Monday, November 24, 2014

Women HATE making decisions

This study about the link between job authority and female depression should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with Game or has ever worked for a woman. I've had three female superiors in my life, and as managers, they ranged from decent to fairly good. But none of them were very comfortable making decisions; their favorite conclusion always seemed to be tabling the matter for further discussion at the next meeting.
According to Pudrovska, who co-authored the study with Amelia Karraker, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Iowa State University, women without job authority exhibit slightly more symptoms of depression on average than men without job authority. But among people with the ability to hire, fire and influence pay, women typically exhibit many more symptoms of depression than men.

“What’s striking is that women with job authority in our study are advantaged in terms of most characteristics that are strong predictors of positive mental health,” said Pudrovska. “These women have more education, higher incomes, more prestigious occupations, and higher levels of job satisfaction and autonomy than women without job authority. Yet, they have worse mental health than lower-status women.”
Once more, we see that the push to make women more like men is actually destructive, not only of society, but of the very women involved.

GAME OBSERVATION: if you have a female superior, one of the best ways to ensure your job security and become a pet employee is to let her offload the decision-making onto you. Give her an inch and the chances are very high that she'll take a mile and thank you for it. Begin your suggestions with statements such as: "it's apparent that the optimal way" and "it seems to me the only possible thing". The idea is to always point to one, and only one option, and portray it as if it is not a choice, but an inevitability. No decision necessary.

Do NOT try this with weak male superiors. They will tend to go directly against you if they feel pushed.

15 comments:

Revelation Means Hope said...

Flip it around, for science. Present a female decision maker with 2 nearly equal choices, but one where making the wrong decision will have real consequences. Watch the drama. Their barely suppressed anger at being put on the spot (especially good if in front of THEIR boss) is truly a pleasure to behold.

I've only done this when my next gig is lined up and my backstops are already in place. AND the woman is a serious micromanaging b!tch to work with as a project lead.

Revelation Means Hope said...

If I like the manager, I start out saying "The data shows that this option is preferred, and it is the one I recommend as the best balance between the benefits and risks. But ultimately the decision is yours, and we can probably make the other option work if you give us enough resources."

It's also fun if you don't like the manager, to make sure that both options have a clearly identified set of risks that appear to be almost equal. Because believe me, they are VERY, VERY focused on the risks, almost to the exclusion of the benefits.

Anonymous said...

To be an executive, you need to make decisions, and to make those decisions with authority while being faced with incomplete information. Men as a rule accept that disconnect -- it's how things get done while accepting risk.

Women HATE to make decisions. They are wired to be collaborative -- the herd, the gaggle rules the decision process. Every woman I have ever taken to dinner agonizes over the decision -- asking the waiter what's good, asking me what I think. It's a fucking meal, for crissakes...pick something!!

But they simply can't help themselves. This is who they are.

Laguna Beach Fogey said...

Women are bad at decision-making because they care too much about what other people think. Women managers, I have found over the years, are easily influenced and manipulated. They are highly susceptible to flattery, and easily swayed.

Female bosses are unfocused. It is a result, I think, of multi-tasking. In one bank where I worked, I knew a group of male analysts who, on being approached by the female department head with some large task in hand, would immediately ask about her weekend, or ask about her daughter who was away at boarding school, or compliment her on her hair. After a while she would leave, flattered and flustered, apparently having forgotten why she wanted to talk to the analysts in the first place. I have seen this technique work time and again.

In the past, when I had a female boss, I was usually able to use my charm and good looks to get my own way, or to obtain preferential treatment of some kind, including office sex. The trick with a female manager is, never make her forget that she is a woman first and foremost--even if she looks like your Aunt Phyllis.

Doom said...

Good advice, as far as becoming indispensable, more so if you like her office. All things come out, eventually, so it depends on how badly the corp, firm, or such needs a woman in that position specifically or generally.

As to weak male bosses, you are seeing it backwards. Yes, they will do the opposite. Use that as steerage. Can't do it too often, they actually, unlike women, will figure it out quickly. Use it judiciously, to bolster your work or to get rid of a peter principle hire. You can drive them right off a cliff. Advertised through judicious warnings to higher ups, about a 'loose gun', then set him up to jump right off that cliff on a big decision or three. Love, war, business, all the same, sort of.

