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I am minded to agree. And that's a shame, because Pichai has done good things for Chrome and Android when he was leading those. The article doesn't really touc

I am minded to agree. And that's a shame, because Pichai has done good things for Chrome and Android when he was leading those. The article doesn't really touch on Pichai's biggest mistakes here. Mistake one: Damore's memo alleged discrimination, both against men and conservatives. Gender and political affiliation are both protected classes in California and they just fired him for whistleblowing. He has now filed a complaint with the NLRB. This seems like a legal headache that a better CEO could have avoided by not firing the guy. Put him on the roof or something, wait for things to blow over, find some other solution but the moment they fired him, they set themselves up for this. Mistake two: Google shareholders asked at the last shareholder meeting if it was true that Google was a hostile work environment for conservatives (or words to that effect). They assured shareholders that this wasn't true. Clearly that answer has problems. Employees are leaking like crazy to Breitbart of all places that Google is extremely hostile to conservatives. I don't know what happens if leadership misleads shareholders in these sorts of questions, maybe nothing. But it can't be good. Mistake three: Google managers have been publicly announcing within the firm that they are blacklisting employees for not being sufficiently pro-feminist or even for just questioning the policies or the mob reaction to it. There are screenshots of this along with interviews, again, on Breitbart. This seems like a fantastically unhealthy culture that Pichai has allowed to grow on his watch. I have heard from other Googlers that in one incident, a manager claimed he'd blacklist anyone who was subscribed to an internal mailing list for discussion of conservative viewpoints, and then when people objected, that he'd blacklist them too (so they couldn't transfer to his team). Again this seems like a cut/dried case of discrimination against people of certain political affiliations. Mistake four: this debate is happening because Googlers are furiously attacking each other through leaks to the press. This is happening in both directions: the original leak was clearly intended to get Damore fired and publicly shamed, now others are leaking screenshots of internal communications and Pichai's emails. Pichai has quite clearly lost control of his own workforce to a staggering degree. How much more of Google's guts spilling out onto the street will shareholders tolerate?

Overtonwindow 9y ago
This. An excellent deconstruction of the issue. A culture of silencing views a minority does not agree with for the sake of avoiding a mob has created a mob of its own against all reason.
malandrew 9y ago
Do you have a reference for the shareholder's question? I had not heard that before and would like to read more.
- peoplewindow 9y ago
  I was repeating a claim I saw on HN earlier and went looking for references. It turns out the person who asked the question wrote a whole article about it: http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/i-confronted-google-about-its-liberal-groupthink-at-a-shareholder-meeting-heres-what-happened-next/ http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/i-confronted-go... At the meeting, I asked Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt about the company's actual commitment to diversity and inclusion in light of the company's public policy positions, not to mention the views of top management, that all skew to the extreme political left. I noted conservatives may not feel welcome in such an environment, let alone feel free to express their beliefs. Schmidt and other company executives dismissed my entire question by claiming everyone at the company — and in the tech industry as a whole — was in agreement with them. After that confrontation, a strange thing happened. I started receiving messages from Google employees thanking me for challenging Alphabet's leadership. Without realizing it, I was apparently speaking for a closeted segment of Google employees with conservative beliefs. One email read, "I'm working with a few other Googlers to fix the company's political discrimination problem. Really appreciate you shining a light on the matter." Another said she was working closely with a group of conservatives at Google, and noted, "(t)hey're all very appreciative that you were standing up for their interests at the shareholder's (sic) meeting. The shareholder resolution your organization filed also made a lot of people happy."
trhway 9y ago
>discrimination, both against men and conservatives. while men is [at least nominally] protected class, being a conservative isn't. >Google is extremely hostile to conservatives. can't applaud enough to Google here. According to the well known court decisions, a corporation is, like a person, entitled to have its own political opinion and actions, and it is the time somebody would answer to conservatives in kind. Conservatives whine so much every time they get a taste of their own medicine. Shareholders who don't like Google's opinion can just sell their stock, as nobody forces them to own it.
- peoplewindow 9y ago
  Can you point to examples of large conservative corporations firing people for expressing liberal viewpoints? I feel we do not read about cases like Google's very often, so I'm not sure what you mean by "taste of their own medicine".
- Spivak 9y ago
  > can't applaud enough to Google here Just to be sure here, you would be fine with Google being hostile, like creating an uncomfortable work environment for, members of the LGBT community, environmentalists, pet owners, vegetarians, Buddhists, pro-choice members, PHP programmers, truck owners, under-roll toilet paper users, tort reform advocates, accountants, FSF members, IE users, people who want maternity leave, Bears fans, Apple users, Mr. Pibb drinkers, or any of the billion other political issues we interact with daily?
  - trhway 9y ago
    you're putting words in my mouth. I said i'm ok with hostility toward conservatives, not all the other groups you listed above. Out of the groups you listed i'd be ok with hostility toward "tort reform advocates" as they seems to be on the conservative side. All the others are either progressive or neutral so they either get my support or i don't care.
MarkMc 9y ago
Let me add one more mistake: Pichai was quoted as saying that the vast majority of emails he has received from Googlers have been in support of Damore's firing. How can he be so clueless to think this is a representative sample? After such a huge drama, he still doesn't realise that some people are afraid to say what they think. (Despite all this I don't think these mistakes are enough to cost him his job, given excellent leadership of Android and Chrome)

