Tag: Diversity

One such recruit grew up near a landfill in Durham, North Carolina, Campbell says, in a family plagued by health challenges. Communities made up of racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to be near toxic sites, causing much higher rates of severe asthma, hospitalization and death for Black and African American children — ailments that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We paid this student as an intern to help build out the internship program for the summer, and she hops on the calls with Microsoft and tells the story in a way better way than I can,” drawing from her lived experience to eloquently share these communities’ needs, Campbell says. “If you have a seat at the table, you should responsibly use it to give a different perspective.”

Along with developing large-scale solar farms for corporations, Volt is investing in community solar projects to encourage developers and banks to participate and is helping low- to moderate-income households get loans for solar panels.

Campbell hopes his partnership with Microsoft will serve as inspiration for others.

“When you’re doing the right thing, others need to be able to see that and hopefully emulate it, and that’s how change comes about,” he says. “This is a great opportunity to reimagine the role corporations can play. To make underserved communities vibrant in a new clean-energy world they can play a vital part in would be a beautiful outcome.”

Building a gaming industry ‘reflective of our upbringing’

Like Campbell, Ryan Johnson and Christopher Peay graduated from historically Black universities and then found the business world to be a lonely place. The two friends wanted to start careers in esports.

“We went to a ton of video-game and esports-centric events across the country, and there was never anyone of color,” Johnson says.

Even though 83% of Black teens play video games — a higher rate than other ethnicities — only 4% of video game developers are Black or African American.

“We quickly realized the industry isn’t reflective of our upbringing, so we decided to try to provide equal opportunities for minorities,” says Peay.

In 2020 Johnson and Peay reached out on LinkedIn to Darrell Booker, who had just helped start Microsoft’s Nonprofit Tech Acceleration program as part of the Racial Equity Initiative. With cash and skilling grants from the company, they created an esports league for historically Black colleges and universities — 32 HBCUs now participate, and students earn prizes including scholarships — along with high school and college academic programs to teach digital literacy through the lens of gaming. They also provide funding to build on-campus computer labs with equipment strong enough to support esports, a placement program for internships with video-game development companies in California, and an esports summer camp for kids in Atlanta.

“Over our 22-week program last school year, we reached an audience of 15 million people, so we’re bringing a level of awareness to the HBCU community that didn’t exist before 2020,” Johnson says. “It’s huge for us. And having Microsoft’s name behind us to go in and talk to different partners established us and helped us get other corporate sponsorships to accelerate the growth of our organization.”

They named their venture Cxmmunity — with the X replacing the O as a nod to inclusive gaming, since X is a main functional button for lower-cost video-game consoles as well as gaming computers that cost thousands.

Providing communities with the support they actually need

As Microsoft enters the third year of its commitment to the Racial Equity Initiative, Booker says, company leaders are tearing down walls, banishing preconceived notions and partnering with other corporations and organizations to provide underrepresented communities with the support that’s actually needed.

Booker was recently talking with a small nonprofit in San Francisco that’s a beneficiary of the initiative, and they asked if he could offer graphic design training. They were trying to create a one-page flyer to hang in schools promoting their work with student athletes, but it kept bleeding onto a second page.

“It really hit home to me that these organizations have a huge need from a marketing standpoint, and that’s not something that we inherently provide,” Booker says. “But even if we can help them be the most advanced from a tech standpoint, if they’re missing that piece of it, they’ll never have the impact that they want. So I found another company who was able to come in and assist with some of those things, and that’s a lot of what I’m doing now as well.

“The less we all work in silos,” he says, “the more these organizations will benefit.”

That on-the-ground relationship is critical, says Charisse Bremond Weaver, who connected with Microsoft not long after she became CEO 16 years ago of the Brotherhood Crusade. It’s a nonprofit in South Los Angeles that her father founded in 1968 and at one point mortgaged the family home to keep open.

“It’s literally a labor of love,” says Bremond Weaver, who recalls growing up in a home full of Black and African American activists, entertainers and politicians — as well as friends in need of housing whom her parents invited in for months at a time. “I love my community, and if they’re in pain, I’m in pain, so I push to get as many resources as possible to love and care for the most vulnerable in south LA.”

A communications major, Bremond Weaver says she had to learn to be an entrepreneur as she followed in her father’s footsteps under the mentorship of Danny Bakewell Sr., who led the organization for 35 years. The most important thing she did, she says, was to create an advisory board of people who believed in the Brotherhood Crusade’s vision and had strengths different from her own. She also had a goal of meeting five new people every month, which was what connected her to leaders at Microsoft.

