It's in Satya's interest for employees not to demand raises. Goes for men too. I bet he tells employees not to share salaries either. All it does is breed discontent when you find out how much more your peers make. Instead, you should work super hard and hope the salary fairy will recognize your contributions!
Everyone in a company should go interview every year or two and figure out how much $ you're worth. If you're underpaid, you'll be in a great position to either get a raise or hop jobs.
Of course assholes like Mark Suster will tell you not to hop jobs -- you might get paid what you're worth! Instead, you should stay at startups, be underpaid, and bust your ass. Especially if Mark invested. Don't listen.
I think it's impressive, and somewhat refreshing to see someone so plainly admit "Sorry, I fucked up, I was wrong. I know better now." I was expecting more bullshitty-tasting PR-written damage control.
He says he gave the "wrong" answer to the question, not that the answer he gave was wrong. It was very revealing about what he thinks about paying his employees, especially about not trusting those that ask for raises.
Full text below for those who have difficulty accessing the site:
All – Today I was interviewed on stage by Maria Klawe at the Grace Hopper Conference – I encourage you to watch the video. It was great to spend time with so many women passionate about technology. I was honored to be a part of it and I left the conference energized and inspired.
Toward the end of the interview, Maria asked me what advice I would offer women who are not comfortable asking for pay raises. I answered that question completely wrong. Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap. I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, Maria’s advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.
I said I was looking forward to the Grace Hopper Conference to learn, and I certainly learned a valuable lesson. I look forward to speaking with you at our monthly Q&A next week and am happy to answer any question you have.
> "It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing, and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises, as you go along. And that, I think, might be one of the additional super powers, that quite frankly, women who don't ask for a raise have. Because that's good karma, it'll come back! Because somebody's going to know, 'That's the kind of person, that I want trust.'"
I hope every woman at Microsoft asks for a raise tomorrow.
I know the question was posed at a conference about women in technology, but I think a good answer to the question of how to ask for a raise goes beyond narrowing the pay gap between women and men. There are plenty of men, myself included, that also feel like we're not getting what we're worth and what our colleagues are getting, but don't have the knowledge how or courage to confront our manager and ask for a raise. Perhaps women are more predominately or more severely affected by this issue, but there's more to it than the men/women pay gap.
I liked Maria Klawe's answer a lot more, it provides some really useful advice beyond "if you think you're being payed less than your male peers, ask for a raise".
If I may put a bit of a cultural spin on this, his comment sort of reflects the culture in India, where a vast majority of people do not feel comfortable simply asking for a raise. Most people (men and women) essentially follow the strategy that Nadella suggested, to work harder and believe that you will be rewarded for it eventually. I'm not in any way suggesting that this is an effective strategy (especially for women), but it might explain his comment somewhat. Great apology, though.
His answer was painful to watch. That was not a good answer, even naive given how she asked the question. Not asking for a raise is a superpower when so many women are experiencing a pay gap that is attributed, in part, to not asking for raises? What rational logic leads to such a claim? It's good that he apologized though, maybe he gave it some thought and it isn't just a PR move.
You know, sometimes these things are taken out of context but that's not the case here. That was horrible advice. The interviewer's answer was 100x better and more practical.
As a female in tech, this is disheartening because it discourages men to advocate or talk openly for gender equality. How awful is it that we just shamed him publicly so instantly? I hope men aren't discouraged by this. Guy needs a bear hug.
I agree, it seemed like he was driving at the idea that we shouldn't dismiss the way women were acting as wrong, but instead try to see the advantages of their approach. Even though he didn't say it like this, I imagine his thought process was that being overly aggressive in negotiations creates ill-will and hurts you in the long run. Maybe there are men out there who constantly ask for raises and would be better off if they didn't.
>I hope men aren't discouraged by this.
90% of men are simply trying to avoid the entire issue as much as possible, because stuff like this happens all the time.
>Maria asked me what advice I would offer women who are not comfortable asking for pay raises
>If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.
Great Advice. A+. His original answer probably answered the question better. The answer he gave for the question he was asked was very appropriate. The "Do it anyways" response that was given by Maria doesn't answer the question, it avoids the topic all together and doesn't help the person for whom its an actual problem.
