The meme that says (roughly) that stereotypes can be self-perpetuating; for instance, if everyone assumes that all programmers are geeky antisocial males, only geeky antisocial males are likely to (want to) become programmers.
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http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991222/mcconnell_pfv.htm explains that OrphansPreferred was a term in an old pony express advertisement looking for expendable employees.

Once again, SteveMcConnell has demonstrated his masterful ability to document the ScreaminglyObvious so even managers can "get" it. -- PCP

''Oh, so we stereotype managers as dense, and end up with... dense managers.'' ;)

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This might be a separate topic called AfterTheGoldRush (Mc''''''Connell's new book), but wouldn't it be interesting to see a SteveMcConnell vs. KentBeck debate about Software Development as a true profession vs. power in the hands of the coders approach of XP?  Although they're both heading for the same goal (better software), the approaches in each of their books seem to be slightly perpendicular to each other.  ''Slightly perpendicular?''

I bet that KentBeck would agree with all the problems that SteveMcConnell describes. In fact, XP addresses most of them directly, and I bet that SteveMcConnell would agree that XP is a fine solution to these problems in certain cases. They would probably disagree on how widely applicable XP is, but KentBeck does not claim it is applicable to every project.  So, a debate might turn into a boring love-fest. -- RalphJohnson

That's pretty much the case.  SteveMcConnell's company is now selling AgileDevelopment courses, and he's said almost exactly what you conjectured in a number of interviews. -- TimLesher
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See also DeathMarch