OPINION: Do VC Firms need to lower their standards to recruit more women?
Earlier this week, I took to Twitter to share my thoughts on a Vanity Fair piece which reported that Sequoia Capital Chairman Michael Moritz is not prepared to lower the firm’s standards to bring in more women. In response Sukhinder Singh wrote this comprehensive piece published via Medium here. Sukhinder nailed it, but to keep the conversation going, I reached out to Al Dea, Founder of mbaschooled.com, to get a millennial male perspective on this idea that corporations need to “lower the bar” or “lower their standards” to recruit more women and under-represented minorities in industries with poor diversity track records. Here is what Al had to say:
I don’t really believe that’s the core issue at hand, and I think it’s a bit of a slight to the many talented and intelligent underrepresented minorities who work in the industry. (sidenote: Someone crowdsourced a list of 200 female candidates in response to Moritz). Without fully knowing the extent of what Sequoia Capital has actually done to attract diverse talent, I have some thoughts on why companies are facing this challenge:
- Culture Problem — The company is not a place where diverse talent feels comfortable working, and even if they were to have the option, talent does not want to go there.
- Commitment Problem — Companies say they are committed to finding diverse talent but don’t actually follow through. They start new programs or initiatives but don’t fund them, are too quick to scrap them when they don’t seem immediate results, or fall back on the path of least resistance and end up doing pretty what they’ve always done.
- Selection Problem — In today’s digital world, it’s never been easier to find top talent. For job candidates, it’s never been easier to get in touch with companies. So if you’re truly trying to find them and coming up empty, you’re probably not looking in the right places.
The scary thing is that if Sequoia, as the industry leader, really feels this way about their diversity challenges, imagine what it’s like for the majority of the other firms in the industry who don’t enjoy the same brand awareness and attraction that they do. The irony of it all is that an industry which prides itself on innovative and cutting-edge thinking seems so far behind and out of touch when it comes to hiring a diverse workforce.
I personally don’t believe that companies need to lower the bar just to hire underrepresented populations.
Instead, I think what they need to do is to rethink what they define as the best of the best and redefine where they look for the top talent. Perhaps the best of the best comes from outside of top undergraduate institutions, MBA programs, or prestigious companies. Perhaps best of the best means not just relying on the old ways of finding talent, but new and innovative ways. Perhaps there are other functions, roles and industries that can give people skills and new ways of thinking that could be of different and new value.
The workforce is more diverse than ever before, so if you keep looking in the same places and are not getting the results you want, you may need to alter your strategy for where you are looking.
About Al: Al Dea is the Founder and Editor at MBASchooled. He works in the management consulting industry and received his MBA from the University of North Carolina and his Bachelor’s Degree from Boston College.
While at UNC, Al founded MBASchooled to educate people on what it’s like to be in business school, and his work has been featured in outlets such as Business Insider, Time, and The World Economic Forum. While at UNC, Al was involved in a number of activities including serving on the MBA Student Association as the Vice President for Diversity, Coaching students in their career search for the Consulting and Technology industries, and helping undergraduates and MBA’s prep for interviews as a Business Communications Coach. Al is also the Co-Founder of UNC’s Tar Heel Talks program.
Al has an older sister who is currently in business school and his two parents (proud MBA graduates) live in his hometown of Rochester, New York. Al currently resides in San Francisco, where like everyone else, enjoys hiking, tech startups, and going to brunch.
