Political bias. Gender equity. Morality. Free speech.

If you read the “manifesto” by a Google software engineer (who was just fired), you’ll find a rich stew of core values discussed. You may disagree with his perspective – and his assumptions, including that women are inherently more neurotic than men and ill-fitted to be coders. But it’s not a rant. He calmly challenges how Google’s left-leaning bias shapes efforts to close a gender gap at the tech giant where 75 percent of the leadership jobs are held by men.

We’re working on a story about how to address some of the problems raised. In the meantime, consider these comments by one former Google manager.

Yonatan Zunger, who worked at Google for 14 years, writes that the controversial memo is based on a flawed understanding of engineering. Successful engineering is less about building things than fixing problems – for people, he says.

“Essentially, engineering is all about cooperation, collaboration, and empathy for both your colleagues and your customers.... All of these traits which the manifesto described as ‘female’ are the core traits which make someone successful at engineering,” writes Mr. Zunger.

Cooperation, collaboration, empathy. Arguably, these are qualities – regardless of gender – that should be nurtured by any company and any society.