Comments on The Startup Journey: Diversity in Hiring? - By Sanjay Anandaram

Jay, thanks for your comments. Actually, the creat...

2009-03-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Jay, thanks for your comments.

Actually, the creation of community based regiments is a British colonial legacy. They had their reasons for this based on (faulty) assessments of the fighting (or lack of fighting) abilities of different communities. Officers were all British and Indian officers came into being much later (Indians were NCOs till then).

Our IT services companies, for example, are very efficient AND have diversity in their hiring BUT are they likely to figure in the "Most Innovative Companies" list? Unlikely.

Diversity drives innovation, no doubt. On the othe...

2009-03-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

Diversity drives innovation, no doubt. On the other hand, homogenity has the potential to spur efficiency, the importance of which cannot be discounted. Organizations need both. An Organization that has perhaps successfully married both these traits is the Indian Army. The regiments at the footsoldier level are homogeneous - organized along communities along the pre-requisite dimensions of region/religion or caste - Sikh regiments, Mahar regiment, Madras regiment, Gorkha regiment etc. At the level of officers, it is just the opposite. A well thought out system ensures that the leadership of the regiment is vested with those from a different regional and cultural mileu, since strategic thinking and innovation are key differtiators at this level. At a certain level, the diversity vs. homogenity debate is akin to the India vs. China debate!

I completely agree. Diversity drives innovation. D...

2009-02-24T08:53:00.000-08:00

I completely agree. Diversity drives innovation. DNA was discovered when chemists moved into Biology and more recently many computer science advances have had a biological focus.

Diversity can also come from different cultures. Everyone has a different experience and can add something new.