This post, like most posts on this site is about my personal experiences. But before we go there, I want to make a few points.
- I am a fan of DEI.
- DEI has been called discriminatory. It’s been called that by those that discriminate.
- This is not to say DEI is not without problems.
- This is not to say everyone who argues against DEI is discriminatory or acting in bad faith.
- I find it shocking the number of organizations who bent the knee and spun 180 degrees on DEI.
In 1988 I was a fresh CS Graduate who had a few things going for me. I was earnest, I worked hard, I could code really well, and I had a knack of knowing what problem to solve. I had some things that held me back. I graduated from a state school with modest grades, I was an extreme introvert, and I was overweight. With that, I could not find a job until late in the year when Bank of America hired me as part of an engineering entry level employee program. In hindsight, it sure looked like what today we’d call DEI. They hired 50 people to take part in the program. It intentionally had a mix of backgrounds, including race, age, sex, work experience, and college degree. To get into the program, we all had to pass an aptitude test and then an onsite interview. It wasn’t easy. On my first day, I found myself in a group that included a couple CS majors, but also bank tellers, history majors, literature majors, and so on. There was a mix of the sexes, of orientations, of cultural backgrounds. 49 of the 50 made it through the three month training and we were placed in permanent positions and nearly all of us contributed significantly to the company. Bonds and connections were formed. I think of it as a model for a new hire program.
During my time at Microsoft China, I had mixed feelings about DEI. Since the program started, the focus was on increasing female representation especially at the senior levels. This meant making sure we considered female candidates for open positions, provided coaching/mentoring for female employees, and ensured female employees had sufficient project opportunities.
In general, I liked the program. For hiring, I embraced the idea of widening the candidate pool. It wasn’t about hiring females, it was about making sure you looked at a wide enough candidate pool so that qualified female canidates would be considered. Ultimately, I hired the best candidate.
I loved the focus on mentoring, coaching, and ensuring opportunities for our female employees. This was not done at the detriment of male employees, if anything it helped me focus on mentoring and coaching for everyone.
The part I felt uncomfortable about mostly centered around promotions. True or not true, there was a perception that it was easier to promote a female employee. I felt this was incredibly unfair and wished I would have pushed back on that perception. The whole idea, was to build the pipeline of candidates, not to force/fake it.
We had DEI trainings and OKRs. One of the most rewarding trainings of my career was one on unconsious bias. It helped me to see the bias I had towards colleagues that had nothing to do with their actual capabilities.
A final uncomfortable DEI story. Foreigners at MS China were considered a diversity group and a few years ago, I gave a short talk to several hundred coworkers on what it was like being a foreigner at MS China. I tried to be as open and honest as possible. When I previewed the slides with management peers the feedback I received was around word choice and maybe I could learn/speak a little more Chinese. The major lesson turned out to be for myself and it was this: When speaking with someone who maybe doesn’t fit, don’t rush to fix things. Do not judge. Ask them about their challenges and experiences. Embrace curiosity and empathy.
To parrot Scott Galloway, I grew up in California, white, middle class, with affordable education. I was ahead of the game at birth.