David Chang | Full interview | Code 2018

At the 2018 Code Conference, Recode's Peter Kafka and Eater's Amanda Kludt asked David Chang, chef and founder of Momofuku, about the #MeToo movement, Netflix and his new media venture.
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[@RowanGontier]

Great answers by David Chang. Model CEO in my view. Humble, competent, always looking up.
About #MeToo: so many movements today- discrimination, sexual harassment, are more about the past than the present. When a serial offence case from the 1960s is brought to court, people think ha, this is happening all the time right now, but none on my show, or in my circle, and we need to FIGHT. On gender equity: really, as if women are not being hired now for top jobs. Issues like domestic violence (and alcohol abuse) still exist- that should get more attention. The next movement is hopefully one that does not demonize offenders. Abusers are flawed people, and probably victims themselves- they need help #too.

[@MyAkachi]

Um ... sexual harrassment offenders should be demonized. They can fix their flaws in a correctional facility like other criminals. After all, using your logic, all criminals are "victims themselves". Don't get me wrong, - yes, people are flawed - but that's not a valid excuse. There still needs to be law, justice, and punishment. And we do have to demonize bad things so that people stop doing them. If you think the ~metoo movement even starts to cover all the bad inequality being fed to women around the world., you're very wrong. You couldn't imagine the scale, even if you tried ...

[@StephanieZhao]

More women are being hired now *because* of movements like this. Massive cultural/social shifts don't happen when the marginalized groups ask nicely.

[@RowanGontier]

Stephanie Zhao agreed- whether deserving or not. I hope the focus shifts to the grass roots, not top jobs. Let us develop talent, not pass crowns out of social pressure.

[@MyAkachi]

The point is that the women being given these top jobs are great at what they do. If it were men, we wouldn't even be trying to justify this. There's almost no problem at grass roots if you follow the news; a lot of women start out okay ... and by middle management, I don't know what happens but exclusion starts to affect them really seriously (hence the saying "glass ceiling"). Clearly, you have good intentions; but the point I'm trying to make here is that women being placed at the top are smart and deserving of it, despite this environment which has made you believe that they are having "crowns" passed to them out of "social pressure". Women have to work multiple times harder than men just to get to the same position. No one's giving hand-outs, believe me ...

[@RowanGontier]

As a man, I also felt that people didn't recognize my talent in corporate life. I did well, but some with certain experiences, affiliations, capabilities, or even longer service, just did better. The challenge is that the higher you go, the more difficult it is to rise, regardless of bias. We focus on the select few people (say men) who were chosen over us, but forget a high number (say men) who didn't rise. I agree that the famous women recently who got top jobs are highly competent. But I also know that given the small pool of female talent, it is highly unlikely that the best candidate was chosen. Small differences, just like Roger Federer and Andy Murray. If that inspires younger females, maybe there is a net benefit.