Story 350

Lindsey Graham, the warmongering Trump-bootlicker died today, holding his seat for 24 years. For some reason, it made me depressed to think about the reality women face at work.

I worked at Wells Fargo’s Wealth & Investment Management group for many years. The number of mediocre men who failed-up cannot be reasonably counted. [REDACTED] ran the place from 2009 to 2017. He and the team he brought from Wachovia were incredible. During his tenure, WIM saw annual profits soar $500 million to $2.4 billion. But he was replaced by the equivalent of a corporate Nepo Baby from Wells Fargo Securities who I cannot describe any other way except he was walking milquetoast.

Then, because of the community bank “sales scandal,” in came CEO Charlie Scharf and his merry band of toxic fools from BNY and JPM who totally destroyed the culture [REDACTED] created. I won’t describe who but it’s fairly well understood that one executive does bumps of cocaine in between long meetings and is rumored to have had an extended affair with someone one-down from him. (He is married.)

Look, I’m not a prude. I don’t care who adults sleep with. But can you imagine a woman getting away with any of this cr@p? Ofc not. For a female to get a top role she must be as bright as Madeline Albright, Mary Erdoes, and Dr. Lisa Su rolled into one but also look like Princess Kate: easy on the eyes, completely agreeable, and appear to have not have sweated a day of her life.

HBR article just published “What 60 Years of Data Reveals About How Men and Women Experience Leadership.” Stephanie McConnell’s new book, Ambition Penalty, is also excellent but I do wish she’d offered some solutions toward the end because her raft of statistics get very very heavy. Either way, the realities are harsh. Competent women, it seems, are doomed to be kicked in the teeth at work until the end of time. Happy Sunday, ladies!

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