Freada Kapor Klein
Let us agree on one basic principle, one that most regular readers of this magazine already know is a core tenet at its heart: the phrase “Human Resources” is atrocious. There is no other way to describe the appalling sentiment and the contempt brought into our minds as we read such a contraption. Even worse, the fact that some people voluntarily choose to wear it as part of their professional title is beyond our comprehension. If you do not agree with this idea, you might want to stop reading altogether.
We are also well aware that the lives of software developers, architects, programmers, Scrum masters, DevOps engineers, and other people working daily with software are constantly impacted by the decisions taken by people whose jobs are referred to (or grouped with) the “Human Resources” moniker. This is the reason why so many of our editions have considered the subject of work, in all of its forms.
(For those new to this magazine, here go some examples of interest: we have talked about “Peopleware”, about “The Psychology of Computer Programming”, about career progression, and about management dissonance. We have also discussed the issues around dress codes, assholes, freelancing, trade unions, burnout, interviewing, harassment, and the need for tolerance. And most of the “12 Steps for Better Teams” deal with workplace-related situations.)
Without surprises, this edition of the magazine touches the subject once again, this time considering the work of a true pioneer in the subject of diversity and inclusion. At the risk of repeating ourselves: yes, we have already dedicated an issue of this magazine to the subject, almost 6 years ago; but let us be honest: it is not like we have seen major change happen in the meantime, so it is always a good idea to repeat the message, and even better, to learn from an expert in the field.
Freada Kapor Klein has been working on issues of diversity and inclusion for over fifty years. She started advocating for women’s rights while a student at Berkeley, and founded the Alliance Against Sexual Coercion in 1976, setting up one of the first hotlines in the world for women to report harassment issues in their workplaces.
To say that Ms. Kapor Klein was a pioneer is a large understatement.
She joined the ranks of Lotus Development Corporation in 1984 as Head of Employee Relations, and together with her boss Janet Axelrod, she set up one of the most progressive workplaces ever seen in corporate America until then (well, maybe except for Digital Equipment Corporation, with efforts led by pioneer Barbara Walker).
As she explained during an interview for the Computer History Museum:
My job description at Lotus was to make it the most progressive employer in the US.
At Lotus, she understood that success in software comes through the hard work of making the impossible dialogue possible, as stated in the same interview:
I thought it was very important on the non-engineering side of the house to understand who’s responsible for our paychecks and everybody ought to feel connected to the customer and to the product and so, one of the ways that we put all this together is that if you were a manager and had not signed up to listen in on the customer support line or if you were a manager and had not turned in all your performance reviews, by the end of the year, you didn’t get a bonus.
Freada Kapor Klein married Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus, shortly after they both had left the company in the early 1990s, and together they started a few organizations: The Kapor Foundation (“Rebuilding a More Equitable Tech Sector, Economy, & Society”), the Kapor Center (“Leveling the Playing Field in Tech”), SMASH (“Expanding Equity And Innovation In Computer Science Education”, previously known as the Level-Playing Field Institute), and Kapor Capital. The latter one of the most important VC firms in Silicon Valley, whose portfolio bears some very well-known names: Asana, Twilio, Uber, Bitly, Inkling, to name a few.
Precisely, let us talk about Uber for a bit. In what most probably was one of the biggest facepalms in their investment history, in 2017, Mitch and Freada penned an open letter to Uber, whose company culture was, needless to say, at the antipodes of whatever Ms. Kapor Klein considered palatable. (We are being polite here.)
We are disappointed to see that Uber has selected a team of insiders to investigate its destructive culture and make recommendations for change. To us, this decision is yet another example of Uber’s continued unwillingness to be open, transparent, and direct.
You cannot always win. This one must have hurt.
Along with her half-century commitment to diversity and inclusion, this month’s Library issue will focus in Ms. Kapor Klein’s excellent and sadly not more widely-known 2007 book, “Giving Notice: Why the Best and Brightest are Leaving the Workplace and How You Can Help them Stay”.
This work is built around simple storytelling, and orbits around three fictional characters: Eric Johnson (an African-American man from Detroit), Kristen Van Der Camp (a white woman from Nebraska), and Miguel Rodriguez (a man of Cuban origin from New York City). The book follows their trajectories, their careers, and their problems, each representing distinct slices of working classes in contemporary American society. We watch in despair their struggle to move around (and not always up) in this alien organism called Corporate America.
Needless to say, the picture ain’t pretty, and the book makes no effort to hide it under false pretenses.
American workplaces are increasingly characterized by a lack of civility and a lack of fairness.
Ouch. Can you elaborate?
For example, racial minorities experience being stereotyped about twice as often as their Caucasian male counterparts. Gays and lesbians experience rudeness substantially more often than Caucasian heterosexual men. People of color receive requests to attend recruiting/community events nearly five times more often than their white male colleagues. (…) White women are subjected to materials they find offensive, such as pornographic photos, Internet sites, or e-mails.
Fantastic. But what about our three heroes?
Despite their unique skills and interests, they are still primarily seen as “diversity hires.” Some co-workers believe Eric, Miguel, and Kristen got in the corporate door only because of their demographics, so the three are assumed to be underqualified and underprepared for their positions.
The book is a rare eye-opener. The examples, sourced from the vast experience of the author (did we mention that she has been working in the field for 50 years? Yes we did) and from a large pool of corporate clients in America and elsewhere, are meant to provide actual, practicable advice for “HR” professionals. Its 10 chapters cover international business, legal issues, cost breakdown, hiring frameworks, bonus structures, management guidelines, and much more.
“Giving Notice” is (primarily) written for HR and C-suite managers, with a strong focus on the costs associated with the loss of talent because of diversity and inclusion issues (there is even a full appendix at the end with the complete breakdown of such costs). In a commendable exercise, Ms. Kapor Klein knows that the “humane” argument of the equation will not appeal to those types, but that the economic one will, maybe, hopefully.
Many organizations cite at least one of these three reasons for being willing to address bias:
- Litigation avoidance “We want to limit our exposure to lawsuits.”
- Business case “Being inclusive of employees from a wide range of backgrounds helps us achieve our business goals and allows us to be sensitive to the cultural nuances of our customers and business partners.”
- Human decency “It’s the right thing to do.”
The last reason—human decency—generally gets the least attention, especially in the United States.
Just like with our praise for “Peopleware”, we sometimes wonder how many people actually read the books we recommend in the “Library” section of this magazine. Le sigh. The reality of the world is better summarized by this quote from “Giving Notice”:
A current Morgan Stanley vice president shares these thoughts: “Diversity is good—there are many varieties of white male. Advancement opportunities are excellent as long as you are white male and you extract as much money from client accounts as possible.”
As usual, let us not hold our breath for change, but remind ourselves of the need for it every day. If you know an “HR” manager, show them this article and tell them to get a copy of this book. For 30 bucks, they will get a lot of actionable ideas to make workplaces suck a bit less.
In the meantime, learn more about Freada Kapor Klein by reading (or watching) an interview of her and Mitch by Marc Weber for the Computer History Museum, watching her TED talk, reading her interview at TechCrunch, and reading another book (this time co-authored with Mitch) titled “Closing the Equity Gap”.
Cover image by the author.