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3-Minute Briefing: Ellen Pao (MBA 1998)
Topics: Organizations-Organizational CultureDemographics-DiversityEthics-Values and BeliefsBusiness Ventures-Business Startups
3-Minute Briefing: Ellen Pao (MBA 1998)
Topics: Organizations-Organizational CultureDemographics-DiversityEthics-Values and BeliefsBusiness Ventures-Business Startups
3-Minute Briefing: Ellen Pao (MBA 1998)
Tech has real social and ethical responsibilities, but we’ve seen that the current leadership of these platforms is not willing to make changes to promote a healthier ecosystem.
When I was at Reddit, its culture needed a lot of work, and I found myself wishing for a handbook to help leaders like me create a more diverse and inclusive environment. That’s what we’re doing with Project Include.
Through our program, a CEO can talk with peers and see data on their startup’s diversity and sentiment levels. You need data to see what is and isn’t working.
It seemed like the job at Kleiner Perkins was made for me: This person had to have studied either computer science or electrical engineering and have a JD and an MBA. They had to have worked at a big software company and a successful startup. The kicker was they had to speak Mandarin. That was me.
But requirements like that are a barrier to groups that don’t fit the VC mold. There is no magic set of experiences that makes you a great venture capitalist.
I filed a gender discrimination suit against Kleiner Perkins because I had tried everything else. It seemed like a lawsuit would be the only way to get them to see that their way of doing things was unfair and would not hold up to outside scrutiny.
Most people agree that companies should be fair and that everybody should have a chance to succeed. The hard part is figuring out how to make that happen and actually doing the work. The big thing to realize is it’s not one thing.
Startups can lead the way. There’s more innovative thinking, a willingness to take risks and to try new things. Eventually, these startups will get bigger and more successful, and those values of diversity and inclusion will spread to the next generation of companies.
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Re: Joanna Barsh (MBA 1981); Stan Beck (PMD 64); Chris Dempsey (MBA 2012); Robert Goldmann (MBA 1961); Blant Hurt (MBA 1991); JoAnn Laing (MBA 1986); Claude Lefebvre (OPM 10); Jeanne Liedtka (MBA 1981); Mark Nation (MBA 2001); Ellen Pao (MBA 1998); Dennis Powers (MBA 1969); Oliver Ratzesberger (AMP 192); Rob Reid (MBA 1994); Steve Shallenberger (OPM 6); Jim Sherblom (MBA 1980); Chinghua Tang (MBA 1985); Dan Wagniere (MBA 1963); Laure Wang (MBA 1997)
