Page 80 of Partner Pursuit

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She could also now see what Jake meant about being an A&R executive versus the marketing person. The A&R executive in charge of finding this group was friendly, but he had one eye on the crowd, trying to see who else he needed to talk to. His attention had centered on Jake, though, when Jake was brainstorming marketing ideas with another executive. The two of them were inspiring each other like musicians riffing off each other. That’s the relationship she would like to have with Colette.

She hadn’t received any response from Colette to the note. Not that she’d expected one. But she wasn’t done yet. She’d found some articles about a Columbia Business School case study. That study showed that students reacted more positively to the man’s successful career compared to the woman’s, even though the career case study was exactly thesame, only the genders had been changed. The woman was considered “too aggressive,” “not a team player,” “a bit political,” “can’t be trusted” or “difficult” for the exact same behavior asthe man’s.

Winnie knocked and entered. “What are you doing? Working on the Rothman strategy again?”

“Working on a strategy…” Audreysaid.

Winnie saw a tabbed copy ofFeminist Fight Clubon Audrey’s desk. “Are you reading that to inspire yourself?”she asked.

“No, I sent a copy to Colette, but now I’m copying specific pages for her to show her that ultimately, her approach isn’t going to help her. Studies show it’s better for women to work together—like that lecture Jae attended,” she said. Winnie’s boyfriend Jae had attended a lecture at his bank by two women executives who had explained how they had made a pact to support each other, and how their strategy was one method women could use to advance themselves. They had met for lunch, sharing their accomplishments, their concerns, and then touting each other’s achievements. “So, I’m writing that we should follow their strategy. Women don’t look good if they brag about themselves, but they do look good when they do it for their colleagues. It’s what you and I do, not on purpose, but because we’re friends. It’s also recommended inFeminist Fight Club: ‘Find a Boast Bitch.’”

“Jae was really impressed by that talk. But I can’t see Colette as anyone’s boast bitch. I don’t think Colette has any problem touting her own accomplishments.”

“No, she doesn’t. But that’s why I am sending this study. The research shows that women come off as arrogant andself-servingwhenthey do.”

“She’s going to take her chances withthat.”

“And it’s a depressing statistic. She should advocate for herself,” Audrey said. “Just not at a cost to me.”

“Maybe we should ask those women to stage an intervention with Colette,” Winniesaid.

“We should,” Audreysaid.

“I was joking,” Winniesaid.

“No, it’s a brilliant idea. If we could find them, it’s worth asking if they’d be willing to have lunch to tell us what they did. Colette would totally want to meet with them—potential clients andallthat.”

“All right, I’ll ask Jae their names,” Winnie said assheleft.

Audrey stuck the case study articles in aninter-officefolder along with a copy of the page inFeminist Fight Clubabout touting other women’s accomplishments and addressed it to Colette. “Here goes missive number two.”It’s a pretty slim chance to persuade her, but this is legitimate research supporting that we should work together.She was enjoying thisstrategy.

She turned off her laptop, closed her door, and bumped intoMalaburn.

“Leaving already?” Malaburn asked.

Her stomach dropped. “Yes.” She had dinner planswithJake.

“I hate to interrupt your busy social schedule. I stopped by last night, but you weren’there.”

“No, but I’ve been here since 8 a.m. thismorning.”

“I thought you were trying to makepartner.”

“I am,” Audrey said, her shoulders tensing.

“I noticed Tim and Colette were in their offices last night.”

“Isn’t it the quality of work over the hours spent?” She wasn’t sure she even believedthat.

“That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

Audrey stilled.

“This reply brief is not persuasive. The research is sloppy. It’s the writing product of a first year, not a potential partner. You need to rewrite it, unless you want to leave me with this unfortunate impression of yourwork.”

Audrey frowned. She had spent last week writing the brief. It was good. Whitaker had reviewed the section on their argument and had had only a few revisions, but other than that, he’d said heliked it.

“Did you find a case contradicting myresearch?”