Diversity Drives Innovation… Slowly

Bonita Coleman

The Atlanta Post has an interesting Q&A with Bonita Coleman, Google’s Vice President of U.S. sales.

Coleman, formerly director of interactive communication at Chrysler, says she’s optimistic about he movement toward women in leadership roles in technology and advertising. “Diverisity drives innovation,” the Howard University grad states. “I see many talented women every day, at all levels of leadership, and find that their diverse perspectives — like those of any diverse group — bring nothing but good to the company and its offerings. Smart, interesting, talented employees with a unique perspective on the world are invaluable, no matter their race or gender…”

In February minority groups marched outside Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters saying the tech leader — and its counterparts — needed to do a better job hiring native-born blacks, Hispanics and other underrepresented groups.

Google is one of five companies that successfully worked to convince federal officials to block public disclosure of employment data for Silicon Valley’s 15 largest companies.

Despite a few high-profile figures like Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Google search chief Marissa Mayer, labor department and other data suggest women are climbing the corporate ladder in Silicon Valley at a slower rate than men, according to an article in The San Jose Mercury News that was published in 2010. “In Silicon Valley companies, men and women in technical careers are equally likely to hold mid-level jobs, but men are 2.7 times more likely than women to be promoted to a high-ranking tech jobs such as vice president of engineering, or senior engineering manager.”

She isn’t an engineer, but these numbers — or the lack thereof– makes Coleman a rarity at Google and in the high-tech industry in general.