Laurie's initial excitement at being asked by Jack to attend the Investment Advisors Conference in Toronto was instantly flattened when she learned that Rob Burns was also going. Rob Burns was a white haired, blustery Scotsman with a well-earned reputation as a male chauvinist. Rob was only five years Jack’s senior, but looked much older. While Jack took care of himself, rarely drank, and watched his weight, Rob had led a wilder life. Their fathers started the firm together after the Great Depression; investors needed solid advice on re-entering a shaky market, and both Charles Haywood and Joseph Burns possessed a talent for choosing wise investments and instructing others in doing the same. They left the firm where they both worked and started an investment advisory business. Each brought enough capital to purchase some office equipment and cover the first year’s rent, and for more than twenty years they worked well together and prospered. But their sons had never got along together.

When Jack had grudgingly taken his father's advice and appointed Laurie as a Financial Analyst, he had assigned her formally to report to Rob; Laurie was certain he did it out of spite. At first, Laurie was surprised to find Rob to be tremendously supportive, but she would soon come to understand that Rob, like many males of his age, supported her only as long as she did exactly what he wanted. His assumed right to chauvinist behaviour and language particularly grated on Laurie, as did his automatic assumption of superiority simply by virtue of being male, in addition to being senior to her in position.  Laurie was particularly wary of him when he had been drinking. It was this latter trait that especially worried her about attending the conference with him. She talked to her partner Pat that evening about it.

What should Laurie do?

This case study builds on an idea from Barbara Lyons' "General Computer" in Karsten, Foegen Margaret (1994) Management and Gender: Issues and Attitudes. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.