The #DecencyPledge Should Include Inclusion

One goal I have for 2018 and beyond is to increase my participation in ongoing efforts to make tech workplaces more diverse and inclusive. It's an urgent and critical problem; one only has to read Emily Chang's latest book, Brotopia, to get a deeper understanding what has unfortunately become the experience of so many women in tech.

Fortunately, there are many people focused on improving the ecosystem. Just this week, my friend Sheryl Sandberg announced that LeanIn is advocating for more men to mentor women, through the new campaign called #MentorHer, as a response to the possible backlash around the #metoo moment.

One of the things I'm doing is adding to the #DecencyPledge I advocated for last summer.

The #DecencyPledge was a response to news media reports of sexual harassment in the venture capital industry. My goal was to inspire the venture capital industry and other Silicon Valley professionals to take more conscious and deliberate steps in recognizing and combating sexual harassment in our industry.

Instead of merely acknowledging that sexual harassment is a problem, or worse, expressing indifference or even skepticism about it, I suggested that professionals in our industry should report instances of sexual harassment when they witness them, and importantly, refuse to do business with individuals who engage in it. I also encouraged people to publicly commit to these actions, via the #DecencyPledge hashtag.

Recently, all the partners and investors at Greylock completed an unconscious bias workshop. We did so in an effort to help reduce the gender inequity in our industry and learn more about how to actively combat environments conducive to harassment.

Reflecting on the training, I realized something about the original Decency Pledge.

While it originated as a response to sexual harassment between VCs and founders, its scope should be broader. As we work to make our industry more equitable, more ethical, and more productive, the Decency Pledge should incorporate a proactive commitment to diversity and inclusiveness, too.

As investors and as board members, general partners at venture capital firms can play a pivotal role in making diversity and inclusiveness a more actionable part of the discourse that goes on in Silicon Valley, when start-ups are in the earliest days of defining their cultures and scale-ups are hiring en masse in periods of dynamic growth.

General partners who commit to the Decency Pledge should have a proactive conversation with every company in their portfolio about how to create inclusive cultures, ask them what actions they are taking, and help them find the right resources as needed. As just one example, at Greylock, we committed to discussing anti-harassment and discrimination policies with our portfolio companies at the board level. If a company in our portfolio does not already have a policy in place, we are helping them create one, as well as connecting the CEOs with industry professionals who can help with education and roll out strategies. If you are a company founder and need to put an anti-harassment and discrimination policy in place, you are welcome to use this template to get started. In addition, GPs across the industry should encourage hiring managers in their portfolio companies to participate in unconscious bias trainings, so they can incorporate best practices for how to avoid biases when hiring, compensating, and promoting employees.

And of course, GPs who take the Decency Pledge should work fast to eliminate unconscious bias in their own firms as well. While it will take time to achieve diversity across our industry, it's crucial that we continue to work toward making investing teams more diverse and inclusive by proactively seeking out and interviewing potential candidates from under-represented groups.

When I introduced the Decency Pledge last summer, many people in our industry embraced it. But some people said it was unnecessary: Why should people proactively pledge just to do what any ethical, decent person should do naturally? Others said it was insufficient, “just a blog post” that didn't go far enough.

Such feedback was absolutely correct. The Decency Pledge is a first step – and that's it. It must be followed with ongoing action. The Decency Pledge was and is an attempt at collective action, to give those in our industry who do want to create a more diverse, inclusive, and safer work culture a way to rally around a common cause.

My hope is that if we work together collectively and intentionally, we will continue to improve ethics and behavior in our industry, and make it clear that there is both zero tolerance here for explicit ethical breaches like sexual harassment, and also an ongoing proactive effort to cultivate diversity and inclusiveness.

In this respect, the Decency Pledge is about taking a public stand and making ourselves accountable. That's always a good first step toward broader action and change.

In 2017, we saw a shift in how sexual harassment incidents are publicly perceived. Obviously, the problem remains pervasive. And individuals who come forward with credible allegations against powerful bosses or colleagues are still too often dismissed out of hand, or, even worse, subjected to retribution and more harassment.

But 2017 also provided reason for hope. As each new sexual misconduct story broke in the news media, more people who'd been targets of harassment felt empowered to share their own stories and words of support. Companies began to take significant actions against perpetrators.

What started as a few brave women speaking up and demanding justice grew into a movement with enough voices to begin to shift cultural norms. Suddenly, it was not quite as easy as it had once been to ignore, excuse, or deny instances of sexual harassment. People were taking a public stand, showing their commitment to holding perpetrators accountable and demanding new standards of behavior in workplaces.

That's what collective action can accomplish, and that's what we need more of in 2018 and beyond, as we in Silicon Valley work to improve our culture.

In Silicon Valley, we talk a lot about iteration, feedback loops, and continuous improvement in our products. These are the values and tactics that help us make products that can "change the world" – and we should apply them to our behavior and practices too. That's why I think it's important to publicly declare my values through mechanisms like the Decency Pledge. That's why I welcome feedback on such efforts, even if it's critical. It's the give-and-take of this ongoing dialogue that creates growth and improvement.

Taking a public stand to affirm your commitment to creating safer, more diverse, and more inclusive workplaces won't eliminate sexual harassment, or end unconscious bias, or magically help companies achieve gender parity and recruit more diverse workforces. But it is an important first step in defining what we believe, who we want to be, and what we are iterating toward on our journey to a more equitable future.

George Woodhouse

Independent Political Organization Professional

6y

We need to make the whole world more inclusive by reducing barriers to movement of people and reduction in borders separating countries

Mary kristin Otero

Owner , partner at Puget Sound Investment Enterprises, LLC

6y

I like this .

Jessica Tøth

“I’m your huckleberry”

6y

I love this! I have been so frustrated with the startup world because it seems that diversity is more of a buzzword, than an actual problem. There are many genuine VC’s that have been very helpful to me, but I CANNOT even count how many (well meaning, of course) are all talk and no participation. It's as if they are there under obligation or trying to win the most benevolent VC of the year award. Not to get their hands dirty with humility and understanding. “What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Henrietta Alexander

at Henrietta K. Alexander Photography

6y

Thank you for addressing this subject in such a thoughtful and meaningful way. No intelligent woman wants to be hired because she is a woman, she wants to be hired and recognized for her capabilities. Hopefully our efforts will help make this more commonplace.

To view or add a comment, sign in

Insights from the community

Explore topics