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Google Searches Its Soul
Article

Google Searches Its Soul

Inside the Search Giant's Effort to Get More Diverse - and to Change the Way We All See the World.

Fortune, 2017

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

In recent years, Silicon Valley workplace statistics show that tech companies increasingly find themselves inside a homogeneous bubble. In a Fortune magazine analysis, writer Ellen McGirt interviews Google employees to discover how the company is working to become a more inclusive employer, in part, to strengthen its competitive advantage. getAbstract recommends this article to everyone interested in Google, Silicon Valley and diversity issues.

Summary

Every year, Google handles 80% of all Internet queries, and its “consistent refinement of its algorithmic wizardry” has demolished competitors. But the company’s Achilles’ heel could be a lack of diversity. In 2016, the company’s US-based workforce was 71% male and 57% white. Asian employees made up one-third of the staff – but only 5% were Latino, 2.4% were black, 1.8% were mixed race and less than 1% identified as “other.”

So why is Google embracing change? After a series of stumbles, a PR boost could be one reason, while...

About the Author

Ellen McGirt covers issues of race, culture and inclusion for Fortune in a daily column called raceAhead.


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