Can we solve tech’s diversity problem at the click of a button?

From Snapchat’s racist filters to the bias of Facebook’s newsfeed, the lack of diversity is tech’s hottest issue.

Despite a plethora of research showing the financial, creative and cultural benefits of racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, including McKinsey’s latest findings that “companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians” we have yet to see the tech world ‘lean in’ to the challenge.

Existing efforts — from affirmative action programs to bias trainings — fall short in a number of ways.

Thus, meaningful inclusion still remains a long way off.

So what are we going to do?

As an minority entrepreneur I’ve experienced first hand how hard it is for people who look like me to be taken seriously in the Valley. And as a designer, I know how hard it is to earn a seat at the (creative) table.

But there is hope.

The unifying thread that connects all creatives and business owners alike is our desire to solve problems, to work together and to create things that make a difference in the lives of those around us.

In this spirit, I created Perspective Cards.

It’s a web app that helps makers — from hustling founders to business leaders — empathize with people who don’t look like them. With every click, users are challenged to imagine their companies through the eyes of another.

The idea is simple: the more perspectives companies embrace as they build, the more inclusive their businesses will become.

Now I’m not suggesting that this tool is a one-stop solution. This problem is too complex to expect that it can be solved by any one tool.

We don’t know what will work. But In the words of Clay Shirky “Nothing will work, but everything might. Now is the time for experiments, lots and lots of experiments”. We need more “experiments”, we need to keep ideating and trying all kinds of potential avenues. “Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”.