Tim Cook Says Diversity is the Future of Apple, Points to More Female-Driven Presence at WWDC

[MacRumors]

Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with Mashable at a ceremony yesterday honoring the recipients of the company's WWDC Scholarship Program, which awards up to 350 students and developers with tickets to the week-long Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The program aims to promote diversity amongst lesser-represented groups in the tech industry - such as women - by awarding tickets to WWDC for excelling in various technological or science-driven education environments. Today, when asked by Mashable why diversity is so important to Apple, Tim Cook responded simply that, "It's the future of our company."

Tim Cook posing with a WWDC scholarship winner​

"I view these people that I talk to today as the future generations of the company, and they will either be a part of it directly or a part of the ecosystem. And either way -- when I think of Apple, I think of the whole community, not just the people that have the Apple badge."

And that future, according to Cook, should be diverse: "I think the most diverse group will produce the best product, I firmly believe that," he says. Even without taking its values into account, Apple is a "better company" by being more diverse.

Given that Apple keynotes have historically been spearheaded by white male presenters, many wondered when Apple's forward-thinking efforts in diversity would trickle down into the public spotlight at one of its big keynote events. When asked about just that, Cook hints that a more female-driven presence may occur later today at WWDC. "Look tomorrow," Cook said. "Look tomorrow and let me know what you think."

Although not an official employee of Apple, model and founder of non-profit organization "Every Mother Counts" Christy Turlington Burns partnered with the company in showcasing various uses of the Apple Watch in a weekly blog meant to build up excitement for the wearable, after first appearing on stage at the March "Spring Forward" event.

Article Link: Tim Cook Says Diversity is the Future of Apple, Points to More Female-Driven Presence at WWDC

 

[Revearti]

Hire skills. Period. Forget everything else.

 

[sputnikv]

i've never understood how diversity leads to 'better' products or is conducive for better productivity. why not just award people best suited for the job completely independent of their racial or sexual background?

 

[AustinIllini]

Considering it was women who pioneered coding, I'm glad they are flocking back to the field.

 

[RichTF]

Looking forward to this. For those who think that "people should be hired / promoted purely on merit" — sure, that's an admirable goal and one that I share with you. But we can't simply pretend that we're already there, close our eyes, stick fingers in our ears, and carry on as if everything is okay.

Everything is not okay. Our industry is massively skewed and unrepresentative, and the root of the problem runs deep (often all the way back to childhood). We need action to give extra support to those groups who have been historically discouraged from the tech world, and I'm proud to support a company that, hopefully, gets this.

Try and take a long term view. This is about redressing a decades-long imbalance, so that one day we really can stop worrying about inequality in the tech world, and become a true meritocracy. That day is not here yet.

 

[Eadfrith]

As opposed to first class products and services?

 

[967874]

Translation: You are being hired because it makes us look diverse, qualifications aside.

 

[AustinIllini]

Translation: You are being hired because it makes us look diverse, qualifications aside.

Not really. The age of the "Old boys club" was a real thing and there are a number of companies that are/were like that.

 

[2457282]

Hire skills. Period. Forget everything else.

Skill is probably one of the most important qualities to look at when hiring, but it is not the only quality. The person must have the right balance of potential, aggressiveness, acumen, collaboration, etc. Skill alone will not get you much in a large company.

Having said that, diversity is also important so that you do not become insular in the thinking that could mean missing the next leap in technology. Microsoft suffered from that and is just now starting to recuperate.

I think the only problem has been when someone is hired purely based on the diversity issue.

Get people that have passion, skill, and can push the company in new directions. That comes from many faces, some male, some female, and certainly from multiple races and ethnic backgrounds.

 

[RichTF]

i've never understood how diversity leads to 'better' products or is conducive for better productivity. why not just award people best suited for the job completely independent of their racial or sexual background?

If you're a company that is able to find 10 really good hires in today's male-dominated world, you could instead have found up to 20 really good hires in a world where women are as available as men. Same logic applies to other minority groups. (where "minority" refers to power base, rather than simple numbers)

 

[Fuchal]

Translation: You are being hired because it makes us look diverse, qualifications aside.

There are plenty of fully qualified tech folk out there who aren't white and male. They don't always get a chance, for a number of reasons.

 

[napabar]

Looking forward to this. For those who think that "people should be hired / promoted purely on merit" — sure, that's an admirable goal and one that I share with you. But we can't simply pretend that we're already there, close our eyes, stick fingers in our ears, and carry on as if everything is okay.

Everything is not okay. Our industry is massively skewed and unrepresentative, and the root of the problem runs deep (often all the way back to childhood). We need action to give extra support to those groups who have been historically discouraged from the tech world, and I'm proud to support a company that, hopefully, gets this.

Try and take a long term view. This is about redressing a decades-long imbalance, so that one day we really can stop worrying about inequality in the tech world, and become a true meritocracy. That day is not here yet.

*Rolls eyes*

 

[JB22]

Glad to hear this.

 

[napabar]

If you're a company that is able to find 10 really good hires in today's male-dominated world, you could instead have found up to 20 really good hires in a world where women are as available as men. Same logic applies to other minority groups. (where "minority" refers to power base, rather than simple numbers)

You assume women want to be involved in tech in the same proportions as men. Your logic is flawed. Typical of a hipster.

