An interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal discusses the planned — and subsequently cancelled — testimony before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It appears that the bureaucratic EEOC was not interested in hearing the realities associated with affirmative action. Thus, they dis-invited Mr. Clegg from speaking before the commission. For example, one reality that they didn’t want to hear is: “In a 1997 survey, eight out of 10 business executives said that affirmative-action programs had resulted in them giving jobs and promotions to applicants who were less qualified than others.”
As an owner of a small business, we know that we can’t afford to carry non-performing employees and “dead-weight”. Thus, we tend to focus more than any on equal opportunity and results-based performance. For example, if a poor-Hispanic-female-lesbian-handicapped-Spanish speaking software developer can create great software programs… she’s hired.