It’s tempting to try and separate business data from society… but they’re linked.
Black residents in the rural South are nearly twice as likely as their white counterparts to lack home internet access, according to a new study from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The study also found that nearly one in four Black residents in the rural South don’t even have the option to subscribe to high speed broadband, compared to just 3.8% of Americans nationwide.
At Microsoft, a leaked email chain is spreading that provides insights into gender discrimination. The chain includes a spreadsheet of more than 1,2000 employee salaries. The core of the discussion – pay and promotion disparity between men and women. Business Insider has broken down the data, and I’ve included a link for those who want to dig in.
It puts into perspective the need for the investment in broadband – the FCC announced this week more than 1.1 billion from the Emergency Connectivity Fun to students, school staff, and libraries.
Why do we care?
So I’m also including a story by Protocol about the opening up of salary discussions. I just came off talking about hiring, and here I have stories related to pitfalls around people.
No hot takes. Problems themselves are areas of opportunity, and that’s the theme of the day. Organizations looking to lead can leverage all of this.