Via Yonatan Zunger.

Originally shared by Robert Hansen

An example of a successful informal incubator:

As an appellate court judge, Dad had X clerk slots to fill. And, of course, every student at every Tier-1 law school applied. Federal appellate clerkships are prestigious and can result in large bonuses to initial salary once a clerk matriculates. Dad often said that if all he wanted were Harvard Law grads with 4.0s, LSATs of 172 or above, and a Polish last name, he could do it just from the applications in his inbox.

He didn’t, of course. Instead at the beginning of each law school year he’d call up professors at Tier-2 law schools, at historically black colleges, and he’d ask them: “Do you have any third-years who are once-in-a-career students who haven’t had the one break they need and are running out of time to get it?” Sometimes — usually — they’d say no. No harm, no foul: talk to you next year.

But sometimes — rarely — they’d say yes. At which point Dad would write this student a personal note telling them their professor recommended them highly, and encouraging them to spend this next year doing something that really knocked it out of the park, something to tell him about in their application for a federal clerkship.

And the thing is, if you specifically ask for “students who just haven’t had the one break they need,” that is a wholly race, sexuality, gender, and creed-blind criteria which will nevertheless disproportionately benefit minority candidates. It’s a meritocratic program that at no point involves the word ‘diversity’ — and yet, it resulted in a remarkably diverse workplace filled with whipsmart lawyers from a broad variety of experiences, all of whom were fanatically loyal to Dad for being the guy who took a chance on them.

Pretty good program, I think.