Diversity Matters. Until It Doesn’t.
The intersection of Tech, Diversity & Black Culture
Oh Apple.
Things have gotten really interesting at Apple lately. In the past two years Apple, has defeated proposals from shareholders that would tie CEO Tim Cook’s executive compensation deal to diversity amongst their senior executive team. According to 9to5mac.com….
Investor Tony Maldonado has twice argued that failing to hire more diverse talent at senior levels will be harmful to Apple’s business in years to come.
Maldonado submitted a shareholder proposal asking that Apple “adopt an accelerated recruitment policy … to increase the diversity of senior management and its board of directors.”
His proposal was heavily defeated in both 2015 and 2016, and this year Apple doesn’t even want to put it to a vote.
This is even more interesting because this was an investor suggesting this. Not employees, not ERG groups. People who have supported Apple financially! And they’re calling for diversity at the Executive Level, which some times gets overlooked in the diversity and inclusion discussion.
Just showing us again that big tech cares, until they don’t care.
“We value diversity, unless it fucks with our pockets”
Now juxtapose this with the departure of Apple’s most recently appointed VP of Diversity and Inclusion, Denise Young Smith, and you can’t help but connect the dots. As Apple’s investors urge that diversity is integral, a Black Female Executive leaves the team.
Denise Young Smith had worked with Apple for 20+ years in the HR and Global Operations sectors before jumping into the Diversity arena. So not only did you lose an employee who was there for 2 decades, you lose someone who also had the opportunity to work under Steve Jobs.
In her role, Smith reported directly to CEO Tim Cook. So it’s hard not to hypothesize that the lack of shareholder and Cook support played a big role in Denise Smith’s departure. Given last month’s news about the veto of the diversity proposal by shareholders, it makes you wonder if this was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Smith.
Maybe. Maybe not. Fact is, Apple lost a 20+ year employee who was an advocate for diversity. Something Apple says they care about, but not when it matters.
Oh but you can purchase the iPhone 8 and iPhone X now!
Showing us again that on most days, capitalism beats diversity.
Speaking of Capitalism…
I find it interesting how many companies these days, especially tech companies trying to be “hip”, profit off urban and black culture. But at the same time tech, venture capital and many boardrooms are majority white males. Am I bugging? 🤔
Let me get this right. So you don’t want to hire us to be engineers, and we can’t sit in the board rooms or on executive teams, but tech is happy with profiting off of black & urban culture.
On top of that, we must also acknowledge the fact that Twitter faces the same diversity woes as the rest of them. All the while, Black Twitter is one of dopest and most hilarious things to ever grace Twitter. *Cue F.U.B.U. by Solange*
Black culture can be seen everywhere. Even when you least expect it.
Take the American Music Awards for example. Like when did the AMAs become Lit all of a sudden?
And how in the literal fuck did Future and Cher end up in a Gap ad together?!
Even think about the traction that On Fleek gained.
And let us not forget how the two Ex-Google homies tried to reinvent & gentrify the bodega by creating a wifi enabled vending machine.
Black Tech Still Out Here Thriving Though
As Blavity CEO Morgan DeBaun reminds us, black buying power surpassed $1 Trillion in 2017. We’re everything but minorities when it comes to how much we contribute to the economy.
In the same breathe let’s not forget that AfroTech, Blavity’s annual conference for Black entrepreneurs, founders and tech professionals, nearly tripled in attendance in only it’s 2nd year of existence. If you’re thinking about going next year check out my recap of AfroTech this year.
In the addition to the dopeness that is Morgan Debaun, Founder Gym is also making waves in the our tech ecosystem.
Founder Gym is an online platform that supports and trains underrepresented founders building tech startups. Co-founders Mandela Schumacher-Hodge and Gabriela Zamudio were featured in Tech Crunch this month where they spoke about the importance of breaking the current business accelerator model.
Founder Gym is seeking to break the paradigm whereby founders enroll into accelerators and incubators, learn what they need, and then are “done”. Because in reality, becoming a founder is an ongoing process, like going to the gym. Excited to see what these two amazing women continue to do!
And if you still need a reminder of Black Excellence check out this list of 50+ Quirky Black Owned Businesses for Geeks, Nerds and Free Spirits.
So for anyone who’s black and is reading this, whether you’re walking through the corridors of a tech giant, work in a totally different industry, or bootstrapping your own venture with sweat equity, just know that I believe in you. I believe in us.
We’re here and we’re making a difference, whether Apple or any other tech giant wants to recognize it or not.
