Diversity & Inclusion in Tech Event Recap
Stephen “V” Viramontes invited me to collaborate with him to analyze the data from an unbiased and non-participatory role to help bridge the gap for all others that were not present at the event.
I was not present at the event and my only involvement has been to summarize and aggregate the post event survey responses into cohesive thoughts. My aim was to interject no opinion of my own and simply capture the voice of the participants from their open ended survey responses.
I will however acknowledge that this is a very challenging and uncomfortable topic for people, so in order to ease some of that discomfort I have strategically placed relevant comic strips throughout the recap about biases.
These cartoons are not meant to infer that diversity and inclusion is anything other than an extremely powerful and vital subject for our community; however, they are an attempt to help make the subject more approachable for everyone involved.
Whew, now that we covered all of the disclaimers, on to the event!
Event Overview
On Monday, March 19, 2018 the City of Scottsdale held an open forum on “Diversity and Inclusion for the Greater PHX startup/entrepreneurial community. This was in direct response to an unfortunate misstep by the Economic Development team’s promotion of the city at the 2018 South by Southwest event in Austin, TX.
This event was held at DeskHub, and here were the numbers:
- 95- RSVP
- 60- Attendees
- 3- Scottsdale companies
- 16- work and/or live in Scottdale
- 7- work in tech
In Meeting Activities
Before beginning the activities, all participants were shown this video clip regarding unconscious bias to help broaden the perspective prior to discussion.
Participants were divided into small working groups randomly, with each group in a separate environment to allow for discussions. These discussions were based on 4 questions provided to each of the teams. After discussion, each team reported their results to the larger group.
These were the following questions presented to each working group:
- What best D&I practices are used in your organization, and what benefits are derived from these inclusive strategies?
- To what level do you think the greater Phoenix region should be collaborating on D&I in tech?
- What does being a ‘better valley look like to you, and how do you feel the community can collaborate to have Arizona be viewed as the ‘better valley’ for recruits and potential employers?
- Purpose some ideas around how public entities in Arizona (local, regional or state) can be more inclusive in their marketing efforts?
Question 1: What best D&I practices are used in your organization, and what benefits are derived from these inclusive strategies?
Culture — Leadership Development and Training
- Train leadership on inclusion
- Model the behaviors and set the example
- Seek out differences and celebrate
- Start early in the hiring process
Community Outreach
- Increased local involvement
- Beyond immediate communities
- Volunteer efforts into other communities
Accountability and Measurement
- Create diversity audit practices
- Define diversity and inclusion metrics
- Measure performance and results
- Draw a line in the sand, confront non-inclusive behavior
Hiring
- Diverse hiring panel
- Blind resume review (no name or university)
Question 2: To what level do you think the greater Phoenix region should be collaborating on D&I in tech?
Community led and government supported
- Recommended reading Startup Communities by Brad Feld
- Commitments from gov teams to community
- Government provided resources for community initiatives
- Determine what government entity is involved with this issue
- Increased educational opportunities between community and gov
Setting benchmarks and defining metrics
- Increased regional and local data on diversity & inclusion
- Define specific goals and aspirations
- Measure specific outcomes
Question 3: What does being a ‘better valley look like to you, and how do you feel the community can collaborate to have Arizona be viewed as the ‘better valley’ for recruits and potential employers?
- Proactive and conscious about diversity efforts
- Continue the conversation
- Get uncomfortable
- Capture data, audit performance, and create best practices
Question 4: Propose some ideas around how public entities in Arizona (local, regional or state) can be more inclusive in their marketing efforts?
- Improved marketing and highlighting success stories
- Lead by example with diversity & inclusion in public entities
- Engage community groups and leaders economic development planning process
- Develop new benchmarks and metrics for diversity & inclusion including funding
- Strengthen ties and relationships to other city/state tech communities
Survey Responses Post Meeting
I did not have the opportunity to attend the event, so no in-person discussion was considered. The below information is based solely the 30 participants who responded to the post event survey. This included 6 open ended questions focused around a SWOT analysis, identifying thought leaders, and a desired final outcome.
Open ended and short answer responses are challenging, so they were grouped to the best of ability to identify general themes of responses. For each question, top themes were highlighted with a brief summary of the responses.
What is a D&I Strength in Phoenix? (30 Responses)
- 10 responses about volume and quality of female leadership in tech
- 3 responses about a welcoming community
- 2 responses about programs for D&I (Girls in Tech, Empowered PhXX)
Phoenix is a hungry and young community which aims to be welcoming and generous to entrepreneurs of all kinds. Phoenix is growing towards improved gender equality with more female ownership and quality female leadership in the tech community. There are a growing number of programs helping build the talent pipeline in the leadership and tech space that are focused on women.
Across all 30 responses, there were only 3 mentions of overall diversity. The discussion likely driven by the ad campaign that may have focused more on a gender bias.
Key Feedback: “Amazing organizations working towards inclusion, like EmpoweredPhXX and Girls in Tech”
Interpretation: We have made strides in gender diversity with several programs helping further gender focused initiatives. If we believe this is successful, then there may be an opportunity to use this as a template for broadening horizons to ethnic diversity. Platforms today focus on welcoming and generosity messaging, so the next evolution may be helping community members understand how to deliver generosity from a tactical or actionable perspective.
