Lorraine Ross Honored at Watermark Conference

Lorraine Ross, Microquest President & Co-Founder being honored at Watermark Conference for Women 2019

Lorraine Ross, President and Microquest Co-Founder was honored at the 2019 Watermark Conference for Women in Silicon Valley. Lorraine was recognized for 25 years of leadership in female and diversity focused recruiting.

With more than 6,500 female leaders in attendance including tennis great Serena Williams, feminist writer Gloria Steinem, research professor Dr. Brené Brown, NPR broadcaster Celeste Headlee and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, Lorraine was humbled to be highlighted at an event which leads in advancing women in Silicon Valley.

Lorraine taking the stage at the 2019 Watermark Conference

Laysha Ward, EVP and Chief External Engagement Officer at Target, presented the tribute to Lorraine: “Today we celebrate Lorraine Ross whose daughter Madison, to her surprise, submitted this story on her behalf:

“Thirty years ago my mother was a young recruiter in Silicon Valley who wanted to make a difference in the hiring practices of the time. But she had no tools for identifying or hiring women and minorities so she took it upon herself to create one. My mother co-founded Microquest, a diversity database that led to the hiring of some of the first female executives at Fortune 500 tech companies.”

“My mother has committed every day of her life to seeking out and promoting women and minorities in business. Now there is major momentum behind these initiatives thanks to the hard work put in by people like my mother.”

Laysha continued with her observations, “Love the power of this mother-daughter bond! We celebrate your wisdom and strength, your courage and spirit, your genius and loving kindness, and we celebrate all the women in this room.”

Lorraine in the green room at the Watermark Conference with feminist writer and activist Gloria Steinem

How Netflix Reinvented HR

Patty McCord's Harvard Business Review article has been circulating again, so we thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the highlights from HBR's How Netflix Reinvented HR article.

Patty had been Netflix's Chief Talent Officer from 1998 to 2012 having stewarded HR through startup phase, IPO and to one of the largest digital entertainment companies in the world.

She proposes a number of controversial and interesting HR concepts:

• Adequate performance gets a generous severance package

• We're like a pro sports team with stars in every position

• We help each other to be great

• Hard work is not revelvant - we care about great work

• A-level performance, despite minimal effort is rewarded with more responsibility and pay

• Brilliant jerks will not be tolerated - the cost to the team is too high

• There is no vacation or tracking policy - take whatever seems appropriate

• Netflix policy on expensing, entertainment, gifts & travel: Act in Netflix's Best Interest

• Pay top of market. One outstanding employee is more effective than two adequate employees

• No ranking Netflix employees. We want all employees to be top 10% relative to pool of global candidates

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See the original Harvard Business Review article: How Netflix Reinvented HR: here

See the updated Netflix Culture doc: here

Why DACA Matters

As President Trump prepares to withdraw DACA, many people are very concerned about the "Dreamers" who may be deported, including many Fortune 500 companies.

DACA - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - provides renewable 2 year deferments and eligibility for work permits for certain illegal immigrants who entered the country as children. The Obama-era policy has allowed thousands of young people to finish their education and to work.

Apple CEO Tim Cook notes that Apple employs 250 "Dreamers". In a letter to employees Cook said "Dreamers who work at Apple may have been born in Canada or Mexico, Kenya or Mongolia, but America is the only home they’ve ever known. They grew up in our cities and towns, and hold degrees from colleges across the country. They now work for Apple in 28 states."

"On behalf of the hundreds of employees at Apple whose futures are at stake, on behalf of their colleagues and on behalf of the millions more across America who believe, as we do, in the power of dreams, we issue an urgent plea for our leaders in Washington to protect the Dreamers so their futures can never be put at risk in this way again.”

Tim Cook, Apple CEO

Seven Diversity Trends to Watch This Year

REPORT: Seven Diversity Trends to Watch This Year 
The diversity and inclusion ecosystem is undergoing rapid change: The metrics; the numbers; the budgets; and the commitment levels; are all shifting and adjusting.

US Fortune companies and the major multinational brands are looking at "diversity" afresh. Take a look at the seven most significant trends shaping diversity today in Microquest's new report.

Get PDF

Lorraine Ross to Attend White House Gender Summit

Microquest president and co-founder Lorraine Ross has been selected to attend the White House United State of Women summit in appreciation of the work she has done to further gender equality.

The summit brings leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss issues impacting women and girls, including educational opportunity, leadership and visibility, and entrepreneurship and innovation.

Lorraine has committed over 30 years to empowering women in business, fighting hard for diversity hiring practices long before it was a "hot" topic. Microquest is thrilled with this opportunity to further educate ourselves on the changing landscape of women in business, and ultimately to better serve women and minorities in the Fortune 1000 and globally!

Blatant Discrimination

Lorraine has been in the executive search space for 30 years. As a young recruiter she was often stunned to witness the blatant exclusion of women in the search process. As the co-founder of Microquest she was determined to promote women and minorities for inclusion in executive roles in technology and Fortune companies.

With Microquest, she has developed and promoted a unique database of the most qualified women and minority executives for inclusion in the search process, increasing exposure and hiring. Next, she developed Microquest's research capabilities to help client companies target and talent-map under-represented candidates, developing candidate pipelines targeted specifically to clients' specifications.

For many years the notion of diversity and inclusion was not as front-and-center as it is today, but thanks to the partnership of a number of progressive companies, the Microquest model was able to gain traction and result in the hiring of many of the first female executives into the ranks of technology companies in Silicon Valley and in the broader Fortune 500 sector.

"It is very fortunate for us today that there is momentum for diversity and inclusion in corporate culture," Lorraine said. "There is obviously a lot that remains to be done, but we are so pleased to have the opportunity to work with so many great companies that are committed to these values."

White House Summit: United State of Women

The White house Summit: United State of Women will be held on June 14, 2016 in Washington, DC. The summit will explore issues pertaining to gender equality including: Economic Empowerment; Health & Wellness; Educational Opportunity; Violence Against Women; Entrepreneurship & Innovation; and Leadership & Civic Engagement.

For more information visit: unitedstateofwomen.org

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Microquest is a research and consulting firm specializing in diversity talent pipelining.

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