“Apple VP of Inclusion and Diversity Denise Young Smith on Friday issued an internal memo to clarify and apologize for comments made during a business summit last week, reiterating that Apple is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace,” AppleInsider reports. “”
“At the One Young World Summit in Bogota, Colombia, last week, Smith joined Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson and KPMG International’s Global Head of Corporate Citizenship Lord Michael Hastings on stage in a panel discussion covering racial injustice,” AppleInsider reports. 
“As noted by TechCrunch, which procured a copy of Smith’s letter, the statement appeared to suggest diversity of thought is a suitable stand in for proactive hiring practices adopted by a variety of tech firms, including Apple, to foster racial and gender diversity,” AppleInsider reports. “‘I regret the choice of words I used to make this point. I understand why some people took offense,’ she said in a letter to employees. ‘My comments were not representative of how I think about diversity or how Apple sees it. For that, I’m sorry.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The irony is draped all over this one.
Diversity is certainly good, but getting the absolute best should remain the goal. Forced diversity carries its own set of problems. Would the group be comprised of the best-qualifed people possible or would it be designed to hit pre-defined quotas? Would some employees, consciously or unconsciously, consider certain employees, or even themselves, to be tokens meant to fill a quota? That would be a suboptimal result for all involved.
The best and desired outcome is for this to work in Apple’s favor. Truly looking at qualified people from a larger pool would result in delivering different viewpoints and new ways of looking at things and tackling problems than a more homogenized workforce would be capable of delivering.
Regardless and of course, someday it sure would be nice for everyone to just be able to evaluate a person’s potential, not measuring and tabulating superficial, meaningless things like skin color and gender. — MacDailyNews, August 3, 2016
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Smith’s full letter, verbatim:
Colleagues,
I have always been proud to work for Apple in large part because of our steadfast commitment to creating an inclusive culture. We are also committed to having the most diverse workforce and our work in this area has never been more important. In fact, I have dedicated my twenty years at Apple to fostering and promoting opportunity and access for women, people of color and the underserved and unheard.
Last week, while attending a summit in Bogota, I made some comments as part of a conversation on the many factors that contribute to diversity and inclusion.
I regret the choice of words I used to make this point. I understand why some people took offense. My comments were not representative of how I think about diversity or how Apple sees it. For that, I’m sorry.
More importantly, I want to assure you Apple’s view and our dedication to diversity has not changed.
Understanding that diversity includes women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and all underrepresented minorities is at the heart of our work to create an environment that is inclusive of everyone.
Our commitment at Apple to increasing racial and gender diversity is as strong as it’s ever been. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made, but there is much work to be done. I’m continually reminded of the importance of talking about these issues and learning from each other.
Best,
Denise
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s first ever VP of diversity and inclusion says she focuses on everyone, not just minorities – October 11, 2017
James Damore: Why I was fired by Google – August 12, 2017
Street artist mocks Google in ads posted outside company offices following Damore firing – August 12, 2017
Here’s why the tech industry doesn’t need more female software engineers – August 9, 2017
Apple’s new Vice President of Inclusion and Diversity will report directly to CEO Tim Cook – May 24, 2017
Apple’s board has urged shareholders to reject proposal to tie executive compensation to racial diversity quotas – February 27, 2017
Apple Inc. fights shareholders group demand for more diversity – February 15, 2017
Apple touts diversity of recent hires – August 3, 2016
Apple inches toward workforce diversity – January 20, 2016
Diversity report shows Apple’s U.S. workforce still mainly white and male – January 19, 2016
Apple’s Board of Directors says a call for diversity is ‘unduly burdensome and not necessary’ – January 15, 2016
Apple leads Facebook, Intel, Cisco, Google on gender diversity among Bay Area companies – November 17, 2015
Apple’s latest diversity report shows progress – August 13, 2015
Tim Cook is ‘personally involved’ in improving diversity at Apple Inc. – July 14, 2015
Apple donates over $50 million to diversity efforts – March 10, 2015
Apple CEO Tim Cook met privately with Jesse Jackson regarding diversity – December 9, 2014
Apple adds Vice Presidents, more diversity to Executive Leadership Team – August 15, 2014
A message from Apple CEO Tim Cook on diversity – August 12, 2014
Jesse Jackson calls on Obama to scrutinize tech industry’s ‘lack of diversity’ – July 28, 2014
Tim Cook: Apple will release diversity data ‘at some point’ – July 9, 2014
Jesse Jackson targets tech’s lack of diversity; sends letter to Apple, Google, HP, others – March 19, 2014
Apple changes bylaws after facing criticism about lack of diversity on board – January 9, 2014
Apple: “We found the person who could design the new state-of-the-art Mac Pro that everyone wants but we couldn’t hire him because he’s a white male.”
Been living here in Europe for many years after a life in the USA. Where I live, we see the clown show in the US. It really is some kind of clown show. Here, no one takes a knee about anything. A ‘VP of Diversity’ is a bad joke. Weinstein and Hollywood are simply perverted. Everyone, but everyone, MUST do service to their country, starting with military, and if you can’t handle that, they ship you off elsewhere to do your duty in other ways. When someone wins high office, folks deal with it. Trying to bring in a flood of economic refugees here, be it Mexico or Syria, doesn’t get you anywhere. Some things I miss about the USA, but of late its damn little. Apple, a shining star of innovation and entrepreneurship, has gone off the cliff with this Cook fella. You people need to get your act together and start acting like adults again. Thats you to some extent you far right loons, but its by far you baby leftists who just can’t cope with anything.
you failed to mention what country in Europe.
He’s in Israel, where everyone must perform military service. Not exactly Europe, but nearby. 😝 Every other country has draft dodgers. How typical of an expat to hold forth on American puffery, particularly since Europe has been a shambles for the last two humdred years and still needs American NATO might to protect their sorry asses. 🦅
I’ve never seen a comment section like this before: where some people’s comments get 5 stars, and others get 1 star, for making the exact same points. Or perhaps it’s just never been as blatant before that some commenters are getting downvoted purely based on who they are (i.e. their recognized screenname) and not what they are saying. I’m glad I stopped coming here very often, because it’s become the same crap-show as the rest of the Internet.
“I’ve never seen a comment section like this before: where some people’s comments get 5 stars, and others get 1 star, for making the exact same points.”
Good observations and spot on to MDN present day comment reality!
The voting is sometimes rigged and DISHONEST applied to a select target group of people that support President Trump or who are perceived as Republican, which I am definitely not.
I know, because I’m one of them.
As you posted, correct, it is based on screen name only, not the content of the comment because as you said earlier when post is accurate and the same as the others garnering positive votes, it really doesn’t matter.
“I’m glad I stopped coming here very often, because it’s become the same crap-show as the rest of the Internet.”
Because you have not been around lately you may not have noticed MDN has stepped up enforcement of posts in the past couple weeks. Posting warnings in their “takes” to cease ad hominem attacks and several of those bad actors have already been banned. The political posts obviously burn the hottest.
Alas, the down voting and multiple down voting tactics of the bad actors are ALL that is left and impossible to control under the present system. I simply ignore them as do many posters on the targeted list. My words define me, not a FAKE star scorecard.
Hats off to MDN for the effort to IMPROVE quality of comments and I believe if you stick around, you will see it has definitely improved and not as bad as the rest of the iSwamp …
I just down voted myself to get the process going. Check back, you will see …
I just hope that with all this new added diversity and stuff, that someone is hired over at Apple who is smart enough to not put the charging port on the bottom of the next goddamn mouse.
This essentially proves that “diversity” is code for anti-white now.