Mountain View at least knows it has a lot more work to do, and that may be the reason it hired Danielle Brown as its new VP of Diversity. Brown used to be Intel's VP and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer and will manage Google's diversity and inclusion strategy. Intel isn't exactly more diverse than the big G -- according to its 2016 report, women only make up 25.8 percent of its population and Black employees are very few (3.73 percent of population). However, Brown will provide fresh eyes, which might be what Google needs to achieve bigger results.
To highlight why diversity is necessary, Eileen Naughton, Google's VP of operations, told the story of how Pixel's creative lead was inspired by Mexico City to design the "Really Blue" edition:
"For all of our communities of color, we're working to make sure our culture is rewarding and welcoming through events, town halls, employee resource groups, and ensuring fairness in the promotion process. We know this is critical to making it safe for everyone to bring their best and most innovative ideas to the table. For example, the idea for our Really Blue Pixel came from Alberto Villarreal, the phone's creative lead and industrial design manager, who derived the color from the Mexico City of his youth. The phone was released in October and sold out within minutes. Alberto is part of a vibrant community of Hispanic Googlers, whose contributions are essential to our ability to reflect the world around us, especially here at our California HQ."