Apple’s executive team
At this week’s Sun Valley conference in Idaho, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Bloomberg reporters that Apple will release diversity data on its workforce. Cook did not specify when this data release would come, but this is the first confirmation from Apple that the company is planning to release such data. A CNN report from March detailed Apple as one of the several technology giants that have objected to releasing the information.
“We’ll release the information at some point,” Cook said at the annual Allen & Co. media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, without giving a timetable for a disclosure. “We are more focused on actions.”
Diversity reports, such as the one that Facebook released on its workforce a couple of weeks ago, typically detail demographics in terms of ethnicity and gender. Apple has been criticized for having both a mostly male executive team and board of directors, but Cook has added Angela Ahrendts to the executive team and has been seeking new board members in recent months. Apple has also hired Lisa Jackson to run Environmental Initiatives and recently appointed Denise Young Smith as the new head of Human Resources.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Reblogged this on Taste of Apple and commented:
This is definitely good news. The lower ranks seem to be filled with a diverse range of people, while the top dogs are definitely not as diversified. I expect this to change as older generations of executive start to retire and move on. At the end of the day, diversity is a great thing that typically leads to new ideas and innovation.
How do you measure diversity of thought though? Just because someone is not a Caucasian European male doesn’t mean they will have better ideas. People should be hired based on their qualifications not their gender, race, ethnicity or sexual preference. I certainly hope Tim Cook didn’t hire Angela Ahrendts just because she was female.
“Better ideas” means what?
You are operating from the assumption that there is an objectively-determinable set of better ideas. The story of diversity indicates otherwise.
For instance — Apple enthusiasts care about stuff that the general population does not. The general population, made up of many diverse groups, cares about features that enthusiasts and geeks would never even think of. Where’s the real money to be made? Marketing specifications to geeks, or marketing lifestyle enhancements to diverse populations?
Take women, for instance. women make up 50% of the population and yet are not equally represented. Further, women tend to outspend men and do way more shopping because they tend to run households and because they are wired differently when it comes to shopping motivations. Imagine everything a company is missing when it is run by a handful of male geeks. Was the original iMac a great computer because it had candy flavours?
The story of diversity in capitalist worlds runs through a process:
1. these groups are different and that makes me uncomfortable so I am going to marginalize them and stick with what makes me comfortable… if they want to participate, they must assimilate to my ideals
2. Hey these groups have MONEY. They are a market. I should try selling to them
3. It seems to sell to them I need to understand them better
4. Wow they have quite a different point of view about things… I can use some of these things for a competitive advantage in opening up markets
5. I need these people on my team to bring in those different perspectives… what I thought was annoying is in fact having an influence on my innovation
Bumping up against different perspectives or world views is a healthy process of engaging with difference. Better ideas come out of that engagement. That doesn’t mean one point of view is superior… it means that engaging with points of view means you question your assumptions.
anytime you expose your inner core of a company thats shows that they’re part of the peer group the success of a company runs off the people who runs it not by exposing what sex,ethnicity,religion & position that they have. they are not social media
“the success of a company runs off the people who runs it not by exposing what sex,ethnicity,religion & position that they have”
You are leaving out marketing. Tim Cook is marketing Apple as diversity-friendly. Marketing is about attracting people to buy your products as well as enhancing your brand value– making people feel good about owning your products and using them and buying more.
You are also leaving out recruiting. Again, Tim Cook is marketing Apple as diversity-friendly. Recruiting applies to employees but also business partners.
The problem with taking a geek point of view of things is you leave out 95% of what’s important to the rest of the planet.
This is, essentially, “Here’s a hammer. Please hit me with it.”
In essence, no matter what side you’re on, if you’re looking to beat up someone because of your dislikes, you will find something in there to beat them up with that data.
How about we just care that they don’t beat up the workers in the parking lot (or conference rooms) and they produce good products? It just seems that we’re getting in everyone’s business instead of minding our own.
I think this is dumb. I don’t think it should matter who you are or who you come from. Apple hires the best in a position, if they happen to all be men, then so be it! Apple makes quality products to enhance everyone’s everyday life, not to have a diverse board.
All this talk about there not being enough women in the tech field is because every group with a politically motivated agenda want a to be the protected group. I see it the same way as you do xbepax4224 but as I said all these diffrent groups wether it be the EPA, PETA, or the Women’s rights movement the same thing appears in all, the want anybody who says anything against them to be punished even though that’s not the way it works.
