Michelle Penelope King is a white South African born journalist, writer, women's rights activist and advocate for gender equality.Inc: Why leaders should focus on fixing their companies before asking women to make changesHarvard Business Review: #MeToo’s Legacy Bloomberg: Know the barriers women and minorities face at work, says Inclusion expert Yahoo Finance: Know the Barriers Women and Minorities Face at Work, Says Inclusion Expert C-Span: After Words with Michelle King Since December 2019, King has been director of inclusion at Netflix, a department responsible for inclusion and diversity among corporate employees.Fortune: Leaders need to ‘disrupt their denial’ to get diversity and inclusion rightEconomist: Women still face barriers in the workplacePolitics and Prose: The Fix: Overcome the Invisible Barriers That Are Holding Women Back at Work Biography King attended Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, and graduated with a M.A degree in psychology in 2005. In 2008, King completed a post-graduate diploma in journalism from Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Insight AUT: Alumni and Friends 2020 King continued her study at Australian Graduate School of Management where she earned her master's degree in business administration in 2013, and then her PhD in the field of organization and gender at Cranfield School of Management in 2023. TV New Zealand: Michelle King
King began her journalism career reading the news for George FM and freelance writing for the Independent Financial Review. She then pursued her work as a reporter for Breakfast Business and also worked as a television reporter for New Zealand's national news program and Radio New Zealand.King's Linkedin Profile She has written for TIME, Huffington Post,Huffpost: Michelle King Forbes,Forbes for Women: Michelle King Bloomberg L.P., and Harvard Business ReviewHBR Podcast: How Workplaces — Not Women — Need to Change to Improve Equality on topics related to gender and the advancement of women in organizations. Nooklyn: TedX Bushwick Women Scoop: Looking Back: What Did The Dalai Lama Leave Us?
King also took several positions in human resources and gender equality and worked for the United Nations at UN Women in the area of communications, diversity and inclusion.Fortune: Leaders need to ‘disrupt their denial’ to get diversity and inclusion rightCheddar: Invisible Barriers Women Face at WorkBusiness Insider: Gender expert — and director of inclusion at Netflix — says office politics work only for men. To fix things, let's all start 'spending our privilege' in smarter ways In 2019 Women Tech Founders, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to advancing women in the tech industry, awarded King with the 2019 Inspiring Innovator Award, for her outstanding achievements in the sector.Cranfield School of Management
During her PhD research, King conducted numerous interviews with the CEOs and corporate executives. They explained that the corporations expect their ideal employees to work long hours, be extrovert and not to have any social or family responsibilities. She learnt that most of the corporation work conditions match "masculine, aggressive" types of employees and are more suitable for white heterosexual men than for women or minorities. As a result, she launched "the Fix", a radio podcast illuminating gender inequality in corporate business culture and also explaining how to overcome different obstacles at work.Apple Podcast Preview: The Fix with Michelle King Later, she wrote a book, The Fix Overcome the Invisible Barriers That Are Holding Women Back at Work, on the same subject.Union Journal City News: Not getting ahead at work? It’s not YOU – It’s men!Ideas. Ted.com: One invisible barrier holding back women at work: the conformity bind The book won Axiom Business Book Silver Award in the category "Women/Minorities in Business".Axiom Business Book Awards: AXIOM BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2020 RESULTS
King is a member of the advisory board of Girl Up, a Washington D.C.–based foundation established by the United Nations.Girl Up: Meet our squad
Book King, M. P. (2023). How Work Works: The Subtle Science of Getting Ahead Without Losing Yourself HarperBus King, M. P. (2020). The fix: Overcome the invisible barriers that are holding women back at work. S.l.: Simon & Schuster. Selected publications Thriving in a Male-Dominated Workplace, Harvard Business Review, December 27, 2022 Women are better leaders. The pandemic proves it., CNN Business, May 5, 2020 Julia Gillard, Australia’s First Female Prime Minister On Leadership, Education And The Misogyny Speech, Forbes, September 17, 2019 Forbes: Julia Gillard, Australia’s First Female Prime Minister On Leadership, Education And The Misogyny Speech (September 17, 2019) Women Hit A Glass Ceiling Early In Their Careers, Here's How To Break It, Forbes, Dec 5, 2018 Forbes: Women Hit A Glass Ceiling Early In Their Careers, Here's How To Break It (Dec 5, 2018) Is Office Politics a White Man’s Game? by Michelle King, David Denyer and Emma Parry, Harvard Business Review, September 12, 2018 HBR: Is Office Politics a White Man’s Game? We need to stop fixing women and start fixing workplaces by Michelle King, Evoke.org, October 10, 2019 We need to stop fixing women and start fixing workplaces Building a Better Workplace: Business Books 2019–2020 by Daniel Lefferts, Publishers Weekly, November 22, 2019 Building a Better Workplace: Business Books 2019-2020 #MeToo’s Legacy by Nicole Torres, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2020 #MeToo’s Legacy HBR Podcast: Gender Equality Issues by Daniel Lefferts, Harvard Business Review: Dear HBR Podcast – Episode 51, December 26, 2019 HBR Podcast: Gender Equality Issues IHRSA: Club Business International by Craig R. Waters, February 2020 IHRSA: Club Business International Axiom Business Book Awards - 2020 Axiom Business Book Awards – 2020 Axiom Business Book Awards - 2020 Like them or not, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar represent the future of leadership by Michelle King, Salon.com, February 21, 2020 Like them or not, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar represent the future of leadership References