A New York Times story on Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s management style when she was CEO of Hewlett-Packard drew criticism Monday from some readers who believed the profile contained sexist undertones.
The story, by Times reporter Michael Barbaro, included accounts of 25 people who, according to Barbaro, worked at HP when Fiorina was CEO from 1999-2005.
“Those who worked with her,” Barbaro wrote, “described an exhilarating, blunt, self-punishing figure who stayed in the office until 1 a.m. (and expected aides to do the same) — a boss who could be warm, even nurturing, but who could abruptly turn cold and unforgiving.”
The characterization of Fiorina as “nurturing” and “cold,” two adjectives rarely ascribed to men, struck some as sexist.
“Really NYT? Would you ever write that about a man?” said one person on Twitter. Another reader called it a “sexist analysis.”
With apparent sarcasm, a third reader summed up the article as, “Area woman found to react to different situations with varied emotions.”
The Times story also called Fiorina “abrupt but efficient” and “capable of unexpected moments of compassion.”
A spokeswoman for Fiorina declined to address the article directly but said it was “certainly tempting” to do so.
In 2012, Barbaro co-authored a profile on then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his management style as the head of the private equity firm Bain Capital.
That story said Romney “entrusts advisers with responsibility, but keeps them on a short leash,” was “unhurried and Socratic” and had a “diplomatic, low-drama approach.” It also said he was “was big on small gestures.”
Barbaro did not return a request for comment.
Fiorina is currently polling nationally at 5 percent, 6th place for the GOP nomination in the Real Clear Politics average of national polls.