As for my stance on women in technology I am going by what I have seen for myself. At the school I’m in there are about 2000 students. Out of that around 50 want to go into the tech field. Out of those 50 about 3 are girls. And that comes from career surveys from my school and what people have told me they want to go into. That may just be where I live but I’m not sure. The rest of the girls at my school don’t have an interest in how technology works the just want their phones, tablets, and computer to work. They are interested in a different career field and not matter how much people yell it comes down to what career someone wants, if it in the tech field, medical field, culinary arts, field of science, field of education, law and law enforcement, a politician, or some other field it’s what ever a person wants to do.
Spot on. I’m actually migrating away from Apple because of this PC rubbish – and frustration with the whole ecosystem. The PC nonsense means that people not suitable for the position will get into positions of power based on all the wrong reasons. I have noticed that most of the accidents that happen in American transport systems are because of incompetent under qualified people, who were no doubt hired because of their gender, race or other, rather than ability to get the job done safely, effectively and on time – without moaning.
Oh, and the concept of women who have children neglecting their kids to a nanny is morally appalling. Kids need their mother with them most of the time – just look at the animal kingdom.
Lefty values – with the exception of green issues, which Apple are doing great with thanks to their sustainable energy initiatives – are selfish and against the natural order of things.
Problem is, the tech blogs are (for some reason) obsessed with sexuality and other matters, so opinions like mine and others are often shouted down. Wasn’t like this in the 80s. What happened?
“I’m actually migrating away from Apple because of this PC rubbish”
1st Prize for the dumb post of the month.
I see no dogs in there…. racism?. You can do better than this Apple!.
says about two dozen white guys running Apple
I hope to goodness Cook doesn’t get sucked into the political correct vortex of incompetence.
if a woman is good enough she will rise to the top. Cook should pick people on merit alone. No other criteria.
If you want to know why Apple has been several years behind the competition in terms of designing larger screens, you only need to look at the top ranks of Apple. It is all men (Angela Ahrendts just got there). Most guys put a cell phone in their pocket and therefore it isn’t obvious to them that women often put theirs in a purse and therefore the size tradeoff is way different. You could easily see how these guys wouldn’t want to try to stuff a 6 inch phone in their pocket and would react negatively towards it until the market beats them over the head with the data that people want this. Jobs was quoted as saying “Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do.” Unfortunately, in the case of larger phones, Apple couldn’t even realize what people really wanted for over 3 years after the competition launched (the Samsung Note launched in 2011 with a 5.3″ screen). Most likely cause is that they were thinking inside a “male box”.
Are you suggesting that most Galaxy Note owners are female? Because it fits in their purse?
I’ve read hundreds of online comments from Galaxy Note owners… but I don’t think any of them are women.
well, my wife was somewhat upset when the iPhone 5 came out, saying it was going to be harder to fit the phone into her pockets. She doesn’t carry a purse often, and if she does, it is barely bigger than an iPhone. There are times when I have to hold both our phones in my pockets because of this.
I tested a Galaxy S4 last year and she thought that phone was a ridiculously large phone.
A larger screen can be nice and I do see the benefit but I think the other companies needed something else to tout for a while to try and pull customers away from Apple.
So the super renumerated Apple executives are diversely all white and 1 in 10 women.
And a million and a half Chinese workers on minimal wages are making Apple’s products.
The Apple executives have got the balance just right!
Minimal wages my arse.
Yawn…..Zzzzzzzzzz How does this help bring me the iPhone 6, a new Apple TV, or the iWatch??
Board flyer iam pretty sure every guy alive wants a larger screen and most ppl that own galaxies are guys maybe you should check your facts before you make silly comments
So all of you who are bashing or saying this is a bad thing, I have a question for you. Are you a white or Caucasian male? Can you HONESTLY tell me that you understand females, people of different ethnic backgrounds to relate? Do you know how much the “Old Boys Club” blocks any non-male non-Caucasians from being promoted or being selected no matter how qualified or over qualified they are? Reality is that people stick to what they are comfortable with and that isn’t limited to co-workers and who they hire. I would love you to walk a week in our shoes and tell me how easy it is to not be a Caucasian Male in corporate America.
I mean I have a few questions.