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It's issues like this that make me deeply skeptical of Google's long-term future. For tech companies, I would argue that company culture is by far the single-gr

It's issues like this that make me deeply skeptical of Google's long-term future. For tech companies, I would argue that company culture is by far the single-greatest asset, so seeing these stories about Google it's not difficult to believe that this company's culture is slowly rotting as they increasingly prioritize trivial and outright destructive pursuits. There is clearly no strong leader at this company, no one with guts or a priority for long-term health of the culture. Do I think problems will manifest in the next year or two? No, not really...culture takes many years to calcify. But when it does, man, there is no turning back, it's over. Frankly I think the die has already been cast.

candu 9y ago
...or, perhaps, these rifts are merely shouting contests between small (but extremely vocal) groups on extreme opposing ends of the political spectrum, and are greatly exaggerated for the usual clickbait / attention economy reasons. ...or, perhaps, it is getting rather contentious, but some as-yet-unknown policy will mitigate these issues, either through honest / open conversation or, conversely, through reasoned limitations on what can and cannot be talked about at the workplace. ...or, perhaps, the benefits of pursuing diversity initiatives continue to be larger than these drawbacks, and in the medium-to-long term they expect this sort of nonsense to die out. (This scenario would imply that their leadership is, in fact, very strong, as it requires a level head to stay the course in the middle of a political / media firestorm when you know that's the right thing to do.) Which of these is true? All? None? I have no idea without further data, but I'd just as soon not prognosticate utter ruin based on sensationalist news articles.
- throwawayyx96 9y ago
  Were you deliberately leaving out the 4th possibility of Google concluding 'You know what? It is actually wrong to prioritize certain races and genders as a matter of hiring policy, and since it clearly isn't keeping us out of trouble on the public relations front, let's not do it anymore.'

candu 9y ago

...or, perhaps, these rifts are merely shouting contests between small (but extremely vocal) groups on extreme opposing ends of the political spectrum, and are greatly exaggerated for the usual clickbait / attention economy reasons. ...or, perhaps, it is getting rather contentious, but some as-yet-unknown policy will mitigate these issues, either through honest / open conversation or, conversely, through reasoned limitations on what can and cannot be talked about at the workplace. ...or, perhaps, the benefits of pursuing diversity initiatives continue to be larger than these drawbacks, and in the medium-to-long term they expect this sort of nonsense to die out. (This scenario would imply that their leadership is, in fact, very strong, as it requires a level head to stay the course in the middle of a political / media firestorm when you know that's the right thing to do.) Which of these is true? All? None? I have no idea without further data, but I'd just as soon not prognosticate utter ruin based on sensationalist news articles.

throwawayyx96 9y ago
Were you deliberately leaving out the 4th possibility of Google concluding 'You know what? It is actually wrong to prioritize certain races and genders as a matter of hiring policy, and since it clearly isn't keeping us out of trouble on the public relations front, let's not do it anymore.'