But men and women are very different. Women want to lose. I can see why deciding the fates of others is depressing for them. I like it, when *cough* forced to do so. *bang bang*

Unknown said...

I've been lucky as I work for myself these last five years, but I have had 3 female bosses. Interestingly, they follow the same pattern.

1)Manager of a bank branch I worked at just out of college.
She was unbelievably cold and distant. Varied between actively trying to not help you learn what to do, to slowing down your progress once you had learned it, to flat out snipping at you and changing rules as she went. All the while she would aspergery flirt with me when no one was around. She was 50 lbs. overweight and had a goofus of a husband who didn't work and was 15 years older than her. She made horrible decisions but at least made them. She was the boss bitch of this group. Once I got up enough influence with my high sales, I transferred.

2)My direct super at a financial advisory firm. She was sweet as could be. To me at least. She generally got the small stuff right, but always had an assistant or me get things moving. Was often the one called upon to fire the unwanted after a period of supposedly "taking them under her wing". Went down on me after a meeting with a client behind the Mexican restaurant we got tippy at after the meeting. Called my years later on my wedding night drunk. Loved working with her because I could do whatever I wanted and my sales were obscene.

3) Hot personal assistant of a mega rich client who I worked for on and off when I started my business. She was sweet as could be too, but could not ever make a decision and was always flustered. If more than three things were going on at once, she would lose her mind. Luckily Mr. Big was so rich that he hired another guy to run things and she was allowed to take care of smaller matters. Cost him a small fortune by never knowing how to get the best work for the lowest prices so eventually I sub contracted out everything for her boss.

What is the common theme here? Women are not meant to be "of the world". They react badly with the public and men. Even worse with women. They cannot separate the personal from the professional. Any criticism or ideas for improvement are a direct affront to their egos. Big picture is not something they grasp. They want what is best for them, but cannot get out of the way while it happens. They HATE accountability so naturally they hate making decisions. They are basically whores if you push them in that direction and mix it with the right opportunity.

They belong at home. They need rigid discipline and a master. They love God, but only truly if it is under the blanket of solid married life. If it is not, then God becomes a personal snobby, happy feelings stick that she will beat others with. They can be supremely graceful, but only with perfect rearing, solid guidance, and removal by the men in her life of all silliness that will confuse her. The modern world is literally destroying the female capacity to not be a vapid, immoral, status whore. They are small children with sex drives and bad parents.

Unknown said...

I'll end with a fact that anyone in retail banking secretly knows to best illustrate the problem with women and why the Cathedral so wants "female empowerment":::

You know how there is a ridiculous $35 charge for even one transaction setting your account in the negative? And this is EACH transaction by the way. Well, at most branches only the manager or senior bankers can waive these charges. The branch has a set quota for refunds that looks good for the manager if they can keep it low.

Now imagine who goes negative on their accounts? Poor people, young people, and mentally slow people. Basically it. Many times they come in begging for help for getting charged $245 for going over by all of $40. A man, even a hard one, will listen and consider how brutal this fine is and often seek to refund some if not all of it with a quick lesson on how not for it to happen again. My male boss did this constantly and never made that section of his bonus because it was just. He was also my best boss I ever had.

A woman on the other hand will simply smile and say "I'm sorry we don't refund fees. The policy was clear...." They will do this with elderly people, kids, poor, etc like robots with a smile. It's hard for most people to threaten violence against a woman so these people just leave. See why the banks just love women managers?? They are compliant and follow orders like the boss is God. They have no empathy. Any silly HR or branding gimmick they embrace like it's vitally important. Banks are losing money and trust everywhere, but who cares about tomorrow when you get to control a fleet of compliant women from your downtown office?

Who the F thought it was a good idea to let them vote?

MichaelJMaier said...

I got so spoiled by two women bosses... strong, decisive and fair. One was pretty sharp too.

My current boss... well.... she's probably an efficient exchanger of CO2 for oxygen...