Maria gave some useful advice: she said to role-play a negotiation. Satya said, "you are getting paid enough, don't worry about it", which isn't true for most women and isn't true for most men either. (But may be more true for some men, men who already figured out how to ask for a raise.)
I'm not saying that merely asking for raises will close the wage gap, but since when did "if you're uncomfortable doing something you should be comfortable doing, you need to force yourself to start doing it" become bad advice?
Not really. When you say something that stupid, you have no option but to backtrack. Imagine if he answered one of the questions with the assertion that "black people must die". Do you think we would have had much of an option there?
If only the press and twitter got as worked up about the multi year wage fixing lawsuit that may or may not go to trial rather than these little gaffes and gotcha moments
It's sad how every outlet is putting in its headline some form of: "Satya Nadella to Women: Don't Ask for a Raise".
But "don't ask for a raise" weren't his words. His actual words were subtly different, and more along the lines that it can be OK not to ask for a raise – you shouldn't have to ask for a raise – when a compensation system is working right. It was sort of a "don't feel too bad" reassurance to women who are not comfortable pushing for raises.
The main problem with his answer was that it was sufficiently unclear as to allow for the "don't ask for raises" misinterpretation... and lots of people rush to the worst, rather than best, interpretations.
Who can report subtleties when there's revenue-goosing rage-hits to attract?
I think you are doing a good thing by pointing out his exact words. You are right that subtle differences matter. However, Nadella was still incredibly tone-deaf here...and this wasn't the first time. He's been doing this over and over.
And in this case, the compensation system is NOT working right, and he certainly knows that, and the question was clearly asked in that context...the context of what we should do about a failed system which is unequal and unfair.
I'm surprised that people are surprised. I'm male and I've heard variations of "you shouldn't ask for a raise/bigger salary" many times from my managers or hiring managers (when looking for a job).
For example: "you shouldn't be focusing on money, just do great work and the financial rewards will come [someday]". Or "we are looking for people who have passion for $whatever_our_company_does, not people who are primarily interested in higher compensation".
Exactly. "I answered that question wrong" to me read like "I should have been more politically correct with my wording", it doesn't change the fact that in his head he actually thinks employees should shut up and work hard hoping that good things will happen to them.
Did he really rise to being CEO of Microsoft by believing the bs he said? If he did, he has to be one of the most fortunate people on the planet. Male or not.
Exactly, he is thinking as CEO here and the last thing they want is everyone asking for a raise every 6-12 months. He was also led into it a bit when asked about why women haven't asked for a raise that are successful.
I think he should have said when I think the best time to ask for a raise is, just after a major delivery or few. After proving substantive worth via projects/ship is the best time to ask for an uptick. It is more about the timing than anything. I think he was trying to say it this way but failed.
If he has never asked for a raise in all his career, such a thought process would not be out of place. Granted saying this in a women specific forum will not go well, but his later tweet, that we need to close the gap is precisely what needs to be done. Regarding employees in general having to ask for raises, i cannot say much, as in my job career of over 30 years, never had to ask for one. I thought I was fairly compensated - maybe i was too happy in my job :-( but life has not been bad.
I was there and it was interesting to see the crowd react to his comment. The dynamic shifted shortly after he made the comment, then the crowd cheered when he was presented with the correct response. I just think the backlash is crazy and there are certainly a group of people that are focused on making noise and not progress
I suspect he gave his standard advice about raises without considering the circumstances or that it wouldn't work equally well for men and women. That's not an excuse, but a reminder that sexism doesn't have to be deliberate to be sexism.
On the positive side, he did apologize without the typical spin or qualification.
[+] [-] x0x0|11 years ago|reply
Everyone in a company should go interview every year or two and figure out how much $ you're worth. If you're underpaid, you'll be in a great position to either get a raise or hop jobs.
Of course assholes like Mark Suster will tell you not to hop jobs -- you might get paid what you're worth! Instead, you should stay at startups, be underpaid, and bust your ass. Especially if Mark invested. Don't listen.
[+] [-] acjohnson55|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] pm|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SeoxyS|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CHY872|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kylec|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FlyingLawnmower|11 years ago|reply
All – Today I was interviewed on stage by Maria Klawe at the Grace Hopper Conference – I encourage you to watch the video. It was great to spend time with so many women passionate about technology. I was honored to be a part of it and I left the conference energized and inspired.
