Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
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Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#2I think this is a very good step in positive direction that the CEO is addressing the issue in public. Independent of whether I agree or disagree with the decision, I commend the blog.
Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#3> The past few days have been very difficult for many at the company, and we need to find a way to debate issues on which we might disagree
...So we've fired the person starting the debate? Am I missing something here?
Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#4> The past few days have been very difficult for many at the company, and we need to find a way to debate issues on which we might disagree ...So we've fired the person starting the debate? Am I missing something here?
Yeah - a high caste Tamil Brahmin has fired someone for expressing the belief that not all people are equal :)
Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#5Quoting Sundar Pichai (Google CEO), emphasis mine:
> At the same time, there are co-workers who are questioning whether they can safely express their views in the workplace (especially those with a minority viewpoint). They too feel under threat, and that is also not OK. People must feel free to express dissent. So to be clear again, many points raised in the memo—such as the portions criticizing Google’s trainings, questioning the role of ideology in the workplace, and debating whether programs for women and underserved groups are sufficiently open to all—are important topics. The author had a right to express their views on those topics—we encourage an environment in which people can do this and it remains our policy to not take action against anyone for prompting these discussions.
Good luck with that. You can't take a guy out back and shoot him for speaking his mind, and subsequently expect others do so.
I'm certain Google management knows this as well. They know exactly what they're doing and they're fine with it.
Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#6"The author had a right to express their views on those topics—we encourage an environment in which people can do this and it remains our policy to not take action against anyone for prompting these discussions."
Maybe he missed the memo that the author has been fired? How is that encouraging for people with unpopular opinions?
Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#7There is just no winning in the following chain of arguments:
- We can debate anything
- However, some views are too harmful to be debated
- Whoever is most vocally outraged decides the boundary between open to debate/too harmful
Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#8Let a thousand flowers bloom.
Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#9> The past few days have been very difficult for many at the company, and we need to find a way to debate issues on which we might disagree ...So we've fired the person starting the debate? Am I missing something here?
As the note basically says; starting a debate does not excuse you from suggesting that some of your co-workers are there because of a "lowered bar", your evidence being psuedo-scientific bullshit about the tech-skill distribution among minorities and women.
Re: Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
#10Quoting Sundar Pichai (Google CEO), emphasis mine: > At the same time, there are co-workers who are questioning whether they can safely express their views in the workplace (especially those with a minority viewpoint) . They too feel under threat, and that is also not OK. People must feel free to express dissent. So to be clear again, many points raised in the memo—such as the portions criticizing Google’s trainings,…
I believe you have misconstrued the message Sundar was giving.
The difference between having the freedom to speak one's mind, and breaching a code of conduct that you sign when you agree to work for Google is clear cut in his note.