Working for women leaders: An invaluable privilege

Arriving 30 minutes late for a job interview three decades ago had left me out of breath, sweaty and close to a panic attack.

- Rahul Jacob

Yet, my first impression of Fortune magazine's chief of reporters was of her coming down the corridor, loudly proclaiming that New York's metro system would drive prospective job applicants away. She had just heard from her assistant that I had been stuck in a malfunctioning subway train between 34th Street and 42nd Street and empathetically flipped the burden of being late from the candidate to circumstance. I would put the phone down on my eldest brother without saying goodbye if she appeared at my door. She specialized in witty one-liners; I didn't want to miss a word.

Fifteen years later, I was working from home one Tuesday when an email from a long-time contributor to the FT Weekend landed. It was an 800-word screed of protest that felt like a grenade being detonated against the changes I was making to make articles more international. While I was fretting, my phone rang. It was the FT Weekend editor, backing me between peals of laughter about the writer's sense of entitlement.