After Amazon Adopts Rooney Rule, Black Lawmakers Call for More Diversity in Tech

Amazon.com Inc.’s recent adoption of a policy requiring racial minorities and women be interviewed for senior management openings has put a renewed focus on diversity at tech firms, with some members of the Congressional Black Caucus saying the industry still has a long way to go to address racial disparities.

Amazon is the latest big-name U.S. tech company to implement what’s known as the Rooney Rule, a policy named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney. In 2003, the National Football League required every team to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching and general manager openings.

The board of directors at Amazon adopted the policy on May 14, after its initial opposition to the proposal was met with public criticism from employees and lawmakers. Jill Kerr, an Amazon spokeswoman, said in a May 29 email to Morning Consult that adoption of the rule “formalizes a practice already in place.”

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About the Author: DrStefanieKJohnson

Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Management at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder. She holds a Ph.D. from Rice University and is particularly interested in the effects of unconscious biases in the evaluation of women and minorities, with the goal of finding ways to mitigate those biases. Dr. Johnson brings bias to light with an engaging and humorous approach to advanced scientific research, which has earned her numerous accolades and invitations to present her work at meetings around the world, including the White House for a 2016 summit on diversity in corporate America on National Equal Pay Day, and the 2016 Harvard Negotiation and Leadership Conference. She has published over 70 journal articles and book chapters in outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Applied Psychology and The Academy of Management Journal. She has extensive consulting experience and has created and delivered leadership-development training with an emphasis on evidence-based practice. In recognition of her unique research, Dr. Johnson has been awarded nearly three million dollars in external funding to study leadership and create leadership development programs aimed at increasing safety. Media outlets featuring her work include: The Economist, Newsweek, Time, and CNN. Stefanie lives in the Boulder Bubble in Colorado with her Biology Professor husband, two young kiddos, and two old kitties.