‘Meritocratic? Nothing ever is’
Whilst Sung Ruckstuhl believes the Valley is improving regards D&I, when I asked if she thought if the industry was meritocratic she told me: “Of course not – nothing ever is.” Stats and research seemingly back this up yet also highlight that unmeritocratic people practises are not an issue especial to the valley. Investigative journalist James Bloodworth, who has reported on the working practises of both Uber and Amazon, has written a book which lays out arguments that suggest true meritocracy doesn’t exist. Furthermore, a wide range of UK industries have been accused of tokenism and indifference when it comes to diversity. In the US top-line stats on high prestige careers such as law, the arts and business, suggest it’s not just Silicon Valley who is struggling with giving equal chances to all genders, classes and ethnic minorities.

In part, Sung Ruckstuhl believes this due to the fact that often people hire those that they perceive to be similar to them. In 2018 people skills expert Kimberley Giles noted this phenomenon when she wrote in Forbes that “[people] subconsciously look for points of similarity in everyone [they] meet because similarities make [them]… feel safer.” Giles’ thinking means in industries such the US legal profession – which 2015 census bureau data showed as more than 80% white – are likely to beget more white hires. However, recently there are more moves to improve diverse hiring as there is a lot of research to suggest it’s a benefit to the bottom line. “It’s not pity. It’s not political correctness, it’s actually good business,” Sung Ruckstuhl adds. She believes it has to be a concerted effort though, as it won’t happen naturally. “To get people to think about gender, race, age and outside the box you kinda have to stimulate that thinking with some form of rational based business justification.”

Sung Ruckstuhl’s HR thinking
In fact, the way that Sung Ruckstuhl positions diversity is exactly the same as many forward-thinking HR practitioners do: as one potential fix for the core issue: how to get better people to drive better business outcomes. “We [the valley] are desperate for talent,” she explains; the subtext being that being open to diversity would improve a business’ chances of getting the best person for an open role. She adds: “We have so many jobs unfilled. To attract the workforce…people are paying more attention to what used to be an adjacent thing [diversity]. This is no longer adjacent, it is core.”

According to Sung Ruckstuhl, being diverse in itself would better improve an organisation’s chances of landing this badly needed new talent – especially that coming from younger generations. She explains: “Young people tend to be more enlightened. It’s not just desperation for a job just for pay. They ask: ‘Am I working for an organisation that is doing something good for this world?’ Whether it’s diversity, charity whatever the cause – social responsibility is the key for many people.” This diversity, she adds, has obvious outcomes for the business too. For one, she believes diversity of workforce improves interactions with the customers. “It’s important to reflect the consumer base,” she adds. “The world…is getting more and more diverse and you should try and mirror that in your little microcosm called the company.”

Is Silicon Valley getting more diverse?
If the Valley broadly understands the business benefits of diversity - as Sung Ruckstuhl has intimated it is, at least in some areas - is it changing tack for good? Whilst being transparent about the racial makeup of the employee base, something many Silicon Valley firms are doing, is a positive trend the figures aren’t yet great. Last year, a study by the National Urban League found that only three per cent of workers at Uber, Google, Twitter and Facebook identified as black. A TechCrunch study on diversity in the Valley concluded that the “numbers have barely shifted over the years.”

Whilst the Valley is keen to promote its diversity and inclusion initiatives – with heads of D&I being employed; and Uber even hiring a new CEO after serious allegations at the firm – several Silicon Valley veterans say that it’s not enough and problems still exist. Sung Ruckstuhl adds: “A few people do a pretty good job talking about it but we need more.”

‘Kind leaders and hard targets’
Yet, Sung Ruckstuhl claims it’s improving, not least because of strong leadership and hard targets. She notes Slack as one firm who is doing things well regards diversity. Zoom too. She also states that Salesforce, one of California’s most famous firms and regularly ranked as one of the best places to work, under the guidance of CEO Marc Benioff, has aggressive targets to improve pay inequity and also the representation of lots of different minority groups. “We have next generational leaders who are living and embodying the messages and the core beliefs that they have which is important,” she adds. “If you look at the leadership doing well these days… it’s kinder, it’s more open, it’s more transparent.”

And at Unisys, Sung Ruckstuhl's employer, there are hard targets for female and ethnic minority hires that filter down to all managers at the company – driven by an understanding of the business benefit this brings. “Year-on-year that’s on my KPI,” she explains, “it shows up on my directs, and then their directs and that’s how we think through. What I think is doing the most good is having an honest conversation of why we’re doing this and we look at business outcomes. We check case studies out there from Harvard from McKinsey and it’s a very thoughtful decision to make.” Additionally, Unisys’ CMO believes that data has it’s role to play. “Because we’re collecting data on everything now,” she says, “you can correlate all of those things – performance, employee satisfaction, and measured performance on engagement, actually company performance – over the same norm period of time and see how [diversity] goes, to see if you’re going in the right direction.”

Can the diversity issue be fixed?
The subtext to a lot of what Sung Ruckstuhl explains to me, in our hour together, is that diversity has to improve and become a core part of everyone’s thinking and not just an empty branding exercise. ”It’s not a poster you make. It’s not an HR policy that you make,” she explains. As Sung Ruckstuhl sees it because the Valley is scrutinised – and because it is no longer the sole area that has a high tech centre – it has to get better for the sake of survival. She does believe it’s improving though. “We’re all changing for the better. They valley has a huge responsibility and we have a few leaders who are squarely leading the pack,” she tells me.

She also believes it’s getting easier. Not least because leaders understand that the fallacy of the strong man is exactly that but also because networks are springing up for employees to support each, organisations are flatter and less hierarchical, and leaders, such as herself, are willing to share their experiences and mentor the younger generations. “Modelling is so important. For someone like me who has been around the block and learnt a few things: it’s my obligation to teach back.”

This means she is encouraged by all of the changes she sees – with people are more willing to challenge things they don’t think are right and that people are more open to different patterns of working. “The days of because ‘I said so’ and ‘I’m privileged’ and ‘I went to the best school’ and ‘I did the best everything’ are largely gone. And for someone to think they earned the right to be able to do that: no.” The hard stats show that there is a long way to go, though. Therefore, I put to Sung Ruckstuhl, before we part ways, a question on just what attitude the Valley needs to shake some of the historic bad practices. “Diversity is not a checkbox, it’s a lifestyle,” she tells me. “We need more studies but it’s doable, it really is and it’s getting easier.”