If you don't know what this feels like, good. Over time it really wears you down.
less white men
On the one hand this saddens me as I realize a level of inclusivity where people don’t feel these little micro-exclusions is essentially impossible. On the other being aware of them in others broadens empathy and aware of them in yourself can help you select better.
I have almost nothing in common in terms of background with the SV tech people. They're almost all rich kids.
Every places where I have worked people have been treated respectfully by the company, though certain individuals can be arseholes. The main place I am thinking of was a female boss who treated the mainly females team below her like shit. Plenty of them left and why wouldn't they? (Those wouldn't be classed as "tech jobs" though, it was wet lab biologists).
It goes beyond institutional policy -- it is social in nature.
Don't hire assholes. Guide your subordinates away from doing things that might isolate others. Organize interactions that encourage different groups of people to interact and build rapport with each other. Demonstrate to your employees that it is valuable to be inclusive.
The only people with the power to build an inclusive culture are the people with institutional power.
So you become more inclusive by excluding people? Do you see the inherent contradiction in this?
And who gets to decide who is an asshole?
> Organize interactions that encourage different groups of people to interact and build rapport with each other.
But you have just avoided hiring one very poorly defined group.
> Demonstrate to your employees that it is valuable to be inclusive.
Sound like virtue signalling to me.
Out of interest would my opinions be welcome in your "inclusive" workplace? Would you build rapport with me and respect these opinions? I have a hunch that I wouldn't feel very included.
These things are not as ill-defined as you assert. I think we can all come up with a generally agreed upon description of what it means to be an asshole. Someone who does not treat others with respect, is cruel, demeaning, etc.
> So you become more inclusive by excluding people?
An "inclusive culture" is referring specifically to the culture among the people working at an organization. The population at large includes many people who are insistent on intentionally excluding others. An "inclusive culture" has never meant "hire anyone no matter what they do!".
Don't confuse "inclusive culture" with "a culture that results from including everyone". Those are two different things.
>> Demonstrate to your employees that it is valuable to be inclusive.
> Sound like virtue signalling to me.
One of the primary roles of a leader is to signal expectations, some explicit, and some implicit. Call it what you want, the point is: a leader's subordinates will learn the bounds of acceptable and unacceptable behavior from the norms that you set.