This Simple Chart Shows You How Privilege Operates
Think about your ‘slope’
Throughout my career as an investor, I’ve met plenty of people (usually women) who, regardless of their levels of professional success, feel like interlopers in a play written for someone else. I include myself in that, too. I’ve battled my own insecurities, at times convincing myself that I only achieved what I have because of an error, or pity.
I’m a South Asian woman, an immigrant with an accent to my speech. I’m the proverbial sore thumb: In a 2018 survey of 1,500 venture capitalists 80% of respondents were male, 70% were white, and — no exaggeration — 40% of the industry graduated from Harvard or Stanford. All this is exacerbated in the Bay Area, where everybody seemingly knows each other, went to school together, or overlapped at Goldman Sachs. Sometimes, it takes everything in me to not run out of a room where I feel like I don’t belong.
In managing my imposter syndrome, I’ve worked with experts and listened to lectures from well-meaning friends. But the strategy that gives me the most comfort is this: If you’re ever at a conference, party, or meeting (Zoom or otherwise) and wondering “Why am I here?” think about your slope.
In coordinate geometry, the slope of a line is the ratio of the difference of y coordinates to the difference…