Overtonwindow 9y ago

This. An excellent deconstruction of the issue. A culture of silencing views a minority does not agree with for the sake of avoiding a mob has created a mob of its own against all reason.

malandrew 9y ago

Do you have a reference for the shareholder's question? I had not heard that before and would like to read more.

peoplewindow 9y ago
I was repeating a claim I saw on HN earlier and went looking for references. It turns out the person who asked the question wrote a whole article about it: http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/i-confronted-google-about-its-liberal-groupthink-at-a-shareholder-meeting-heres-what-happened-next/ http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/i-confronted-go... At the meeting, I asked Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt about the company's actual commitment to diversity and inclusion in light of the company's public policy positions, not to mention the views of top management, that all skew to the extreme political left. I noted conservatives may not feel welcome in such an environment, let alone feel free to express their beliefs. Schmidt and other company executives dismissed my entire question by claiming everyone at the company — and in the tech industry as a whole — was in agreement with them. After that confrontation, a strange thing happened. I started receiving messages from Google employees thanking me for challenging Alphabet's leadership. Without realizing it, I was apparently speaking for a closeted segment of Google employees with conservative beliefs. One email read, "I'm working with a few other Googlers to fix the company's political discrimination problem. Really appreciate you shining a light on the matter." Another said she was working closely with a group of conservatives at Google, and noted, "(t)hey're all very appreciative that you were standing up for their interests at the shareholder's (sic) meeting. The shareholder resolution your organization filed also made a lot of people happy."

trhway 9y ago

>discrimination, both against men and conservatives. while men is [at least nominally] protected class, being a conservative isn't. >Google is extremely hostile to conservatives. can't applaud enough to Google here. According to the well known court decisions, a corporation is, like a person, entitled to have its own political opinion and actions, and it is the time somebody would answer to conservatives in kind. Conservatives whine so much every time they get a taste of their own medicine. Shareholders who don't like Google's opinion can just sell their stock, as nobody forces them to own it.

peoplewindow 9y ago
Can you point to examples of large conservative corporations firing people for expressing liberal viewpoints? I feel we do not read about cases like Google's very often, so I'm not sure what you mean by "taste of their own medicine".
Spivak 9y ago
> can't applaud enough to Google here Just to be sure here, you would be fine with Google being hostile, like creating an uncomfortable work environment for, members of the LGBT community, environmentalists, pet owners, vegetarians, Buddhists, pro-choice members, PHP programmers, truck owners, under-roll toilet paper users, tort reform advocates, accountants, FSF members, IE users, people who want maternity leave, Bears fans, Apple users, Mr. Pibb drinkers, or any of the billion other political issues we interact with daily?
- trhway 9y ago
  you're putting words in my mouth. I said i'm ok with hostility toward conservatives, not all the other groups you listed above. Out of the groups you listed i'd be ok with hostility toward "tort reform advocates" as they seems to be on the conservative side. All the others are either progressive or neutral so they either get my support or i don't care.

MarkMc 9y ago

Let me add one more mistake: Pichai was quoted as saying that the vast majority of emails he has received from Googlers have been in support of Damore's firing. How can he be so clueless to think this is a representative sample? After such a huge drama, he still doesn't realise that some people are afraid to say what they think. (Despite all this I don't think these mistakes are enough to cost him his job, given excellent leadership of Android and Chrome)