Re: Out of Date Discussion
Indeed, IBM refused to build plants in Kentucky and North Carolina while the laws there required racial segregation of the workforce. And at the time, that would have been considered exactly the same kind of leftist, politically-correct interference that Silicon Valley is being accused of now - perhaps, at the height of McCarthyism*, even more so.
However, there's some very interesting analysis in the Harvard Business Review suggesting that diversity policies often fail to achieve their goals, precisely because people respond badly when confronted with their prejudices and try to subvert the processes they are required to implement.
Unless your attitude to your customer base is entirely patronising, it's difficult to see why you would not want its composition reflected in your organisation as far as practicable. It's just possible, though, that businesses need to go about it in a smarter way.
[*The other one...]
Biting the hand that feeds IT
