David Stewart mentioned his company’s effort to have a staff which is reflective of society in terms of race, gender, etc. He explained that is not the only goal: “It is not that we are not looking for the most talented candidate [regardless of race, gender, etc], it is that we are looking at many candidates from a variety of backgrounds to come to the table and be able to show us their wares.” Later on, he explained that if he has a position open and accepts many applications, it is unacceptable for the final four candidates to all be white men, that there must be racial and gender diversity there as well.

My question is this: Say the four most qualified candidates for that position were all white men.

(1) What would be the highest value guiding your decision in determining the final four and ultimately the chosen one? In other words, what is higher in your hierarchy: merit (say, based on skills and character, whatever the job description requires) or diversity?

(2) When you look at people as the result of their background and thus reject certain candidates despite their skills because their race is overrepresented in the field, is that not ignoring their individuality?