societal and political discussions of any kind at work, claiming that it “saps our energy, and redirects our dialogue towards dark places.” It’s worth noting that the employee campaign and the new policy happened the same week as the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd and as violence against Asians was spiking in America. The timing of the policy couldn’t have been more reprehensible.
That noose emoji resulted in a heated debate among the staff, particularly among Black and racialized employees. As the debate intensified, however, CEO Tobias Lutke stepped in, changing a diversity-focused channel to be read-only and effectively ending discussion on the matter. In a laterMr.
Silicon Valley refusing to do the hard work shouldn’t be such a surprise; after all, this is a tried and true operating model for them. You can avoid a lot of difficult work – say, untangling municipal laws and federal regulations while ignoring consequences on human labour and institutions – if you just call yourself a disrupter and skirt the legalities that don’t suit you.