The Sounds of Silence are Deafening — Time for Leaders to Speak Up for Diversity

Megan Byrd Sanicki
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read

This is a personal statement and a call to tech leaders to speak up for diversity. Your teams are being threatened.

My mother-in-law did not have the opportunity to go to college, yet she worked her way up from a secretary role to a VP position at a major tech firm. It was a grind. Each step of the way she went up against people, mostly men, who didn’t want her to succeed or have a say in their operations. It was exhausting, yet “nevertheless she persisted”.

I thought these fights were of my mother’s generation. I often said how thankful I was that they made it easier for me to succeed with less of a misogynistic struggle. Throughout my career, men helped me get to the next step. It wasn’t strategic on my side. I didn’t even know “finding a male career sponsor” was a thing. I simply saw people who could help me achieve my goal and asked for help. — and they gladly did. As they say, ignorance is bliss.

Something happened this year. By becoming the new Executive Director of an open source association, I must have pierced through the veil. Misogynistic and anti-diversity attacks are now a daily occurrence. I guess that means I finally made it to tech leadership!

I am not an expert at diversity topics. I am learning quickly, but I will not espouse expertise I do not have. What I do know is that anti-diversity sentiment is a pervasive problem in tech. It showed up in Drupal and I see it in many tech communities. It was clearly articulated in the Googler’s manifesto this week.

The manifesto’s misguided and harmful words are not the views of a single person. This is a movement made up of a loud minority of men trying to grind down, harass, and abuse underrepresented people until they leave tech. Their attacks are grounded in fear and protectionism and seemingly based on the belief that if underrepresented people get an opportunity they will lose their status at work and in society. They cannot fathom a win-win world. It is only a win-lose proposition in their minds. That scares the shit out of them and they are coming out swinging.

Perhaps I was not high enough up the ladder yet to see misogyny and anti-diversity sentiment. Or, maybe it is because I’m a “business” person rather than an engineer, that it took me longer to see this. But once you see these diversity issues you can’t unsee them. And once you see them in the very community you serve, you must act.

Call To Action: Speak Up

What I found in my own situation is that there is a silent majority of business leaders who will not wade into this diversity discussion. They might embrace the logic: “It’s not my monkey. It’s not my circus”. I understand that choice. Business success requires focus and this topic may be a distraction.

But let me be clear, the distraction is already at your doorstep. It is already affecting your business. Your competitive advantage is not the secret sauce in your code. It is the people you employ and it is a proven fact that the more diverse your team is, the more innovative your products and services are. Diverse teams are your secret sauce and your team is under attack.

We need you to speak out. Of course you should do this because it’s the right thing to do. However, I know that some businesses need a more compelling reason to change their focus. This issue is a business matter called Risk Management.

I ask you: “how are you going to mitigate the risk of your teams falling apart because your underrepresented staff are ground down slowly by trolls and hate?” I guarantee that your staff read the manifesto, they see the toxic abusive tweets, and they are wondering what your position is on this topic. Will this go silent and unaddressed at your staff meeting? Will they have to manage their feelings on this topic alone or in secret back channels without your company’s support?

Google itself released a study on what makes teams thrive. It found that psychological safety is the primary need. When your staff has to face these attacks and witness their peers deal with them, that safety is quickly eroded. Your risk strategy needs to directly address this deep emotional need. It calls for strong emotional intelligence, empathy, and care.

Step one in your risk management plan needs to be a statement that you acknowledge this threat is real and you do not tolerate this mindset. I am thankful for Sam Ramji’s statement and I encourage more tech leaders to do the same. There are many other steps a tech leader should take, but this step will have a big impact.

The silence amongst tech leaders is deafening and it hurts us — sometimes at a personal level. With only the loud minority of haters dominating the narrative, there is no counter weight. There are more of you, who support diversity and hire diverse teams than those who try to tear them down. We need your voice out there. As a leader, your voice has weight; it steadies the ship, and reminds your staff that someone who cares is in charge. And let’s face it. This loud minority are bullies. Are you really going to let them take over your playground?

This is not Google’s issue to solve, it’s yours too.

Megan Byrd Sanicki

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Globetrotter, stargazer, protector of children, and storyteller, who is perpetually curious about people, culture, and science