 

[RakEgg]

Dear Tim,

Diversity is not the basis for good decisions, great products and excellent service. All these things come from having the best people whether they are male, female or neuter , black, green or white, American, Mexican or Caluthumpian, right handed left handed or ambidextrous, or indeed whether they crack their egg on the big end or little end.

Can we, please, please get over this pathetic rubbish, pushed forever on us by the oh so vocal compashionistas.

If, dear Tim, you want to do something really helpful for people, ensure the likes of Foxconn and your other partners look after their people properly and pay them real wages, rather than pretending to care. Remember it was you mate who set up these supply lines that have resulted in the worst outcomes for those young abused foreign workers.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

What utter tripe from Cook.

Diversity is neither good or bad. The complete works of J.S.Bach were written by one white man. In Cook's world, he would have preferred them to have been written by a committee consisting of one ginger, one black transvestite, one deaf atheist and one homosexual drug-addict.

Hire on skill alone. Nothing else matters.

 

[The Doctor11]

I don't understand why Apple feels the need to put so much effort into making their employees "diverse". It worrying that they may be putting people to jobs based on race/sex instead of the best person for the job .

 

[Smith288]

Diversity in the tech world? Maybe if the same number of women show interest in the field but the number of resumes we get for a tech job is few and far between. For me to hire one woman because she's a woman even though there is 15 resumes of men infinitely more qualified is folly and leads to a lesser product. It's a numbers game. Not a fairness game.

 

[extricated]

On one hand, I really like any entity that works towards a diverse workplace.
On the other hand, I really want people to be hired for ability, skills, aptitude, etc. - and those factors should not be trumped in the name of diversity.
I have a fairly diverse workplace of about 50/50 male and female and around 30/70 ratio of minorities.
I assure you that all of our employees were hired for their skills. Ten years from now, if we have considerably more male than female and even fewer minorities, I wouldn't consider that a bad thing as long as the ratios have changed based on best qualified candidates. I don't see that happening, but just wanted to use the example.

Bottom line, I am glad that businesses are more aware of this issue, because there have been and still are practices that have resulted in an unfairly skewed workforce not representative of diversity.

 

[Revearti]

Skill is probably one of the most important qualities to look at when hiring, but it is not the only quality. The person must have the right balance of potential, aggressiveness, acumen, collaboration, etc. Skill alone will not get you much in a large company.

Having said that, diversity is also important so that you do not become insular in the thinking that could mean missing the next leap in technology. Microsoft suffered from that and is just now starting to recuperate.

I think the only problem has been when someone is hired purely based on the diversity issue.

Get people that have passion, skill, and can push the company in new directions. That comes from many faces, some male, some female, and certainly from multiple races and ethnic backgrounds.

I'm not disagreeing with you. In so many words, I'm saying hire the mind. Ignore skin and gender. If 100 women and 0 men got what it takes, great. If 100 men and 0 women got what it takes, great. When gender or skin are listed as the focus, you are hiring solely on diversity versus skills / talent / personality / etc. The mind makes great products. Not skin, gender, or where you're from.

 

[Smith288]

I say apple should focus on implementing programs at early ages to engage girls in the field. Then you will eventually see higher qualified numbers of women applying for positions in the tech field.

 

[Godzilla71]

So does this mean Angela Ahrendt will take the stage. echo, echo, echo

 

[kcirtap00]

Looking forward to this. For those who think that "people should be hired / promoted purely on merit" — sure, that's an admirable goal and one that I share with you. But we can't simply pretend that we're already there, close our eyes, stick fingers in our ears, and carry on as if everything is okay.

Everything is not okay. Our industry is massively skewed and unrepresentative, and the root of the problem runs deep (often all the way back to childhood). We need action to give extra support to those groups who have been historically discouraged from the tech world, and I'm proud to support a company that, hopefully, gets this.

Try and take a long term view. This is about redressing a decades-long imbalance, so that one day we really can stop worrying about inequality in the tech world, and become a true meritocracy. That day is not here yet.

So you say that people should be hired on merit, and then in the rest of your post you say that they shouldn't

 

[firefoxsilver9]

I think diversity in any industry is a positive move and should be encouraged more. If your customer base is made up of diverse people from all walks of life, not just limited to gender or ethnic background but also economic class, education etc. then you would benefit from a diverse makeup of your employees and representatives of your company also. People can bring all sorts of things to the table to help better and grow a business and when you have a diverse makeup of employees, you get ideas you may otherwise not get as people have many different experiences in different social groups. And as far as hiring based on skill-set alone, skills can be taught and strengthened with on the job experience as long as you have someone with the passion and drive to learn.

 

[69Mustang]

You assume women want to be involved in tech in the same proportions as men. Your logic is flawed. Typical of a hipster.

You're deliberately being obtuse. Clearly the poster was using the number of twenty as an example. What he is talking about is inclusion. That's what diversity is supposed to be about. Diversity isn't about hiring someone because they are a certain race, sex, or whatever just to say you're diverse (that's a quota). It's about expanding your pool of talent beyond the typical White or Asian male that dominates the tech industry.

If a hiring manager says, "We have 100 employees. All are male, and either White or Asian. I need to hire some black women to balance this out", then that wrong. That's not diversity. If the manager says, "We've only hired White or Asian men. In this next round, let's expand our search to a larger talent pool that includes people of different races and sexes" that's diversity. It's not guaranteeing a job to a person because of their sex or race. It's including them in opportunity where in the past they weren't even up for consideration. It's hiring the best person for the job regardless of their race or sex. That hasn't always been the case.