As the city seeks a remedy to the situation, its challenge is two-fold: Indeed, the local tech sector is homogeneous, but so is the Texas capital itself — an obstacle not faced by other national tech hubs such as San Francisco, Boston and New York. The tech ecosystem here, like in Silicon Valley and other locations, is predominantly white with those of East and South Asian descent composing the next largest groups. African-Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and other groups are essentially unicorns.
Austin’s lack of tech diversity not unique, but it’s likely costing companies money and hampering the city’s economic growth
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.
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