Pando.com's Sarah Lacy on Why Diversity Will Strengthen Your Company
Inclusion in Silicon Valley is actually worse than it was during the dotcom bubble, according to Pando.com’s Sarah Lacy. The long-time tech journalist suggests companies need to make sure they're diverse from inception to make sure they continue to prioritize the quality as they grow.
"There’s so much data that shows if 40 percent of your team is diverse when there’s six of you, it’ll be diverse when there’s thousands of you," Lacy told Cheddar on Monday. "Start-ups put this off, they think 'well that’s a problem we can solve later.'"
Unfortunately, Lacy argues, that is not the case. Lacy says that even if it means moving slower, venture capitalists should make this a prerequisite for the companies they invest in. She says that the culture brewed by that lack of diversity alienates women and people of color. On the other hand, she says, diversity makes teams stronger.
"A lot of women don’t want to come to 'Bro-ville,'" she said.
Lacy also discussed her new book, "A Uterus Is a Feature, Not a Bug: The Working Woman's Guide to Overthrowing the Patriarchy." In it, she breaks down the overwhelmingly male-centric culture in the technology sector.
Lacy told Cheddar she thought the book would be published at a time the United States had its first female president. What she thought would be a "very celebratory" environment for women turned out to be what she says is "quite the opposite."
Still, what encouraged Lacy to come forward and speak about this pervasive issue of discrimination in tech was her experience as a mother, which pushed her to become feminist, as well as millennial women who are outspoken in pointing out misogyny, a quality less apparent in her fellow Gen X'ers.
"Gen X women like me didn’t really become feminist until they’re about like 35," she said. "Until they started getting older and started figuring out that things we thought were just paying our dues when we were young, there was a lot of discrimination going on in there."
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
