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by SquirrelOnFire 2797 days ago
On an individual level, it doesn't improve being a good coworker.

On an institutional level, you get a broader set of ideas when you have a more diverse workforce, giving you a better chance at a black swan idea. And frankly, better odds of preventing disaster (Chevy wouldn't have tried to sell a car called the "Nova" in Mexico if they'd had a spanish speaker on the team. No Va means No Go).

There's also evidence that diverse teams do better - https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our...
3 comments
spaniard89277 2797 days ago
> you get a broader set of ideas

I'm sorry but I'm still failing to see it. My experience in my company does not support that hypothesis (and it's really a large one) and the link you provided the only thing that is really proving is that more executive women is correlated with more profitability, which could perfectly be (and probably be) the consequence of other institutional factors.

We do have locals in every market we play, but that's pretty common sense, you have to know the language and cultural references.

But again, I'm not in the US nor I work for a US company. Maybe that has something to do, IDK.

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aidenn0 2797 days ago
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanis...
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SquirrelOnFire 2785 days ago
Dang. Thanks for pointing that out.
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Chris2048 2796 days ago
Do you need to go out of your way to employ a Spanish speaker as a permanent employee, on the off chance of a "black swan" idea, rather than o a one of consult with a consultant?

wrt your link: "It is important to note, however, that correlation does not demonstrate causality, which would be challenging to demonstrate". I think a more interesting metric would be diversity relative to the local norm.

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iagovar 2796 days ago
I add that the only thing that I've seen bringing something to the table, aside from any individual variable is economic class.

I really enjoy when we hire people that didn't had the opportunity to attend to university, but to FP (~ community colleges in the US), guide their training and so on. We did this with three guys in my office and I'd say that was one of the best ideas my boss had.

But now HR is not willing to allow this anymore. Somehow hiring poor people and investing in them is not trendy, but hiring women and minorities is.

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