What actionable steps can the technology channel take to address lack of diversity? The answer, according to podcaster and MSP industry veteran Dave Sobel, involves actually measuring diversity in the channel and then taking concrete steps to improve on those metrics.
With those goals in mind, Sobel took a look at publicly available information from 100 channel companies. Those 100 channel companies, in turn, mention 876 channel leaders in their publicly available company information. Look more closely, and Sobel found that 82.3 percent of those channel leaders were White, 16.32 percent were non-White, 19.3 percent were Female, and only 1.8 percent were Black. The U.S. population, meanwhile, is 13.4 percent Black.
Sobel isn't out to "shame" each individual channel-driven company that lags on diversity. Instead, he's striving "baseline" where we are and put the aggregated data in front of channel influencers -- folks like you. The very people who can take a hard look at how the channel operates, and those who can drive true change.
Sobel explains his methodology and goals in this video. The discussion about his research starts around the 2:21 mark, but I've included the full video for overall context:
Video linkAfter sharing the data, Sobel shares a range of suggested next-steps to close the diversity gap.
For a separate, ongoing look at diversity in the overall technology sector, check out this ongoing blog from ChannelE2E. That blog features diversity stats, initiatives and news from tech giants (Amazon, Apple, Cisco Systems, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and more) along with ongoing market research.
