He's an idiot, but i also question her mentioning the comments from her kids. Her kids have nothing to do with her job at GM. It doesn't matter if she's a mom or not when it comes to her CEO role.

She clearly shouldn't have to hide the fact that she has two kids, but that should have been that.

That minor criticism aside, his questions were ridiculous.

about their kids and how active a role they play at home besides winning some bread.

But the American work ethic is pretty shitty all the way around - basically Corporations have looked to cut staff as much as possible, and our new technological advances allow people to work nearly 24 hours a day. We take fewer vacation days and work a lot longer than is healthy or productive.

It's unlikely to change, though, as long as our executives believe "Why have two people when I can just make one person work harder."

It is a sexist question, because it would never be asked of a father - but it wouldn't be a bad question if it was asked of everybody, if that makes sense.

Bryant

And if they're the stereotypical "absentee father" and husband so typical at their level. Why not, if they insist on getting personal?

Seems unlikely unfortunately.

Bryant

Since he's obviously admitting hiring men is the default setting, seems fair to me.

She shouldn't either. It has nothing to do with the job of CEO. If somehow it did get in the way, she wouldn't have risen to this high a status.

If a big business person is being interviewed, it should be about business, unless they bring up the kids. And then, i question why the CEO is bringing up the issue of raising kids. An attempt at empathy?
GAC

she responded to a question that Matt asked.

In Forbes or Fortune, i forget which. I'm not castigating her. Just suggesting that CEO's need to set the boundaries of the interview. Once a public figure brings up a topic, it sort of becomes fair game.

And, please don't overread my point. I said in the first reply to this OP that Lauer is a buffoon. I'm not taking his side.

I will give you another that got my blood boiling. My daughter had her university orientation this week. They insisted that she had to stay for Day 2 to talk to her adviser. Well her adviser was unable to answer any of her questions regarding credit transfer. She spent the majority of her time trying to talk my daughter out of taking the Sophomore Design class her first semester. Her reasoning, get ready for it, was because she would be a 18 year old taking the class with mostly 19 and 20 year old men.

Dinosaur. My daughter has already taken four classes from this university (1 Frosh, 2 Soph, and 1 Junior level engineering/math courses) while in High School. All As or A-s. She currently works as an intern at a large OEM company doing engineering level work (not alot of women around). She had 2 engineering classes with mostly boys and men in High School. Her Broadcast Journalism classes (she was an editor) were also mostly men.

I think she can handle the situation.

That's taken care of by some small bureaucratic department somewhere in the university, and they're the only ones who can answer definitively.

Of course, I basically ignored all of my 'advisors' other than my PhD one. If you're good enough to get into college, you should be able to figure out your schedule on your own to do what you want while meeting various degree requirements.

I tested out of various intro level coursework, and was quite annoyed that the school I initially went to still required me to take additional English courses anyway, then wouldn't let me take higher level courses, but instead demanded I take a godawful course on 'modern novels' because it was only sophomore level.

Bottom line - it's doubtful your daughter really needs course advice from anyone, other than, perhaps, a warning about which classes fill up fastest, so that she knows to be ready to jump into the online registration very quickly for those, and then to go back and add the courses that don't fill up instantly AFTER she's submitted for the ones that go in a flash.

I was pretty sure that Day 2 was going to be a waste, but the advising coordinator was so insistent. I basically pushed to get her important classes scheduled in advance (during the window after all the students on campus had registered but before the transfers really got rolling). We were a little pushy, but we got the schedule she wanted. If we waited like what they recommended she would have had to fill her schedule with at least two classes that would not count for her major, and her critical path to graduation in 2 1/2 years would have been disrupted.

The same thing happened to my wife in school. She got horrible advice before I started dating her. They had her on the 4 1/2 to 5 year plan. After I was done she could have graduated in 3 1/2 years if she wished to. I did graduate in 3 1/2 years from engineering.

The nice thing about community college credit is that it is money in the bank. Because of articulation agreements, advisers can't challenge it (unlike AP courses which require additional tests even beyond the AP to prove aptitude and many tests which do not count for anything). Since she had the touchstone of the actual university classes (four of which she took online). I am not worried that the community college classes were inferior to the university classes. She has already demonstrated her ability to mix it up in the same grading pool with proctored tests as those students on campus.

I frankly think that college advising is part of the overall money racket associated with universities. They are making advice and decisions for students that will cost them thousands of dollars and limit their future options.

and I had to talk to the head of my program to get my credits transferred (from the same school, no less). All the advisors told me it wasn't possible and to not bother trying.

