
The Pinterest Paradox: Cupcakes and Toxicity - blackguardx
https://medium.com/@francoise_93266/the-pinterest-paradox-cupcakes-and-toxicity-57ed6bd76960
======
melissahuang
It's pretty demoralizing to see these kinds of stories come out so often at so
many different companies.

I agree with the author that companies should start looking harder at
retention; so much of the attention/effort right now is to spent on the
beginning of the pipeline, but it's not effective if everyone quits in 10
years.

------
thex10
This is a well-written account of the author’s experience as COO. I hope her
next bosses/colleagues don’t shortchange her like Pinterest did.

------
throwawaykjio
Even though I empathize Francoise Brougher's experience, I don't think this
has much to do with gender bias. First, reading the article again, one can
completely replace the gender points and the entire argument still holds. This
is just typical company politics and employees vs founders vs senior
leadership fights. I doubt the author may also know this but just use gender
bias to catch eyes and align with the main stream discussion about gender
inequality. Second, how do you know Ben and the other two executives are men?
They could be LGBTQ. What if Ben and the other two men stood out and declared
themselves as female? Did the author have gender bias?

------
lindadong
I empathize so deeply. My selfish (and imperfect) solution has been to seek
out pockets of equity and support and proactively leave toxic environments
behind - but this also means forgoing opportunities (that I shouldn't have to
give up).

Let's all pledge to speak up, so we can at least start creating visibility for
systemic change!