Cash and technology grants from the company have helped Bremond Weaver expand her organization to 45 full-time employees, from seven when she took over in 2006, and are helping the group provide and track wraparound services such as healthcare, sports and job training to more than 3,000 young people a year aged 10 to 24, 70% of whom are Black or African American. The Brotherhood Crusade’s services help kids who are growing up in neighborhoods without parks or green spaces to exercise in and without the technological infrastructure needed to study or work remotely, she says.

“That small investment we’re making in the lives of young Black students will pay dividends for life” — and for generations to come — Bremond Weaver says. “But it’s not just about the monetary support, but about seeing our students and hearing their stories. It’s not my story to tell. It’s different when you’re talking to a young person at a restaurant, and you have five young people and three executives at that table, it’s a real conversation. And the kids are learning that’s what happens when you go to the corporate world — you go out to lunch, you engage, you tell your story, you articulate who you are.”

Corporations have a responsibility to invest in the communities they do business in, and if they do, they’ll “reap the dividends of great results,” Bremond Weaver says, recalling the support she saw her father get from the community as well as the investments in her own leadership skills that gave her the confidence to succeed him.

“So many poured into me, and it’s now my responsibility to pour back into my community,” she says. “Everyone needs a door opened. It’s when those doors are opened that we get to do the great work we do.”

Top photo: Volt Energy Utility Founder and CEO Gilbert Campbell (Photo provided by Campbell) 

Inequality doesn’t respect borders. So we drive to LGBTQIA+ inclusion and equity around the world, both through our own internal policies as well as external advocacy efforts

This Pride, LGBTQIA+ communities at Microsoft are illuminating the interconnected nature of the challenges we face – and calling for a unified global response across all borders, both real and perceived.

Developed with the global LGBTQIA+ employees and allies across Microsoft, our campaign celebrates the nuance, vibrancy and strength of the many LGBTQIA+ communities – and how closely they’re connected. Thirty-three flags representing different LGBTQIA+ identities, one Ally flag and one Polyamory flag make up this year’s designs. We hope they remind you that by coming together across groups and bridging borders, we can create change for LGBTQIA+ communities and beyond.

Our work doesn’t start or stop with Pride. Microsoft introduced sexual orientation into our non-discrimination policies in 1989 – and we’ve been driving LGBTQIA+ inclusion ever since.

In 1993, we began offering employee benefits for same-sex domestic partnerships, making us one of the first companies in the world to do so. We stood as a public supporter for marriage equality even before it became legal in the United States – and we continue to advocate for every type of family.

Today, we operate in over 120 countries, many of which still don’t provide legal protections for LGBTQIA+ individuals. By supporting our employees through global advocacy, charitable giving and better workplace practices, we’re hoping to make a difference for LGBTQIA+ communities and beyond, as our drive for positive global impact continues.

Stories from the heart & soul of innovation coming soon on Microsoft Unlocked.

• 

  July 2022

  From accessibility to sustainability, culture to science and radical tech to trending topics—there will be more to explore. Bookmark this page and visit us again in July for more Unlocked content.

• 

  Access For All

  A new alphabet for an ancient people promises to preserve their culture and connect their community.

• It’s Happening

  Technology echoes human expression

• 

  It’s Happening

  Explore the maximal collections behind the founder of minimalism.

• Access For All

  With assistive technology, injured veterans reconnect with the music war took away.

• 

  Changing the Game

  Minecraft changed video games forever. Can it democratize how we design urban spaces?

• For Life On Earth

  Their world is a mirror of our world. What happens to them happens to us.

• 

  For Life on Earth

  California’s water is disappearing. How can smarter design help turn the tide?

July 2022

From accessibility to sustainability, culture to science and radical tech to trending topics—there will be more to explore. Bookmark this page and visit us again in July for more Unlocked content.

Access For All

A new alphabet for an ancient people promises to preserve their culture and connect their community.

It’s Happening

Technology echoes human expression

It’s Happening

Explore the maximal collections behind the founder of minimalism.

Access For All

With assistive technology, injured veterans reconnect with the music war took away.

Changing the Game

Minecraft changed video games forever. Can it democratize how we design urban spaces?

For Life On Earth

Their world is a mirror of our world. What happens to them happens to us.

For Life on Earth

California’s water is disappearing. How can smarter design help turn the tide?

Srinivas Prasad Sugasani: It’s such fun to connect with you on Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. As Asians and Pacific Islanders, I feel that we have so much to celebrate. At the same time, as we think about some of the events and realities that we have navigated recently, I’m curious from your perspective, Jane, what do you feel is different about this past year?