Anyhow, I'm a single parent of 4. When I started my degree, I was told by an advisor to go part time for school. I was told I wouldn't be able to 'handle' being a parent and going to school full time and to stick to 2 courses per term. I proved her wrong, I went full time and will be graduating in a few months (just finished up all my courses and am waiting for my graduation application to go through).

I knew what I was capable of, and I was fine. Your daughter knows that she is capable, so she will be fine as well.

That is quite an accomplishment - you should be very proud. My wife and I have two, and she is a stay at home mom, and it was difficult for us and they are very good kids.

I have only worked with one adviser in all my years of high school and college, that I thought shined. He was my daughters' high school adviser for college classes. Unfortunately he took another job at the end of this school year so my younger daughter won't benefit from his ability to run the traps to get my daughter's PSEO classes approved. Fortunately her courses are a little simpler (my older daughter took classes from three different colleges or universities which the high school did not have a typical working relationship with).

He would never have asked of Alan Mulally (Ford CEO) or Sergio Marchionne (Chrysler CEO):

"Given the pressures of this job, can you be both a good CEO and a good father?"

Alan became CEO at age 60.

I would expect his children to be grown unless he is on his 2nd (or more) marriage.

Sergio became CEO of Chrysler at age 57.

Mary Barra is 52. My little sister is 50, her kids are 23 and 21 and one of them is married. My little brother is 49, his kids are 21 and 20.

Are Mary's kids even under age 18?

Always possible. My older sister is 54 and her kids are 34, 28 and 16.
When dad's mom turned 52 her kids would have been 16, 15 and 12.

But those CEOs are more like grandparents than parents.

There was no reason to ask her anything about her private role as a mother.

or same to you.

Calvin: I'm a genius, but I'm misunderstood.
Hobbes: What's misunderstood about you?
Calvin (walking out of the room with his shirt on his legs and his pants on his head) Nobody believes I'm a genius.

"Are Mary's kids even under age 18? "

The precise relevance of that question in regards to her position at the company is...?

Another reason Network TV is a life killing time thief.

It is just a noise box to me (can't get my wife off the glass teat).

Harlan Ellison wrote a series of essays collected in two volumes over 40 years ago:

The Glass Teat
The Other Glass Teat

They still apply today. I lost my copy of one of those volumes unfortunately in my many moves.

and have a living father, this shouldn't be an issue.

where in the world is my divorced dad Matt Lauer.

Women who are asked these kinds of questions should always turn it back around on the interviewer.

Every woman who watches should switch the fool off.

Then again, he is just another millionaire mouthpiece for the 'news' machine. I expect nothing but garbage from an M$M acolyte.

Without the glamor.

Did Lauer spend overnights over 200 times during the Bush/Rove days?? There is an investigation Issa the Assa should "get behind"!

My first impression was Lauer acting as plant for shaming through questions.

why not ask the same question of Father's?

Is a calm articulate career woman and mother to turn the question back on him. But of course she would be labeled a bitch and attacked.

This equates to our President being blamed for Bushs wars. The entire mess from previous well paid MEN was dumped into her lap, while they took their bonuses and went looking for another do-nothing job. Lauer should be asked if HIS job gets in the way of him being a good dad? After all, hasn't he had affairs with most of the co-anchors? This woman is being paid LESS than the people who dodged the bullets. They should answer for their mismanagement.

"you are insulting me, you filthy pig".

Never, never, respond to that question with any declaration of competence. It only legitimatizes the question, and makes the woman sound defensive.

The question is designed to remind all viewers that women are handicapped in the business world; that they lose some intangible "mommy" ability when they are successful.

Has no one ever given Ms. Barra a course in handling tough questions? Isn't there a class for women dealing with unspoken stereotypes?

That said, how should she have handled the question.

First, it's a teaching moment.

We need to turn that non-question around (akin to have you stopped beating your wife).

The question we need to answer is "how did you did you manage both family and career to get where you are?"

It's a chance for her to explain how she has done so well in her career. Explain the things that are needed: family support? child care? Husband? What about her early years: what has changed. How her kids adapted to her career as they got older.


Second, it's a promo moment.

She has a chance here to showcase her skills and the skills of her family (in which she probably had a big influence).

She should have played up her childrens' response: they made it clear that they have high standards for her and by implication she has met them in the past.

Women need to be aware that they are "on camera" at all times and need to reframe the question, not answer it.

and I've seen men splutter and turn purple while not saying their child care is all pushed off on women, either wives or nannies or (most common) a combination of the two.

Turning it around and reframing it to show kids have two parents is about the best we can do for now.

it's his job!

This just confirms it.

as a CEO. That's all that matters as far a business goes.

of course you do

reasoning those male CEO's should be father of the year forever.

yes indeed

And she didn't have a clue on the defective product they were turning out? Very shady.