What is a D&I Weakness in Phoenix? (30 Responses)
- 10 mentions of lacking diversity
- 5 mentions of ignoring the problem or not prioritizing
- 3 mentions of gender inequality (pay / leadership roles)
- 3 mentions of “Bro” culture
- 2 mentions of hostile work environments
The consistent themes were the lack of both gender and ethnic diversity in the tech community with specific focus on leadership roles and opportunities for investment. There is a common message around ignoring the problem and not making D&I a priority. There are feelings of the “bro” culture and members in the community continuing to perpetuate this culture. Further, there are several mentions of hostile work environments including harassment and bias.
All of these weaknesses align with other responses; however, what may be unclear is how to approach solving these as a community and if an infrastructure is in place to help find solutions.
Key Feedback: “Education/Awareness, there is no baseline of D&I in this community.”
Interpretation: The community lacks diversity and part of the challenge could be clarity and awareness on the meaning of diversity and inclusion. Better defining what does good look like? Are there ecosystems doing this well today, or companies within our own community? Identify key groups missing representation and seek out those communities on how to better include them.
What is one opportunity we have for more D&I in tech? (30 reponses)
- 6 mentions of community and youth education
- 5 mentions of leadership
- 4 mentions of further D&I conversations
- 3 mentions of more programs focused on introducing greater diversity
There is a strong desire to improve the community education on multiple fronts including current levels of diversity and inclusion, value add from improved D&I, and focusing on the future with youth oriented programs. The increased desire for education aligns well with the desire for more leadership on the D&I front and getting the existing leadership community more involved. One of the challenges with the education could be understanding who leads and provides that education.
Participants want the conversation to continue in other forms, possibly more proactively instead of reactively in response to an issue.
Key Feedback: “Asking those people we want to include what they need instead of guessing; having more ways for all entrepreneurs to come together to talk about our ecosystem and what we need to move forward”
Interpretation: Educate the community on our current “state of the union” for diversity and inclusion with quantifiable measures and insight or explanation of these measures. Compare them to other communities for benchmarks. Look for opportunities to unite various initiatives and programs under a single banner. Connect groups with similar missions to maximize overall impact. Partner with city/state entities to strengthen these programs with additional resources and use this to hold them accountable for results
What is a D&I threat to our PHX tech community?
- 5 mentions of status quo / old mindset
- 3 mentions of needing leadership both community and government
- 3 mentions of lack of incentive and investment
- 3 mentions of talent gaps and difficulties attracting talent
The primary threat is identified as not taking the initiative to change and address these issues within the community. In particular, some of the highlights were around the “old guard” and some of the loudest voices actively opposing D&I. Participants had multiple mentions of lacking leadership, minimal incentives, and talent gaps due to D&I.
Key Feedback: “Lack of awareness, inability to accept the harsh truths of our reality, having talent go elsewhere.”
Interpretation: The primary threat is the lack of awareness and understanding that a non-diverse and non-inclusive environment is a legitimate business threat. Diversity and inclusion is a fundamental strength in a business and the community. This needs to be demonstrated with case studies from other communities and then validated by our own community by executing a diversity and inclusion initiative. It will be difficult to execute this initiative without leadership and incentive,. Who can help lead this unifying initiative across the community?
What would you like to see an outcome of the discussion?
- 7 mentions of general progress and collaboration
- 6 mentions of strategic planning items including measurable outcomes
- 5 mentions of collaboration between government and private community for messaging
- 3 mentions of more discussion and further dialogue
The general theme from participants was desire for general progress, while others were more specific in wanting a more well defined program with a clear strategic plan and measurable output. Overall participants saw this as a starting point and wanted to continue with more discussion and better defining D&I. High interest in increased collaboration between city/state entities and the tech community for branding, messaging, and program development.
Key Feedback: “Concrete action steps that all ecosystem members can take to be more inclusive, including: broadening our personal networks so that we can get a diverse perspective of our actions, gathering & reporting data about our own diversity efforts (walking the walk), providing visibility of diverse entrepreneurs and amplification of their stories”
Interpretation: There is an overall positive attitude to want continue growth and progress. Unfortunately, it is hard to move forward effectively without a clear plan, deliverables, and ultimately execution. While everyone knows we want to move forward, someone will need to determine what forward looks like and then assemble a team, acquire resources, and create a plan for this to make a significant impact on the community. Awareness is an amazing starting point, but it is only a starting point.
What is the role of a government agency, like an economic development office, to take the lead on D&I in the workforce?
The majority of participants saw the key role of government entities as providing education on the importance of D&I with 12 of the responses. Followed by identifying them as not a leading role, but a supporting role. Several participants highlighted an interest in government entities leading the branding initiative as well as taking a leading role in both accountability and resource investment.
Additional Resources
Tech Inclusion Conference in 2018: Atlanta, Washington D.C., San Francisco, New York City
Empower PhXX provided tech and diversity facts for the Phoenix Entrepreneurial system.
Project Include is a nonprofit dedicated to accelerate DNI in tech
Open Diversity Data is a scorecard/report for how Silicon Valley tech companies report data. An open source GitHub can be accessed here.
The Kauffman Foundation “Zero Barriers” initiative
General white paper on the importance of DNI in communities & companies.
McKinsey: The Impact of D&I on The Bottom Line & Company Performance
Goldman Sachs D&I Program