Jane Hesmondhalgh: We’ve continued on our journey of working to create an inclusive culture at Microsoft. And there is still a gap between our aspired culture and everyone’s lived experiences today. For some, that gap may be small; for others it may be larger. But the fact that at Microsoft we have this value system we’re aspiring to is, I think, very much aligned to the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

We’re consistently working toward respect, accountability and high integrity at Microsoft. I would say that our continued work to make progress is not so much different this year, but that we’re focusing even more effort on it.

Unfortunately, this past year we have seen the continued trend of acts of hate toward Asians globally. But the fact that Microsoft is strongly supporting the community in the face of those is super critical for the community. And that much-needed support is not a one-time event where we say something and then we’re on to the next thing. It’s the ongoing recognition that acts against violence, injustice and inequities across the world are unacceptable.

SPS: That’s right. We’ve also been focused on community education in the wake of this alarming rise in acts of hate and violence — how the community can leverage safety practices, and how can we work with the local government communities to increase safety.

JH: Our Inclusion Council has also been really engaged in these discussions. Other examples of sustained commitment to the community include the events we’ve done to engage with external experts in ongoing learning such as Microsoft Include, and of course the support of our Asians at Microsoft Employee Resources Group (ERG). I have heard from the community specifically that one of the most powerful things they’ve attended this year are our community calls, where people have had the opportunity to talk through how they’re feeling with others who may have experienced similar things.

SPS: Based on what we heard from our community, we’ve also been increasingly focused on how we strengthen and support the advancement of the ERG and its members at the company. I am really proud of how we’ve been working with outside experts on leadership development across the company, all the way from entry-level employees to the most senior in the company. This is the kind of year-round investment that is directly benefiting the community.

JH: I’m so passionate about this piece — the leadership education for Asians and Pacific Islanders. When I started as the sponsor for the Asians ERG, that was the No. 1 feedback, that the community wanted unique and tailored leadership education.

As we know, there are 4.7 billion people in this broad community across the world. Asians and Pacific Islanders make up 60% of the world population. That really strikes me. Because within that, there are so many different perspectives. So, a question for you is, how do we ensure that different types of conversations and perspectives from the entire community are brought in?

SPS: As you said — 60% of the global population! And we are trying to represent diversity within the community at that scale. It’s actually one of our strategic pillars in our ERG — including all community members. I think we’re doing a really good job with that. The leadership team has ensured that we include many voices, and as a result of that diversity of thought, we’ve seen new steps and actions being taken. For example, we had an Asians ERG art exhibition. We had a day of remembrance where people could talk about their practices, cultures, ancestors. We had a stand-up comedy event. And we’ve focused specifically on women inventors. Those are just a few examples.

So, focusing on the many dimensions of identity within our global community ensures that we can all share our experiences and learn from each other.

JH: This leads me to reflect on the word “community” and what does that mean? With a global team located all over the world, how do we bring everybody together in a sense of community? At Microsoft the community is a combination of people, cultures and beliefs. So, I think that community piece is our connection to the history across the Asia Pacific region. Within this vast land mass, we can appreciate and understand the differences and uniqueness of the people in the sub-communities and societies. We talked earlier about Microsoft’s culture and values. I think one thing that helps us is that Asian values around integrity and respect are very similar to the company’s. And then of course we go beyond respect to actually celebrating our cultures. Each of our ERG chapters and groups, each culture, is a contribution that is valuable to the world.

And these values are actually critical for the work ahead, right? This year, next year and beyond, we want to tackle the biggest problems that divide us as a society. And we’ve got that microcosm of society within our Asian and Pacific Islander community. We can play a huge role in landing the mindset of interconnectivity and learning both within and outside the company. Each person must be committed to driving positive change, be more intentionally inclusive in the workplace and build our empathy. With this, we can build momentum to meet the challenges of the world.

SPS: Well said Jane. As you’re speaking, I’m thinking about my own personal journey as well. Part of my life I lived on a farm in a small village. I experienced a community there where everybody looked like me, spoke like me with a very similar kind of language. When I lived in various cities, that was the first time I’d experienced people looking like me but speaking different dialects.

And then when I started working on a multinational level, I encountered people who had such a range of cultural differences from me. What I’ve learned is whether it is living in a village, in a small community or at the global level, human values remain the same. I’ve realized more recently that as things become more complex, more turbulent, and we do not know what future will hold, the constant is the values that we all stand for. And that is true across the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, and all across Microsoft and our nine ERGs and many dimensions of identities.

