Weekly News Roundup

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1. Scenario: The 2nd in command at your company (let’s call this person CFO) tasks you and a higher-ranked colleague to work on a project. The colleague is slowing the project down significantly (being indecisive, making numerous unnecessary changes, being unable to meet) that has taken the project way off the initial timeline. Because of the nature of the project and the need for the colleague’s particular expertise, it is impossible to just work on it alone and finish it up without this person’s input. But I worry that CFO now thinks less of me because this project has been proceeding so slowly. I kind of want to indicate that it’s not me who is slowing this down, but I do not want to be perceived as less than a team-player. How to deal?

   1. I absolutely hate that situation. I have been in it so many times but have not figured out exactly how to handle it without (although I hate how much this phrase is used) throwing someone under the bus. I did tell my boss the other day that “one of my colleagues” had done something that she was displeased about and thought was my fault; I felt like that was a good middle ground because I wasn’t naming names but was able to get the blame off of me. However, it sounds like it’s just you and one other person, so that wouldn’t work for you. Anyway, good luck!

   2. Sit down with the colleague and do a Gantt chart of the project, e.g. illustrate the dependencies, and timings of various steps. Then, track along. Send weekly reports to the CFO (you should be doing this anyway) showing her where you are on the Gantt chart, and if there is any dependencies holding you up. Yes, it’s throwing someone under the bus, sort of. But it’s very clear, and very impersonal.

   3. Ugh, I was in this position once. I went to the person (in my case, a partner) who had assigned me to the project and phrased my concern as proactively as I could: “I’m having trouble getting [unhelpful VP]’s attention on this project; what can I do to make sure the project is completed on time and is successful?” I should note that I had a very close relationship with said partner already, so that probably helped. Good luck!

2. I loved Tim Gunn until I saw his interview on Lopez talking about Hillary. She’s the freaking Secretary of State–she is allowed (as we all are) to have cankles and to not give two sh*ts about fashion. I personally love suits with pants (why are these even called pantsuits–so outdated) and think she’s awesome. Screw the haters trying to bring her down because of her appearance. So sexist.

   1. I might be in the minority here, but just because she’s a powerful woman doesn’t mean you can’t say that you don’t like her sense of fashion, or that (making the rest up here) you think she has lousy taste in home decor, or that her high-raw diet is odd, or that she’s kind of b*tchy until you get to know her. She’s not above comment or criticism just because of her position. I don’t think he said that she can’t do her job well because she dresses in a way that he finds unfashionable. She seems sharp as a tack, and I love me some pantsuits, but hers are pretty awful.

      1. I think the fact that women are more readily judged by their appearances and men by their actions/thoughts and that this is what we’re really talking about here. No one ever talked about George Bush’s fashion sense b/c no one paid any attention to it.

         People are dismissive of Hillary because they think she’s frumpy and that’s the cardinal sin for a woman.

         1. I don’t know, did you see that time that GWB wore crocs with black socks? It was pretty bad. :) (No, I get your point, but he did look pretty fugly. But, on the other hand, women’s fashion is just generally more interesting.)

         2. I don’t think it is necessarily true that men do not get judged for their fashion sense. Maybe not G.W., but don’t people remember the Obama “mom jeans” scandal? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/obama-explains-his-mom-je_n_241765.html

            1. How many male politicians do you know whose appearances are talked about as much as Hillary, Sarah Palin, Nancy Pelosi or Michelle Bachmann? I just think there’s a double standard and it’s frustrating.

            2. I think that is partly because many women try and integrate a lot of personal style into business attire, whereas I think men are more likely to stick to the basics. It’s hard to find fault with a dark grey pinstriped suit, white shirt, and tie (unless it fits the wearer terribly), but you are always going to find naysayers if you’re going for knee high boots, sleeveless, tangerine pantsuits, etc. The men just don’t give people much to say/criticize. Fair? No. But true.

            3. Michelle Obama gets so much more grief/input about her clothing choices.

               I’m with Anon, judging women based on how they dress is one of the (many) ways women are looked at differently than men. I am so over it.

               And while it’s true that Obama has gotten some grief about his clothes, it’s nothing compared to the level of scrutiny and obnoxious comments about women.

