Sounds a bit like a promo for an upcoming Oprah Winfrey expose.
On the other hand, it's also the topic of one of the best and funniest posts on the politics of linking that I have ever read.
Shelley Powers of Burningbird (via Marketing Roadmaps) points out, in absolutely hilarious fashion, that "Guys Don't Link".
In wonderful prose, that you simply must read for yourself to get the full benefit, Shelley points out that linking is a bit of an Old Boys Network. Men link to other men's blogs, while women's blogs get left in the virtual kitchen to wash the dishes.
I just did a quick assessment of my own blogroll, and the majority of my links are to female written blogs.
I link to blogs that I read, find interesting, and offer many important insights for me and for my readers. Many of the blogs that match that description are written ny some very smart women.
In a past career, when I was a corporate award winning Regional Sales and Marketing Manager, my entire marketing and sales staff was often comprised of women.
Many of the talented women I hired were somehow overlooked by other companies. I hired them immediately, and let their talents work for me and for the company.
It paid off very well.
As an interesting side note to that company, as soon as I was unceremoniously released from employment, the most talented females on my staff were soon pushed out the of the company as well. They simply were not part of that company's Old Boy Network.
Of course, neither was I.
Innovation, creativity, and sales numbers far beyond anyone else in the organization will do that to you sometimes.
Show up the complacent and long term company cronies, and they will work very hard to get you removed. The interesting thing about that is none of them ever put that much effort into doing much else in the company.
After I was gone, the most qualified, innovative, and productive women became the next target of the purge.
Fortunately, the talented women who I hired are now doing very well, in managerial and executive positions elsewhere.
Oh yes, the company where I was employed, has spent the last five years attempting to salvage the region, where my staff and I had enjoyed huge success.
Oh well, back to blog links...
I link to talented bloggers, whether they are male or female.
That's the way I selected and hired staff and employees as well.
Choose your links based on what is written in the blogs, not on the gender of the writer, and you won't go too far wrong.
