WotC WotC is hiring Senior Manager for Diversity, equity and inclusion.

[Olrox17]

Neither one of you is hiring for this role. Neither one of you even works for WotC, right? For you two to be discussing it as if you understand what's necessary for the role seems more than a little presumptive on both of your parts, honestly.

I think (almost?) nobody on Enworld works for WotC, but that hasn't stopped anybody from discussing, agreeing with, or disagreeing with their decisions in the past. Mostly because it's just fun to discuss and find out other people's opinions

I personally think (some others have expressed the same before me) that WotC is fighting kind of an uphill battle here. No matter who they end up picking for this delicate position, there will most likely be someone complaining.
I've said before: I hope they end picking the best person for the job (best in relative terms), and that whoever gets picked will be judged by people because of their results (or lack of results), not because of their skin color, gender identity, or political inclinations.

 

[FrogReaver]

Neither one of you is hiring for this role. Neither one of you even works for WotC, right? For you two to be discussing it as if you understand what's necessary for the role seems more than a little presumptive on both of your parts, honestly.

This comment seems more than a little presumptive to me.

 

[Umbran]

I think (almost?) nobody on Enworld works for WotC, but that hasn't stopped anybody from discussing, agreeing with, or disagreeing with their decisions in the past. Mostly because it's just fun to discuss and find out other people's opinions

Yep. But, on such divisive topics, failing to keep in mind what you actually know, vs what you are presuming, is important but generally overlooked.

I mean, I could have kept my mouth shut, watched people dig in and get argumentative, and then broken out the red text, if you'd prefer. Because that's the direction these things go if folks don't admit to themselves and each other that they don't really know what's up.

 

[MGibster]

If you've tried two or three times in the past to bring up concerns about blatant or excessive harassment or discrimination to people whose job title was something like "manager for diversity, equity, and inclusion", and had them blow it off because they didn't really understand or care about the issue, and all of those people were white guys with college degrees who could use the buzzwords but had no skin in the game, you may be reluctant to bring an issue up with another white guy with a college degree and no visible skin in the game. And that means that, in practice, the white guy may not be able to do the job as effectively. Which is hilariously ironic, but also turns out to matter, if you're trying to fix a problem.

Race is not a bona fide qualifying occupational requirement for this position. Race or skin color cannot be a factor in your decision on whether or not to hire a candidate for this position.

 

[MGibster]

Well, now I don't want to hire him because he's too old. He's got 20 years of work experience. He's overqualified. Carlton is a fresh out of college guy with no experience. Or, are we no positing a 40+ year old Carlton who, frankly, we have never met and have no idea what he's like?

Carlton has to have at least seven years of progressive experience to even be considered for the position. So he's not fresh out of college until he was working while going to school.

 

[Olrox17]

Yep. But, on such divisive topics, failing to keep in mind what you actually know, vs what you are presuming, is important but generally overlooked.

I mean, I could have kept my mouth shut, watched people dig in and get argumentative, and then broken out the red text, if you'd prefer. Because that's the direction these things go if folks don't admit to themselves and each other that they don't really know what's up.

For what it's worth, I wasn't planning to start an argument with @Sorcerers Apprentice, I was just trying to better understand their position.
To me, both the "hypothetical mature Carlton" and the "gaijin white manager" of the example would have been acceptable picks for WotC, albeit for slightly different reasons.

When I heard Sorcerers Apprentice say that they both wouldn't be good enough, I was intrigued and wanted to know more. That's it, really.

 

[Haffrung]

That's more in the realm of psychological diversity rather than ethnic diversity, but it turns out that ethnic and cultural diversity are strong predictors of psychological diversity. If your team is not currently particularly diverse, increasing diversity will bring significant benefits.

I'd be curious to see the data on this. Are ethnically homegenous countries psychologically homegenous as well? And how does this psychological diversity manifest in racial groups - is it innate or cultured? If it's cultured, then I would expect it would fade through assimilation. So, if this theory is true, a third-generation Asian-American wouldn't offer as much psychological diversity to a development team as a first or second generation immigrant. And if it's cultured, wouldn't a first-generation Polish immigrant offer greater diversity than a second-generation Asian?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I have got a homebred saying: "if the cat hunts mice, who cares it to be black or while, male or female?"

 

[seebs]

I'd be curious to see the data on this. Are ethnically homegenous countries psychologically homegenous as well? And how does this psychological diversity manifest in racial groups - is it innate or cultured? If it's cultured, then I would expect it would fade through assimilation. So, if this theory is true, a third-generation Asian-American wouldn't offer as much psychological diversity to a development team as a first or second generation immigrant. And if it's cultured, wouldn't a first-generation Polish immigrant offer greater diversity than a second-generation Asian?

Good questions. Off the top of my head, start with Group Dynamics for Teams (Daniel Levi), which will at least have references to the actual research.

I think your analysis assumes that everyone living in a country has the same cultural experience, but the key point here is that this isn't remotely true. No number of generations of living in the US makes black people and white people have the same experiences, because the culture itself has lots of racial biases that constantly affect them. So, when people switch countries, yes, assimilation changes which country they're getting their cultural background from, but it doesn't necessarily give them the same cultural background.

A second-generation Asian in the US could well have personally had the experience of being rounded up at gunpoint and marched to a barbed-wire camp on the basis of skin color, which the first-generation Polish immigrant would not have had. Not all the differences are quite that stark, but they're still differences that have quite a bit of influence on what people experience, and what kinds of things they think about.

A friend went to lunch with some coworkers, and discovered that all of the black coworkers in their middle-class office job drove non-obvious circuitous routes to go from the office to lunch, because they had to avoid the places where the cops would pull them over on suspicion of driving-while-black. None of the white coworkers were even aware that this was a thing, and none of the white coworkers habitually allowed 15 minutes for driving anywhere because of the probability of getting "randomly" stopped.

 

[Gradine]

I'm so glad we've wasted two and a half pages on a strawman.