            4. Right – as Kat intimated, men don’t wear orange pantsuits. If one did (and it would be nice if men took more fashion risks!), I bet that this would be much discussed. But I agree that society seems to expect women in politics to be stylish in a way that’s attractive yet serious – seems like it’s hard to always strike the right balance.

            5. LOL, thanks for bringing up the mom jeans again. Reminds me of the criticism that all he wore were polo shirts on his vacation last year. Um, he’s on vacation. Just be thankful that he didn’t pull out the bright purple short-shorts like my dad did every year!

               Seriously, though, it’s too bad that successful, intelligent, powerful women are still at least partially judged as on looks. Maybe I’m pessimistic, but I just don’t think it’s going to change.

            6. It’s hard to find fault with a dark grey pinstriped suit, white shirt, and tie (unless it fits the wearer terribly), but you are always going to find naysayers if you’re going for knee high boots, sleeveless, tangerine pantsuits, etc.

               Anon, but Tim Gunn was specifically criticizing Hillary for “gender confusion.” Dressing more like a man wouldn’t have short circuited that criticism. It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

            7. Men’s style doesn’t get talked about a lot because men generally dress in a way that is non-descript, for lack of a better word. You could have 20 men in a meeting and they could all be wearing the same suit in navy or gray, with white or blue shirts, the only bit of difference being the choice of tie, and no one would even notice. Meanwhile, if any 2 women in the public eye wear similar outfits, they end up in side by side photos in US Weekly with a caption that says, “Who Wore it Better?!”

               I don’t think there is too much one can do about it, it’s just a byproduct of acceptable dress norms for women vs. men. But, that said, I though Tim Gunn’s comments were just unnecessarily catty. I hope Hillary Clinton is to busy helping to run the world to listen to that dreck.

            8. AIMS, it’s not coincidental that dress norms for men and women differ in the way they do. Men are not put under the same obligation to be decorative as women are, and, as this demonstrates, women are put under that obligation regardless of everything else they’ve accomplished in life. The fact that clothes for men tend to be more non-descript than clothes for women is a reflection of that fact.

         3. I can think of many male politicians who have lots of comments on their haircuts, hairdressers, and the cost of said hairdressers. I’m in Florida and people talk about our senate president Mike Haridopolos’s hair all the time. He has a lot of nicknames related to his hair. Many of the Florida governor Rick Scott’s nicknames are also related to his appearance.

      2. Do you ladies remember the way Condi dressed when she was SoS? There was so much talk after she wore those black leather high-heeled knee-boots. I personally love her style much more than Hilary’s but both woman are smart and extremely competent. It’s horrible how so much attention is directed towards their fashion choices rather than the way they’re serving the country.

         Frumpy or sexy, how to reach the middle ground?

         1. I just want to say that Sec.State Condi looked wicked hot. I loved her style. And I wish that women in general wouldn’t wear floresent suits (well, I wish that for men, too. I saw a male attorney in court today with a jacket that was, I swear I am not making this up, the exact same color as my hot pink highliter).

         2. Yep. Condi made hotness somehow professional. As a big-bottomed gal, I always appreciated that she didn’t hide her tush. She proved to me that it was okay to look great so long as the idea of sitting across a negotiation table with you still makes me reach for a bag to breathe into.

         3. I don’t true middle ground is possible, but I love the way Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand dresses. More than just about any other woman in politics, I think she walks the line just absolutely perfectly.

      3. I like Tim Gunn, but I was also appalled at his choice of words. Especially when he is so nice to some of the PR contestants that look like total trainwrecks. There is an absolute double standard in the way men and women get judged and I would hope he could at least have more tact when expressing his opinion

      4. Anon, I agree with you, but it’s sort of a shame, don’t you think? Nobody is talking about any male politician’s ugly suits, or growing waistlines, or receding hairlines, or “bitchiness.” It’s not that she’s above comment — it’s demeaning that people are even engaging in that conversation. I agree that she’s open to attach. Attack her, freely! But, really? Because of her cankles? C’mon.

