Google Diversity Manifesto An Immature Rant Revealing Tech's Real Problem

Google Engineer's Diversity Manifesto An Immature Rant Revealing Tech's Real Problem I first saw the mention of a so-called viral manifesto written by some, as of this writing, unnamed 'Google engineer.” So I read it, and after the first two pages stopped reading it. Then I read the whole deal to confirm my initial impressions. Why? Because the person who wrote this is massively immature. It's all about him and his ideas. Nothing about expressing any interest in people. And that, as he stupidly claims that women are more interested in people rather than things. That dude obviously never had a good girlfriend; buying the right gift (a “thing”) is something he never had to do, or if he did, totally messed up on. But such a thought never enters his pea brain. Why? Because he's a legend in his own mind. It's easy to be in your own mind: there, the World is perfect and the air is clean. In your own mind, cars can pollute and yet the air is clear. In your own mind, you don't have to deal with anyone who doesn't look like you or think like you. Ah, such a perfect place, your own mind. That's the problem: he's too much in his own head and poorly socialized. Growing up means understanding how to work with and deal with all kinds of people. After a while, you get used to it – but you have to go through it first. Because that's the only way you grow up and realize that the real World is far different than the one in your head – and more fun too. I just had an exchange with someone on Twitter who I will not name. He tweeted this: “I learned about programming as a child even though I had literally no-one to talk to about it until a year later when I changed schools...Like, literally no-one understood what I was talking about, because it was a whole new language...But, not everything is done to get external validation. That's a very important truth about human motivation.” And yet, as I pointed out to him, people do matter to him. Otherwise, why go on social media to tell me about some programming language he wrote? He just assumed that my entire background was in (supposedly non-tech) marketing, and tweeted “Well, I understand that as someone in marketing you look at everything from that perspective, and yes ultimately everything is about people.” I did an LOL because when I was younger, I created my own version of “The Golden Mean” proportion system – then got pissed when my professor didn't see the value in it. I made a simulation of the business of the Oakland Athletics that was the cornerstone of my company Sports Business Simulations – and learned a very esoteric programming language to build it. Did that make my company get millions in VC backing? No. Sadly. No. And that's my point: as we grow up, we realize that the real deal is in how we relate to other people. We have to sell our ideas to other people – so folks are just as important to men as to women. In other words, what matters is our people skills. You can only develop them as you age and in the right environment. I submit that Google has formed the wrong environment and cultivated a place where immature behavior rules the roost. This is not just a male problem, but its a female problem too – not knowing how to work with or deal with men so that a comment that the ungentlemanly man perceives as little isn't blown out of proportion and becomes a sex scandal, played out on a blog or Twitter or Facebook. And that sex scandal is fueled by an internal and external bureaucrasy that can be summed up in three words: “Ohh! I'm tellin!”, like kids say. Tellin the boss. Telling the investors. Tellin law enforcement. Tellin bloggers. Tellin social media types. All of whom should be saying “Can't you handle this youself?” Answer: Get the two kids to talk as two adults and to talk to each other and the one adult male appologizes to the adult woman and we're all off creating the NEXT BIG THING – together. But in order to do that, Google, and other tech companies, have to make the kids start being adults – there's no apparent desire to do that, and so we get what we've got.

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