Toward the end of the interview, Maria asked me what advice I would offer women who are not comfortable asking for pay raises. I answered that question completely wrong. Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap. I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, Maria’s advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.
I said I was looking forward to the Grace Hopper Conference to learn, and I certainly learned a valuable lesson. I look forward to speaking with you at our monthly Q&A next week and am happy to answer any question you have.
Satya
[+] [-] ChrisAntaki|11 years ago|reply
> "It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing, and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises, as you go along. And that, I think, might be one of the additional super powers, that quite frankly, women who don't ask for a raise have. Because that's good karma, it'll come back! Because somebody's going to know, 'That's the kind of person, that I want trust.'"
I hope every woman at Microsoft asks for a raise tomorrow.
[+] [-] kylec|11 years ago|reply
I liked Maria Klawe's answer a lot more, it provides some really useful advice beyond "if you think you're being payed less than your male peers, ask for a raise".
[+] [-] raghavsethi|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacalata|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] timothya|11 years ago|reply
The question about women asking for raises happens around 01:34:04.
[+] [-] swartkrans|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattm|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yen223|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rlu|11 years ago|reply
When she's giving her answer you can tell by his body language that he very quickly realized how the rest of his day would pan out.
[+] [-] izzypark|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] QuantumChaos|11 years ago|reply
>I hope men aren't discouraged by this.
90% of men are simply trying to avoid the entire issue as much as possible, because stuff like this happens all the time.
[+] [-] jcheng|11 years ago|reply
What do you think?
[+] [-] wildpeaks|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] suprgeek|11 years ago|reply
No weasel words there...as opposed to so many other non-apology apologies.
[+] [-] ntkachov|11 years ago|reply
>If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.
Great Advice. A+. His original answer probably answered the question better. The answer he gave for the question he was asked was very appropriate. The "Do it anyways" response that was given by Maria doesn't answer the question, it avoids the topic all together and doesn't help the person for whom its an actual problem.
[+] [-] gohrt|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brandonmenc|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] general_failure|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BadassFractal|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BobMarz|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gojomo|11 years ago|reply
But "don't ask for a raise" weren't his words. His actual words were subtly different, and more along the lines that it can be OK not to ask for a raise – you shouldn't have to ask for a raise – when a compensation system is working right. It was sort of a "don't feel too bad" reassurance to women who are not comfortable pushing for raises.
The main problem with his answer was that it was sufficiently unclear as to allow for the "don't ask for raises" misinterpretation... and lots of people rush to the worst, rather than best, interpretations.
Who can report subtleties when there's revenue-goosing rage-hits to attract?
[+] [-] Bud|11 years ago|reply
And in this case, the compensation system is NOT working right, and he certainly knows that, and the question was clearly asked in that context...the context of what we should do about a failed system which is unequal and unfair.
[+] [-] xerophyte12932|11 years ago|reply
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140908150126-7...
TL;DR: The best way to ask for a raise, is to ask your manager/superior "What do I need to do to get a raise?"
Asking what you need to do to receive a raise does the following:
- Maturely suggests that you want one without putting your supervisor on the spot
- Communicates that you are willing to do what is needed to receive one
- Generates clear goals for you to work towards
- Exposes areas where your boss thinks you need to improve
- Foreshadows whether you should be looking for a new job
[+] [-] quesera|11 years ago|reply
It's good to see a clear and quick retraction, but jeez -- did the words really reflect a thought he had in his head?
[+] [-] nandemo|11 years ago|reply
For example: "you shouldn't be focusing on money, just do great work and the financial rewards will come [someday]". Or "we are looking for people who have passion for $whatever_our_company_does, not people who are primarily interested in higher compensation".
[+] [-] x0x0|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BadassFractal|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] penprog|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrismealy|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drawkbox|11 years ago|reply
I think he should have said when I think the best time to ask for a raise is, just after a major delivery or few. After proving substantive worth via projects/ship is the best time to ask for an uptick. It is more about the timing than anything. I think he was trying to say it this way but failed.
[+] [-] hakcermani|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jschlemm|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alecdbrooks|11 years ago|reply
On the positive side, he did apologize without the typical spin or qualification.