--- title: Google's Eric Schmidt Called Out for Interrupting Female Panelist description: Hint: don't manterrupt when a woman is talking about corporate diversity canonical: https://time.com/3748208/google-exec-eric-schmidt-called-out-for-interrupting-only-woman-on-panel/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-17T21:11:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:45:01.856Z og:title: Google's Eric Schmidt Called Out for Interrupting Female Panelist og:description: Hint: don't manterrupt when a woman is talking about corporate diversity og:url: https://time.com/3748208/google-exec-eric-schmidt-called-out-for-interrupting-only-woman-on-panel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3764059f1adf3c24/6987840bcd1bbaaf316f5bb6/466529428.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: How Innovation Happens - 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google's Eric Schmidt Called Out for Interrupting Female Panelist twitter:description: Hint: don't manterrupt when a woman is talking about corporate diversity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3764059f1adf3c24/6987840bcd1bbaaf316f5bb6/466529428.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Exec Eric Schmidt Called Out for Interrupting the Only Woman on Panel  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2015 9:11 PM UTC  Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google speaks onstage at 'How Innovation Happens' during the 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 16, 2015 in Austin, Texas. (Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW) Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google speaks onstage at 'How Innovation Happens' during the 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 16, 2015 in Austin, Texas. (Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW)Amy E. Price—2015 Amy E. Price  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2015 9:11 PM UTC After a panel on innovation at SXSW in Austin on Monday, Google executive Eric Schmidt was called out for repeatedly interrupting U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith, the only woman on the panel. During a Q&A session after the panel, someone pointed out that Schmidt was repeatedly interrupting Smith without noticing, and asked Smith how she felt about the unconscious bias that affects women. It turns out that the person who called out Schmidt was Judith Williams, who just happens to be the Global Diversity and Talent Program manager at Google.  While she didn’t use that specific phrase, Williams was criticizing Schmidt for “manterrupting” Smith, a phrase my colleague Jessica Bennett brought to light[ earlier this year](http://time.com/3666135/sheryl-sandberg-talking-while-female-manterruptions/). Here’s how she describes it: --- > “” --- It’s a handy reminder: no matter how important you are, wait your turn. \[h/t [Jezebel](http://jezebel.com/man-continuously-interrupts-woman-during-sxsw-panel-on-1691887229)\] _Read next:_ [_How to Speak With Power_](http://time.com/3652271/speak-with-power/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3748208/google-exec-eric-schmidt-called-out-for-interrupting-only-woman-on-panel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3748208/google-exec-eric-schmidt-called-out-for-interrupting-only-woman-on-panel/"},"headline":"Google Exec Eric Schmidt Called Out for Interrupting the Only Woman on Panel","datePublished":"2015-03-17T21:11:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:45:01.856Z","description":"Hint: don't manterrupt when a woman is talking about corporate diversity","url":"https://time.com/3748208/google-exec-eric-schmidt-called-out-for-interrupting-only-woman-on-panel/","keywords":["Living","Tech","Google","Diversity","sexism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3764059f1adf3c24/6987840bcd1bbaaf316f5bb6/466529428.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3764059f1adf3c24/6987840bcd1bbaaf316f5bb6/466529428.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"How Innovation Happens - 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival","caption":"How Innovation Happens - 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival","creditText":"Amy E. 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