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The Chip Babe Goes Down
Date: 9/15/2015, Categories: Cheating, Author: VirgoGo, Rating: 12, Source: LushStories
"The stake that sticks out gets hammered down" was the warning my mother gave me when I decided to work at a hedge fund. I'd just gotten my MBA from Wharton, and I wanted to go toe to toe with the big boys. The fact that there were only a few women working as analysts seemed like an asset, not a liability, to me. And yet she couldn't resist casting a pall over my decision. I would stick out, sure. But there was no fucking way I would let myself get hammered. *** Working as a stock analyst is a lot like working as an investigative journalist. You learn your industry. You analyze and model the performance of its key companies and divisions. You establish a network of sources, and you cultivate them relentlessly. You are constantly scanning your space for an insight that no one else possesses. But instead of publishing that insight openly, in a place like The Wall Street Journal , you share it with your colleagues who trade on it. Ideally, this makes you and your firm a lot of money. It didn't take long, but I quickly discovered where my competitive advantage lay. While Wharton had burnished my capacity to count, my parents’ Nordic DNA had provided blonde hair and a slim physique. My gender was my differentiating asset. The founders of the Drekar Group, my employer, were cunning when they made technology my beat. Women are tragically scarce among its leaders. Moreover, its leaders are often the guys who struggled to get a date in high school. I was once a cheerleader. I've ...