Denise Young Smith Takes on New Role as VP of Diversity and Inclusion at Apple

[applezulu]

https://www.google.com/search?q=2016+Diversit+VP's+Hired&oq=2016+Diversit+VP's+Hired&aqs=chrome..69i57.9494j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=+2016+Diversity+VP's+Hired

P.S. Nice screen name...

That search does not in any way even remotely support your assertion. It is a google search for the string "2016 Diversity VP's Hired." It brings up a lot of pages that have those words and numbers in them. Some of the items actually are about individuals hired for diversity vp positions, but even for those, that doesn't indicate that those positions were newly created in 2016. It also does absolutely nothing to support your newly shifted target of 8 months, nor does it support any sort of fraction of anything about the list I originally provided for you. It's just a list of search results, much of which has little to do with any of your claims.

You should have quit while you were behind. At least based on your accomplishments here, a Venn diagram of "you" and "integrity" would consist of two distinct, non-overlapping circles. People make unsubstantiated assertions all the time, but it takes a special sort to keep doubling down by slightly altering the assertion, and then finally offering "evidence" that so glaringly fails to support any of the false claims you've made.

 

[CausticSoda]

I think it shows prejudice that this job did not go to a white man!

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

I think that the best way to have diversity is to have it not be a thing.

My 6 year old son said it best:
"Tell me about your friend."
"We go out and play baseball. He's really good. I want to be good like him, so he tells me how to hit, and I tell him how to catch."

No mention of ethnicity or anything (but baseball) ever crosses his mind.

 

[SteveJobs2.0]

If this was all about creating a greater representation of visible minorities that better reflects the general population proportions, then the number of Asian employees would be lowered. Silicon Valley has an overabundance of Asian employees compared to the general population proportion.

 

[applezulu]

I think that the best way to have diversity is to have it not be a thing.

My 6 year old son said it best:
"Tell me about your friend."
"We go out and play baseball. He's really good. I want to be good like him, so he tells me how to hit, and I tell him how to catch."

No mention of ethnicity or anything (but baseball) ever crosses his mind.

That's the ideal, isn't it? Sadly, when you get past the world of six-year-olds, that isn't the reality. If you're the decent person you seem, and a part of the default majority population, you probably don't give this issue much thought unless somebody else brings it up. If you're a member of the non-default population, you don't have that luxury.

If your little boy is white and his friend is black, they will have vastly different experiences growing up. If they stay close over the years, your son will probably witness that and maybe even hear about it from his friend. He will see people inexplicably make negative assumptions about his friend. Your son will see others inadvertently show disrespect to his friend in contrast to respect that your son automatically receives. He will also see others overtly mistreat, abuse, or even hurt his friend, for no good reason at all. This is reality. All that will happen before they finish school and even start trying to find jobs. So when they get to that point, if your son has seen and experienced all that with his friend, he might actually think that because both he and his friend deserve a shot at success in life, maybe there really is a need for good people to be intentional about offering a positive counterbalance to all the negative stuff his friend has had to deal with just to get to the same starting line.

Your son's words very sweetly describe the ideal, but it's not the current reality. If you ever want reality to match that ideal, you have to actually do something about it to get there. The world doesn't just simply recalibrate to that ideal because some people have defined what it is. While you seem like you'd assert that your son and his friend are fundamentally equal, there are still plenty of others out there who are not willing to agree with you. If you want your son and his friend to themselves live a life that's closer to that ideal then it's you and your own generation who have to work to make that a reality. The first step is simply letting go of denial and acknowledging that there's actually a problem.

 

[BarracksSi]

If your little boy is white and his friend is black, they will have vastly different experiences growing up. If they stay close over the years, your son will probably witness that and maybe even hear about it from his friend.

I was that white kid.

There was Alfred next door, who played with me when I was just three years old. I often walked to kindergarten and grade school with Kasandra, who lived on the next block. My best friend from third grade into college was Ralph. Many days, my sister and I played with Kiko and Ayo from across the street. All black kids.

