(Fast Company) During my tenure at Facebook, now Meta, from 2014 to 2017, posters were plastered all over the grounds. “The job is only 1% done.” “Move fast and break things.” I was struck by one in particular on my first day of orientation: “Nothing at Facebook is someone else’s problem.” No matter my department or title, I had permission to take ownership of a problem and fix it. It’s the corporate version of “If you see something, say something,” or, in this case, do something. The irony is that I’m saying something because I see what Meta is now doing. It is actively making their problem with diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) everyone else’s problem. To me it’s clear the company’s ethos has changed from those days of open innovation.
DEI helped Facebook grow, make better products and be more profitable
During my time at Facebook, I was an attorney who primarily served supply chain and procurement. One thing that was not in my purview was diversity. However, I couldn’t help but notice that I was the only Black attorney in the Legal department, and I was well aware of the infrequency with which I saw Black colleagues walking around campus. Within our supply chain, I saw an opportunity to save the company money, create goodwill in the communities where Facebook had offices, and build better products by working with suppliers as diverse as the company’s users. So, I started the supplier diversity program.
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