   2. I agree that the comments were incredibly negative. She’s not a fashion icon, but she isn’t a complete disaster either! And waht’s wrong with pantsuits? I consider myself to be stylish but I LOVE to wear pantsuits – particularly in cooler weather. While skirt suits look great on me (I have nice legs), I would much rather have warm legs than show them off all year long.

   3. Maybe you missed the part where he said pants are fine. Pants that are hemmed too short look horrible.

   4. Tim Gunn wasn’t criticizing her for having cankles (something she has no control over), but instead was criticizing her for not wearing pants long enough to cover the cankles (something she does and can have control over). IMO, Hillary Clinton should be able to get her pants tailored correctly!

3. The particular suit that she is wearing in that photo is awful. It looks like a borrowed man’s suit that has been dyed orange to make it more “feminine”.

   It’s not like the Secretary of State has time to go to the mall and pick out her own clothes. The blame lies with the stylist who walked in with that thing.

   1. No one forced her to wear it.

4. I wish our society wasn’t as critical and superficial as it is. It’s disheartening to hear running commentary on the lives of others (public figures/famous folks) as if the individuals “commenting” are without error or miscue. We all have our “off” days and we all make mistakes. (And we all have days when we fall short of “fashion icon” status.) I long for the days when society (on the whole) was more respectful. I’m not naive enough to expect this; I just wish it were possible.

   Imagine being the person in question – Hillary in this case. I’m sure she cares about what she looks like and how she dresses, but that’s not the reason she’s in the public eye. The reason is her job. Just because she’s a “public” figure doesn’t mean that her entire life is up for debate and critique by people who do not even know her. We (the general public) should have more class and respect for one another. No wonder it’s hard to find people to run for public office!

5. 1) Did anyone else look at the poll associated with the article? 42% said that she is the SoS, not a model so who cares, while 43% agreed with Gunn. Yikes!

   2) At least he insulted Snooki’s style more …

   1. She’s representing the United States and should look professional. That suit is hideous.

6. OK, I have always loved Tim Gunn, but them’s fightin’ words! Did Hillary ask him what he thought of her style?

   No?

   Then STFU, Tim.

   1. Wish there was a “like” button for this comment.

7. On one hand, I happen to agree that Hilary has never been skilled at dressing attractively. Her clothes often seem poorly suited to her body type and poorly tailored. I think she’s actually an attractive woman stuck in ill-fitting clothing.

   But on the other hand, what does it matter? She’s NOT in the fashion or even entertainment industry. It’s one thing to think about her not being fashionable; it’s another to talk about it like it’s somehow important.

   1. This.

8. Okay. So my state does have a tax-free weekend, but on a beautiful weekend in summer the last place I want to be is in a department or electronics store. Why can’t they have these weekends in fall or winter?

   1. As someone who used to suffer through retail hell, it’s because they want to attract all the back-to-school shoppers. Understandably, when you think about it; there were three of us, and my parents dropped a serious chunk of change yearly on getting us dressed and outfitted.

   2. Or you can just travel to lovely NH at your leisure Bunkster!

   3. Because the purpose is to encourage shopping and try to stimulate the local economy during slow seasons for stores.

9. You’d be surprised at how much the higher-ups can see these things, especially as it has to do with schedule. The more senior colleague is always responsible for keeping a project on task and moving forward. I’ll bet you don’t need to do anything and the CFO already knows what is going on. I imagine there will be a progress report that the senior colleague needs to give? The issues would come up there.

10. Jeez, ladies, give Hillary Clinton a break! She’s in her 60’s, and as a fellow 60’er, I’ve discovered that unless you and both your parents and grandparents, etc., are naturally thin, it is almost impossible to keep the pudge off once you hit late middle age. If fat is in your genetic makeup, it will show up on your torse (if it’s not already there) around your early 50’s. Plus, given her job and schedule and non-stop traveling, how much time does she have to work out? The suit in the picture is a problem, however. Double-breasted jackets are not well-suited for a plump figure. And the color- while not a terrific one, I can sympathize with a woman wanting to not look like an undertaker all the time with a dark-suited-only wardrobe.

11. Those interview questions are hella hard to answer. I hate how much weight is given to job interviews as opposed to resume and qualifications. =(

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