Burn all the Foosball Tables

A colleague of mine attended a marketing seminar. One of the speakers, a Senior Executive, made the comment that she would not do business with a vendor that had a foosball table in their offices. My colleague suggested that we think about moving our foosball table.  On the contrary, her comments made me want to move it to the front lobby. 

Here's the deal, it's not the foosball table's fault. If you have a bro code or toxic culture you will have it with or without a table. The industry has a problem that has been in the making for decades and it has nothing to do with foosball tables.  We need more diversity in tech, that is for sure.  But for me, it's a stretch to blame the foosball table and it is silly to judge a company based on the mere presence of one. 

We will be keeping our table while we continue to support diversity and offer an inclusive environment that encourages all individual's to discover the wonderful opportunities this industry provides. In order to start making real change and move into the future, we will have to stop blaming old ideas, past mistakes and inanimate objects for the state of diversity and inclusion in tech today.