Jill Abramson’s very public firing this year made considerable noise when she was forced out as the first female executive editor of the New York Times in May.
At the time, it was reported that NYT publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr said she was let go because of her “brusque” and “pushy” management style. This led to much public debate about whether she was treated differently because she was a woman, and a wider discussion of the unequal treatment of women in journalism.
And it’s exactly this intense discussion that impacts women getting ahead according to Abramson, who has conducted an interview with US Cosmopolitan for its September edition.
“The whole issue of how women’s management styles are viewed is an incredibly interesting subject,” she said. “In some ways, the reaction was much bigger when Politico ran this hatchet job on me.”
“If there is a silver lining, it was the great reaction from other women journalists.”
Abramson also told the publication said she wanted the world to know that she was fired from her job and wasn’t ashamed of it.
“Is it hard to say ‘I was fired?'” she said. “No. I’ve said it about 20 times, and it’s not. I was in fact, insistent that that be publicly clear because I was not ashamed of that.
“And I don’t think young women — it’s hard, I know — they should not feel stigmatized if they are fired. Especially in this economy [when] people are fired right and left for arbitrary reasons, and there are sometimes forces beyond your control.”
While also touching on a number of wide-ranging issues including her next move, her opinion on television show Girls and Hillary Clinton as president, Abramson shared some great tips for professional women.
- Don’t let your job define you
“I miss my colleagues and the substance of my work, but I don’t miss saying, ‘Jill Abramson, executive editor.'”
- Don’t be afraid to ask for what you’re worth
“Women in general have a harder time talking about money with their bosses. It’s part of that syndrome, like you’re so lucky just to have the job.”
- Rejection can actually be a good thing
“The times I didn’t get jobs I wanted, I remember feeling dispirited, really crestfallen … It can be best to get passed over for a job as there may be a better job out there.”
- Promoting women
“When I was managing editor, for the first time the masthead [the list of top editors at the Times] was half women, but it was because they were great and they deserved it. I am totally proud of that. A couple of times I had to explain that to men. I think there was some surprise at the speed at which some women got promoted.”
- Networking
“A lot of younger staffers just asked me to coffee. There’s a way to do networking that isn’t overly brown-nosing. I was fine if someone just said, ‘I want to have coffee and talk about my career’.”
In addition to the Cosmo interview, Abramson is also set to do a live interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News and with Katie Couric of Yahoo News later this week.
You can read more of the Cosmo interview here.