![]() Q What is the toughest thing for these companies to change?Ī It’s having these really hard conversations. What can I do?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, go help that person who’s stuck doing the menial tasks by speaking up for him or her.’ And then often somebody else will ask later in the discussion, ‘I’m a white man. They don’t want to complain about it and not be seen as a team player, but it really isn’t fair that they’ve been singled out to do some of these menial tasks time and time again. Whether it’s a woman or a person of color, they often get asked to do the grunt work, which I experienced myself. Q What can the average tech employee at one of these companies do to help?Ī It’s interesting because I’ve been speaking to a lot of different companies over the past year, and there’s usually somebody who comes up and asks a question around being asked to do menial tasks. If you’re a startup and you’re homogeneous, you’re not going to be able to solve all of the problems or predict some of the problems that are going to come up with your products over time. And I think being inclusive on your teams helps with that. Q About your time at Reddit - how did you handle being the target of abuse on the platform, and what lessons did you take away from your work there?Ī The Reddit stuff, I think it’s an example of how women and people of color are targeted not just online but also in tech companies, and how tech companies need to think about how to be inclusive on their platforms. We just didn’t have the resources and the time to share our perspective, and I would love to kind of set the record straight on a few things. The trial was kind of a zoo - there was a team of PR people from the other side that was driving conversation. Part of why I was excited to write a book was to just set the record straight. We have nine companies that we’re working closely with right now (including Periscope Data and Upserve).Ī I’m not really talking about the book these days - we’re still in the early days of getting it together. And we’re still working to figure that out. Q What progress has the project made so far?Ī I think our measure will end up being how many companies do we get to a level that we consider to be diverse and inclusive. Over 1,500 people signed up wanting to be involved, and 100 of those were tech CEOs. ![]() And (the key) really is these 87 recommendations we ended up putting down and sharing with people on our website. We launched it in May and we got a tremendous response. We met for dinner a few times and we were trying to brainstorm, ‘What is that silver bullet? What should we be telling companies to do?’ And our quick realization was there is no silver bullet. Whether it’s bringing in a diversity consultant or sharing metrics, trying to find these really easy solutions when it’s actually something that has to be comprehensive.Ī When we started it was very informal. Q What are the biggest things VC firms and tech companies continue to struggle with when it comes to inclusion?Ī I think there’s a desire for it to be easier. ![]() She sat down with this newspaper to discuss her new initiative - Project Include, which helps companies develop an inclusive workplace culture - her experience as interim CEO of Reddit and the memoir she’s writing.This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Pao lost her trial against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, but ended up becoming Silicon Valley’s unintended voice in the fight against discrimination. “And more people thinking about it, and more people wanting to be on the right side. “I see more people talking about it,” she said. But Pao says she’s noticed a shift in attitude since her trial, which she views as the first step toward building a more welcoming culture. In March 2015, Ellen Pao took the stand in a packed San Francisco courtroom and described the unfair treatment she says she endured as a woman in a prestigious, male-dominated Silicon Valley venture capital firm.Ī year and a half later, tech companies continue to release diversity reports with numbers that barely tick upward, and Pao still hears stories from other women and minorities about discrimination they’ve experienced in the workplace. ![]()
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