science or technology consulting and our business. She's terribly softspoken and nobody wants to report to her because they think she's beneath their intellects. The reason they don't respect her is because she is hoping to come in an "manage" these scientists without ever actually creating anything??? Can a rich spoiled brat actually come in and lead a group of smart men that don't respect her???

no lady, MSP stands for about a hundred different things. Please type it out because I actually am curious. thanks.

Man, you sound like you just don't like women.

Well first you have to give her the chance to see if they could do the job. Managing is not always about know everything as much as it is overlooking to get the job done.

We have phenomenal managers here that do not know 1/100th of what the engineers do here. But their job is not to do that, it is to manage the people that do. These very smart people with Masters degrees should know that.

Well it sounds more like nepotism but also just a karmic joy. So after reading the whole story I am sure that your problem is that she is a women but that she is not an engineer right? I mean you wouldn't be bothered by a modern day Dr. Betsy Ancker-Johnson; right?

Yes thanks to the relation with the boss she can come in and lead you and you will have no choice but to show her respect or the VP will probably fire you.

Perhaps rather than hire a woman with no background in engineering, they should have hired a woman engineer?

I work with about a half dozen of them. All very smart with PhDs.

I don't think this is a gender issue. I've seen the bosses' son come into MANY a company and spend his days tossing crumpled paper into a wastebasket because he has no background in the company's services.

Nepotism is never a good thing. It means under qualified people are put into positions they can't handle. This girl will either fail miserably at the job or she'll have to learn mighty fast and work hard to be a success.

No one can be a leader if they fail to meet the proper qualifications of the job.

Edit: Very well stated, Scion.

Sexism doesn't factor into it; this is pure nepotism. You should be hiring women outside of the administrative pool, but they should at least know what they're doing. One of my girlfriends (the one who's in the army) could kick everyone's a-ss at physics.

Why is this in the Gender & Women's Studies section? It sounds like the problem with this situation is that she was hired because she's related to the President and is incompetent, not that she is a woman.

Think of it as freedom from being micromanged. She's not there to teach you your job, but to make sure the rest of the world understands the importance of what's going on in the company.

Let's see... of our former presidents we've had lawyers, a peanut farmer, a male model, and a movie actor. None of these men ever invented anything and nobody questions their leadership abilities because they were male.

MSP ever hear of that? Have an open mind. what does your wife do stay home an do laundry as in your underwear...wash dishes...take care of your kids...cook you dinner... clean the house...I wish I could realy say what I am thinking...

Sadly this is the wave of the future. Hey I love women and believe in equality. If it's a woman who has equal skills, then that's good.

this has nothing to do with gender equality and every thing to do with your president abusing his power by hiring a relative in a high position even though she does not have the credentials.

Wouldn't you feel the same way if it was a man? Men can be soft spoken, rich, spoiled brats who know nothing about science or technology too.

I don't know the woman in question but it sounds like a very unsatisfactory situation for everyone.

Has the president never heard of a little thing called nespotism?

What did Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama or McCain...Or any of this country's male leaders create invent or even renew.

But the "rich spoiled brat" has EYES. Better be careful.


Edit: They may be using her to CLEAN HOUSE if you get my point.

They created the creators.

Madam Curie. Eleanor Roosevelt. Condaleeza Rice.

What have you done lately, Sir?

there is no question like this.

Does it really matter that she's a woman? Would you feel the same way about this person if she was a man?

The answer you want is no, she can't.

It sounds like you are an intelligent man. What would you do to solve a technical problem with one of your projects? Would you get upset that a new requirement has to be compensated for and give up, conjecturig wildly about theories and guesses.Or... would you reserch the necessary requirements and adjust your project to be the flawless work you had intended it to be in the first place? If you and your associates are as smart as you say, why has noone gone to this women to see if there is a reasonable path to everyones future productivity and happiness?

When one becomes so comfortable as to forget how to change, ones usefulness comes to an end. The dead plant brakes in the wind while the young plant learns to bend.

You question has more to do with nepotism. I suspect that you would feel the same way if a nephew just out of College with an unrelated degree came in to manage you.
The art of Management of personnel has nothing to do with engineering. I suspect that many of your best engineers have very few people skills and would make horrible managers. Most companies hire managers from the outside that have management degrees and management skills. They do not know how to do the job. Their job is to motivate workers, and keep records on workers efficiency.
So, if you weren't so sexist, and you gave her half a chance, she might make a good manager. If you are rude to her, the boss will hold it against you.
This is a perfect example of men not wanting women at higher levels in companies, known as the glass ceiling.

You seem to have a very narrow definition of creation.

I'd take the time to honestly and thoroughly respond to your question, but there are so many problems imbedded in everything you're saying that it would take days to explain to you how sexist your perception is to begin with.

This is a classic example of how some men will completely devalue women's activities and extrapolate a specific circumstances to be representative of the entire female gender.

I'm just going to end by saying this, didn't your mother create you?
No wonder you feel women haven't created anything valuable.

Many managers are not scientists or experts in the profession they manage. They hire people like you to do that stuff.

It seems you're making assumptions on this woman before learning what she's about. It's never a good idea to hire your own niece but it also isn't right to assume she is a rich spoiled brat and disrespect her even though she seems to be highly educated.

Unfortunately it's attitudes like this that prove the wage gap. How would you feel if the new manager was a man without a science background that you knew nothing about? He may still have to earn your respect but he also wouldn't have to over come all this prejudice from grumpy men who don't believe he's qualified.

Why don't you try to over come your own biases and give this woman a chance before condemning her and all women to only fit roles of administrators. Obviously you don't thing the Secretary needs a bachelors of science to do her job, do you?

Are you asking whether or not THIS particular woman can be a leader because she's never "created anything" (whatever that means), or are you asking this of women in general?

I think women have ALREADY proved that they can be leaders, AND that they can "create things."



As for your President hiring his niece, it sounds as though you really don't know ANYTHING ABOUT HER, or WHAT she's capable of. You see that she's a woman, and that's all the information you need to immediately dismiss her capabilities. It sounds as if you don't even really know what her major was, just that she's a woman, and soft-spoken. You've all already decided that she's "beneath your intellect," again, because she's a woman.

So, why don't you just complain to your President, and see how far that gets you?

I see your point. Now let me explain something to you. Most companies require their employees to have a degree that is associated with what the career consists of, but many don't. Many companies hire people as long as they have their college degree. Their degree and their major sometimes is not taken into consideration. Your boss is doing a good job by giving an intellect woman a high position in a business affiliated with mostly men. You should respect her regardless of how she is. BTW women have created many things and its a true shame an "intellectual" man like you refuses to see that. If the men at your work think this way no wonder they have a woman managing you. Hun get over it and do your job.