I think I grew up in a pretty diverse environment all the way to the end of high school. It wasn't until I went to college in a small town in the middle of the state that I found myself in a homogenous, nearly all-white society in which minorities were viewed as outsiders. That's when I started to hear words, jokes, and stereotypes that we simply never spoke about in my hometown.

I hadn't realized that people could be so ugly towards someone they never knew. It didn't make any sense to me. Hell, it still doesn't make any sense.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

That's the ideal, isn't it? Sadly, when you get past the world of six-year-olds, that isn't the reality. If you're the decent person you seem, and a part of the default majority population, you probably don't give this issue much thought unless somebody else brings it up. If you're a member of the non-default population, you don't have that luxury.

If your little boy is white and his friend is black, they will have vastly different experiences growing up. If they stay close over the years, your son will probably witness that and maybe even hear about it from his friend. He will see people inexplicably make negative assumptions about his friend. Your son will see others inadvertently show disrespect to his friend in contrast to respect that your son automatically receives. He will also see others overtly mistreat, abuse, or even hurt his friend, for no good reason at all. This is reality. All that will happen before they finish school and even start trying to find jobs. So when they get to that point, if your son has seen and experienced all that with his friend, he might actually think that because both he and his friend deserve a shot at success in life, maybe there really is a need for good people to be intentional about offering a positive counterbalance to all the negative stuff his friend has had to deal with just to get to the same starting line.

Your son's words very sweetly describe the ideal, but it's not the current reality. If you ever want reality to match that ideal, you have to actually do something about it to get there. The world doesn't just simply recalibrate to that ideal because some people have defined what it is. While you seem like you'd assert that your son and his friend are fundamentally equal, there are still plenty of others out there who are not willing to agree with you. If you want your son and his friend to themselves live a life that's closer to that ideal then it's you and your own generation who have to work to make that a reality. The first step is simply letting go of denial and acknowledging that there's actually a problem.

I understand where you're coming from, and I do have to fight my prejudices that I have learned from others, mainly the one where I wonder if what I say may be offensive. I don't want to pass that on to my son, so we just talk, and if he (or his friend) bring up race in the way that you mention, my words will be, "The worst person to hold you back is yourself. Other people can try, but only you can succeed at that." As for other racial questions that might be asked, I am going into this with the "We're all the same inside, so let's not make how we look outside a factor."

I figure that someone has to be a change agent, and it might as well be me. By "change agent," I have to look at what has been done in the past by people that weren't me, but who influenced me, and make a conscious decision not to use the negatives that they have taught me when I deal with people. That includes people of different colors, nationalities, religions, beliefs, and even those that cut me off in traffic. (side story... I used to call people that cut me off in traffic "Bozos", and one day, my daughter said, "The teacher used a bad word in Sunday School." Fearing the worst, I asked her what word he used, and she was embarrassed, and said, "He said, 'Bozo'" - made me think about what kids think of the words we use... I never used the B word again... just kept my mouth shut at people acting weird in traffic.)

Lastly, thank you for your advice. I will contemplate it and use it.

 

[fatalogic]

The truth is the job market is not a meritocracy. I've been on the hiring side and the employee side and most people find their jobs from friends or family. This is why networking is always an important skill to have. This is also why ivy league schools are so highly regarded, the education is good certainly but it is the network that gives them their true value. Another thing is most people have friends who are of similar ethnic background. For example lets say you work at apple and are a white male who has 100 friends, maybe 30 of those friends are also developers and only 5% are probably qualified to work at Apple. Mostly like those remaining friends are probably also going to be white men of which you may only recommend 1 or 2 for an open position. Extrapolate that example 1000 times and it becomes pretty obvious why there has been a push for diversity. It's about increasing the pipeline of qualified applicants.

https://www.stackoverflowbusiness.com/blog/how-developers-are-actually-finding-jobs-in-2017
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...graduates-african-american-hispanic/14684211/