Key Takeaways from Microsoft’s Leading DEI Efforts
Microsoft is considered a global leader in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and with good reason. Their 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Report, which tracks measurable metrics on the company’s commitments to increase diversion and foster inclusion, is a really strong example of honest, transparent, meaningful communication and action. To go a step further, the company publishes all of it’s DEI resources for free, so that others, perhaps with fewer resources, may leverage courses, templates, and material in their own DEI efforts.
Alas, this is not MSFT-sponsored content. I don’t even own any stock in the company, and honestly, quite prefer G-Mail to Outlook. I also don’t think that Microsoft is the pinnacle of excellence when it comes to DEI. Take, for example, the current layer of Partner and Executive leadership in the company, where there’s clearly more work to be done to reach basic demographic levels of equity. It is clear that there are three groups that are over-represented (Men, White, and Asian) compared to all other groups, including Women, Black, Native American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and Multicultural all of which are still drastically underrepresented.
But, this is also not a diatribe about how Microsoft should be doing more. Compared to most other companies, Microsoft is miles ahead in terms of it’s thinking, measurement, implementation and action on DEI initiatives. Should it be doing more? Of course it should be doing more. So should everyone! But to me, looking at what Microsoft has and is doing in the area of DEI highlights three main takeaways:
Honesty:
You have to be real with yourself, with your company, with your stakeholders, and with the world around you. You have to dig in, do the research, and present the numbers for what they are. To fix things, we have to deal with reality as it is, not as we wish it were for the sake of earning calls or easier conversations. We see a ton of this right now- Greenwashing, Rainbowashing, etc.
Plenty of memes have already been created about how all companies are Black in February, Gay throughout June, and Green year-round. Doing things to avoid cancel-culture or to score a few affinity points with potential customers is contrived and short-sided. It is also super easy to call BS on and usually fires back faster than you can say “egregiously misleading consumers”.
Change takes time
We are dealing with fundamental issues so deeply entrenched in the structures, ethos, and mentality of our working and living environments. Clearly, change will take time. Should it? No. These issues should not exist to begin with. But here we are. So to think that these issues will get fixed in time for the next earning call is just silly.
Let’s take Microsoft as an example again, not to make an example of them, but because they are actually brave enough to publish the real data (no good deed goes unpunished, right)? Again- all data is available HERE, so feel free to run your own analysis, or other ones that make sense.
Running a quick projection on the company’s demographics between 2015 to today, (and using super dirty math assuming linear continuation, and not accounting for general population changes), here is how long it would take different demographic groups’ representation amongst leadership to reach equity with general population representation:
Men, currently 79.9% of exec, will reach equity (drop to 49.5%) by 2056
Women, currently 20% of execs, will reach equity (rise to 50.5%) by 2040
Blacks, currently 2.9% of execs, will reach equity (rise to 13.4%) by 2076
Native Americans, currently 0.3% of execs, will reach equity (rise to 1.6%)...never
Asians, currently 25.2% of execs, will reach equity (drop to 5.6%)...never
Hispanic, currently 4.4% of execs, will reach equity (rise to 18.5%) by 2082
Pacific Islanders, currently 0.3% of execs, will reach equity (rise to 0.4%) by 2030
Multicultural, currently 1.1% of execs, will reach equity (rise to 2.6%) by 2042
Whites, currently 65.2% of execs, will reach equity (drop to 59.7%) by 2024
A data-driven approach is an inevitable part of making real progress in DEI.
The above indicates that to see real change in our lifetime, for example, an adequate representation of Blacks and Latinx populations in executive positions, we need to implement changes that break the (relatively) linear change trends we have been experiencing, and turn them into incremental ones. To do that, we need to understand what rates are we seeing today, what activities can be implemented, how to measure the % change over time, and how to optimize towards those activities that drive the most incremental change.
To do that, we need data. Lots of beautiful, messy, real, honest, sometimes dirty, often unpleasant, but much needed and very necessary data without which, we are fighting hundreds of years worth of injustice, and some of our worst tendencies as human beings, with a wooden sword, blindfolded, with a hand tied behind our back.