JH: You know, I never thought about it in this way but because you shared a little bit about your own background, I’ll share something about when we moved from the U.S. back to the U.K. In his new school, my son felt left out, and suddenly struggled with questions around “I am British, but do they think I am American or Chinese?” He didn’t feel that sense of belonging, and all these new questions of identity came up which he held to himself. Things did get better, but it reminds me that it’s all of our responsibility to help each other understand that while people are different, everybody has something to offer. People need to feel like they’re valued and that they can contribute without being judged.

SPS: It is so true. Thank you for sharing that. Are there any misperceptions about the Asian and Pacific Islander community that you would like to address?

JH: I’ve heard people say things like, gosh Asians are good at math and science, and they have an easier entry to STEM fields and occupations. I don’t know that I would ever categorize it as easier or not easier. There are many Asians who are not good at math and science, right? It’s a generalization, and there are a lot of these.

Another misconception is that because the Asian population is large, there are a lot of Asian leaders. But actually, the statistics have shown that we’re the least likely of all racial groups to become managers and executives. We need more role models and pathways to that senior level, which is where those development efforts we spoke about earlier come in. And of course, some other misconceptions came up during the pandemic around Chinese people.

So again, what combats these types of misconceptions and harmful stereotypes is learning and building our understanding and empathy for one another.

SPS: I absolutely agree. We will continue this work with the Microsoft communities and our leadership. I look forward to the impact we will make in the coming year. Thank you so much, Jane, for the chance to have this conversation. I look forward to our celebrations and recognition this month!

JH: Thank you, Srinivas! Happy Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Tags: diversity, inclusion

Sara Lerner was fired up and ready to jump into the fray on an imaginary bus.

The Microsoft senior program manager was exploring diversity and inclusion and chatting with her peers about a hypothetical scenario: What they would do if a bus rider made a cruel comment to a passenger who was transgender. Lerner started envisioning how she might confront the fictional bully.

Until a colleague who is transgender weighed in with a surprising twist.

If it happened to them, the person said, they wouldn’t want anyone to angrily defend them, potentially heightening tensions and causing backlash they’d then have to deal with. Instead, they’d wave, smile and ask if the other rider had any questions, trying to provide a positive interaction that wouldn’t shame the agitator but might open a dialogue instead.

It was an encounter Lerner was still reflecting on when Microsoft introduced its global allyship program last year. The course was offered to all employees, aiming to broaden Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella’s push toward a more inclusive culture. But amid the global chaos of 2020 — including a pandemic requiring remote work and making relationships more challenging, acts of hate toward those with Asian heritage stemming from false rhetoric about the virus, widespread protests against racial injustice following violence against Black and African American people, and increased political tensions — the company made the introductory sessions virtual, and mandatory.

The goal is to give Microsoft’s 160,000 employees worldwide the language they need to discuss different viewpoints and difficult things in a way that offers empathy and inclusion to all, says Chief Diversity Officer Lindsay-Rae McIntyre. The program merges employees’ increased enthusiasm around advocacy with the well-known “growth mindset” platform Nadella adopted from psychologist Carol Dweck. And it adapts that from the work-performance arena to address the culture of the company, where leaders have been trying to break down silos and address bias, intolerance and discrimination.

“So much around allyship is putting the growth mindset into action, learning how to empathize with and advocate with someone else,” McIntyre says. “I’m not saying advocate for. It’s not a badge or cape. It’s a practice that we’re trying to embed so people can engage in conversation to learn from one another how to support and help one another.”

While many companies have programs to foster diversity and inclusion, Microsoft worked with neuroscientists for two years to develop a new approach.

The Microsoft Allyship Program consists of 10 segments using various media to appeal to different learning styles. Employees can take online, self-paced classes, watch video scenarios with actors portraying and discussing various work situations, and participate in facilitated sessions focused on building skills and practicing behaviors. The program teaches that there’s no limit to who can benefit from a focus on greater inclusion — everyone has an opportunity to be an ally, and everyone needs allyship in some form.

Rich Neal vividly remembers a meeting early on in his career with his manager and other leaders when he was the only African American in the room — not a new thing then, or now, he says — and someone made an inappropriate comment. Three seconds felt like 30 minutes while Neal contemplated what to say, when he suddenly heard his manager ask what the colleague had meant. The meeting turned uncomfortable, but Neal’s shoulders dropped with relief.

“I felt like this person checked in part of their privilege, part of their fraternity, for me,” Neal recalls. “And the next month, when I got there, it was just different. My boss had created a new reality for everyone in that session. That experience taught me that it doesn’t have to be this huge, Herculean effort to show up for other people.”