S. Thermite said...

Reminds me of an article a few years back about Michigan's first female governor, Jennifer Granholm. and her legacy after she left two terms of office. Said she was notorious for making deals with the legislature and then changing her mind later. There was even an instance where she commuted the life sentence of convicted murderer and then changed her mind when relatives of the victim complained...went all the way to the state's supreme court where they ruled that she did not have constitutional authority to retract her commutation. And that's all I'm gonna say about that...

Revelation Means Hope said...

The comment above about women lacking empathy reminded me of something from Vox Popoli written years ago.

I am consulting with a large company's HR department (handling benefits, not employee issues). It is about 85% female, and about 50% of the men are gay.

Lack of empathy? The Romans had more empathy for their crucifixion victims. If you don't follow the (mostly unwritten) policies for submitting your documentation, it takes executive action or an union grievance to get things made right.

I suspect most insurance companies are mostly staffed by women, for exactly the same reason. Management can hand down guidelines, and women will deny claims left and right despite the obvious impact on the client.

Hmmmmm. Life hack thought just occurred to me. If I want a fee refunded, and claim processed, a benefit reinstated, make sure I get passed on the phone call tree until I get a man on the other end of the line. Unless I can trip their script somehow ("I'm closing this account unless this fee gets refunded"), then it will be okay for them to follow the management directives and they'll be protected from risk to show some human kindness.

Trust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trust said...

Women do hate making decisions, but they also hate leaving decisions to a lower level husband.

Being a non alpha, I get into amusing exchanges with my wife. She'll either pass a decision off to me or question my decision, then iterate between "your call" "but what about" "but I want" "I'll leave it up to you" and we'll infinite loop until I finish it.

That may have been Adam and Eve:

SERPENT: You know you want it all. Eat the fruit.

EVE: What do you think

ADAM: bad idea. It's forbidden for a reason.

EVE: Just a little bite?

ADAM: don't think it's a good idea.

EVE: okay we won't. But I wodder what it tastes like, what it's like to know everything. On second thought, maybe....

ADAM: you're not gonna stop until you get your way.

EVE: okay, you make the decision.

ADAM: no I'm not eating the fruit.

EVE: I tastes it.

ADAM: ugh. Let's go to bed.

EVE: I can't. just realized I'm naked.

ADAM: You're always naked.

EVE: I can't bear doing this alone. I'll only come to bed naked if you take a bite.

ADAM: seriously? Okay, fine. Happy?

EVE: no you n eed clothes too now.

ADAM: so now you don't want either of us to be naked?

GOD: who told you you were naked?

EVE: talk to Adam, he's in charge here

Revelation Means Hope said...

"Pudrovska said men in authority positions generally deal with fewer stressors because they do not have to overcome the resistance and negative stereotypes that women often face."

Forward the Female Imperative! Even when facing the raw facts, they manage to twist it to fit their narrative of the poor little womyns always being the underdog. It's not because women suck at making decisions, its just those negative stereotypes from all the other women and men.

yukonyon said...

“Years of social science research suggest that women in authority positions deal with interpersonal tension, negative social interactions, negative stereotypes, prejudice, social isolation, as well as resistance from subordinates, colleagues and superiors,” Pudrovska said. “Women in authority positions are viewed as lacking the assertiveness and confidence of strong leaders. But when these women display such characteristics, they are judged negatively for being unfeminine. This contributes to chronic stress.”

You have to come to a point where solipsism from women is to be expected. Men and women both deal in social ostracism as leaders of their trade. The old axiom, "command is lonely", applies across the board. The fact that men are more apathetic about it isn't their fault.

Class 5.10 Climber Falling Down said...

All the female superiors I've had made their choices with their hearts instead of their heads, which meant if you weren't into social politics than you'd lose every time. That to me seems strange though, since the woman of the past was in charge of wearing a hundred different hats everyday (home, family and often finances) and managed to do so with great success and ease. It has to be the insecurity of uprooted structure. Women hardly are able to manage their own home and family, kids run a muck, schools become the parent as well as childcare so it's no wonder women have a hard time making decisions, they've rebuked instinct in order to be the man.

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