Years later, as a senior director at Microsoft, Neal was asked to attend an event for LGBTQI+ employees. There he met a woman who talked about her privilege, as someone who was white and Ivy League-educated, and challenged him to extend his privilege to others — a concept he says he’d never considered, having “correlated the word ‘privilege’ to ‘white male.’” Now he mentors and coaches people of all different ages, career stages and disciplines.

Members of majority communities often are portrayed as either offenders or saviors. But opening the aperture of the conversation to reflect topics such as mental health, age, disability and faith shows how everyone benefits from greater inclusion, McIntyre says.

Rather than shutting people down for offenses, the allyship program encourages employees to learn, grow, make mistakes and get better.

“Allyship isn’t perfect,” she says. “You’re going to fail sometimes. But we hold each other accountable for what we’re aiming for. We show people what good and bad looks like so they actually understand some of the well-intended behavior doesn’t land the way they want it to. And ultimately we’re giving people the skill sets to deepen their connections” — and improve their work performance as a result.

The two are inextricably linked for Steve Chu, an account executive on Microsoft’s state and local government team in Kansas City.

Chu grew up in Alaska with a mother of German descent and father of Chinese lineage. He says he experienced “a lot of harsh racism” as a child and denounced the Asian-American half of his heritage, at one point telling his parents he wanted to change his last name. But while taking the Microsoft course last year, Chu began exploring ways to be more authentic to his whole self. He ended up having the most successful year of his career.

“That really changed everything for me, to embrace both sides of my heritage,” Chu says. “It’s freed me up. I don’t expend energy anymore on covering the Chinese aspects of my personality, so I can focus that energy on more meaningful efforts.”

Research backs up Chu’s experience and has shown that companies with greater employee diversity are more innovative and profitable. But diversity and inclusion require intention.

“If we want to make sure our products are created for people around the world, we need to make sure those varied perspectives are represented, heard and acted upon,” says Diana Navas-Rosette, who leads strategy and innovation on Microsoft’s Global Diversity & Inclusion team. “So we need to have the space and the right behaviors in place for people to be able to speak up and to respectfully challenge each other and have conversations about different perspectives, views and values.”

Recognizing that Microsoft’s data-driven workforce would respond best to a science-based approach to allyship, Navas-Rosette’s team worked with New York University’s Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging and with the NeuroLeadership Institute to identify what prevents people from acting as allies and how to move them from fearful bystanding toward empathetic action. The institute partners with doctors, neuroscientists, researchers and educators who help create a scientific yet practical way to improve leadership effectiveness, sometimes hooking people up to various scans to watch where the blood flows in their brains and to measure cortisol and heartrates as they’re put into different situations.

Discourse about privilege can divide people and make them feel threatened by each other. And the brain processes social threats, such as exclusion and rejection, much the same way it processes physical pain, says Katherine Milan, the institute’s senior vice president of client experience and product.

So the group’s work connects well with Microsoft’s growth-mindset approach by emphasizing collaboration instead of competition, to lower the threat and encourage engagement, Milan says. While many allyship efforts urge people to muster up the courage to confront those who speak or act in a non-inclusive way, Microsoft’s program aims to create a shame-free learning atmosphere for everyone.

And Microsoft’s culture seems to be shifting since the first workshop in July 2019, with surveys indicating employees are feeling more safety and comfort in speaking up even when conversations are difficult, Milan says. But it’s a journey, she says.

“You can’t just take one workshop,” Milan says. “It’s a muscle that you stretch and grow and build every day, and you have to practice repeatedly.”

The pandemic has changed personal interactions in many ways, and some displaced teams have even managed to find greater unity by being more deliberate.

“At the office, there can be dozens of short interactions throughout the day, bumping into people in the halls and cafeteria and having quick conversations,” says Parul Manek, a director of program management for Microsoft’s Enterprise Cloud division. “That doesn’t happen now, so you have to be a more intentional ally. Yesterday I observed someone in a meeting who just didn’t seem like themselves, so I reached out afterward and discovered they had issues working from home and were overwhelmed, and I was able to help them with some strategies to cope.”

Manek became acutely aware of how it felt to be excluded when she moved with her parents to England from India. Since her family hadn’t had the privilege of learning English before immigrating, she felt she didn’t belong in her new home. New friends were intentional about helping her fit in, though, and now she’s spent a lifetime similarly on the lookout for anyone who might be struggling and in need of help.

Manek says she’s seen a clear impact in her work from Nadella’s focus on empathy, even though it’s not an obvious element in a company where employees are so focused on excellence. But she’s noticed that empathy encourages humility and understanding without judgment, which promotes personal connections and, accordingly, workplace collaboration.