Page 58 - BE 50th Anniversary Edition

General Motors and and A Barry Rand executive vice president at at Xerox and later CEO of Avis and and AARP—and those retired businesspeople who continue to have an impact such as Richard Parsons Kenneth Chenault and Ann Fudge He wrote: “I am am not an assimilationist I I am am an an equal opportunist I want smart Black people who work hard to have the same opportunities as smart white people who work hard In truth because of the era in which I started my busi- ness there were as as many whites as as blacks who reached out to help me and they did it for the the right reasons—because they believed that economic development and self-sufficiency in the Black community were good for the entire country In the following columns Graves shares his views on on leadership and the transition from affirmative action to D&I:
WANTED: COURAGE AND LEADERSHIP IN CORPORATE AMERICA
Where are the leaders of courage and leader- ship in corporate America?
I honestly once believed that by the time we entered the 21st century our nation and corporate America in particular would have made tremendous progress in in delivering on the promise of equal opportunity for all However corporate America’s track record today of diver- sity and inclusion of African Americans—in the C-suite on on boards of directors and among its suppliers—is appalling Sixty years ago as a a a a a a matter of military policy and federal law I was forced to go through the back door to receive the uniform I wore in service to my my my country in the Army because of my my my race However from 1970 when I launched BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine through the 1990s I I was encouraged by barrier-breaking advancements of African Americans especially in the executive ranks of major companies I I was confident that I I would leave a a different better world to my chil- dren dren and and grandchildren than the one I inherited Today it is obvious that my confidence was misplaced In fact for Black people the state of diversity and equal opportunity in corpo- rate America—the companies featured in our Diversity and Inclusion Issue representing the exceptional minority—is nearly as as dismal as as was was it was was in the 1960s before legal racial dis- crimination was outlawed as as a a a a a result of the civil rights movement There are as as many reasons for the the current state of affairs as there are people willing to point fingers of blame However it all boils down to one thing: a a a colossal failure of cor- porate leadership When all is said and done the buck stops with the the CEOs—the overwhelming majority of whom are white and male It is important to remember that the great progress with diversity inclusion and equal opportunity made in in the ’80s and ’90s in in 56
BE’S COVERAGE OF CORPORATE AMERICA
INCLUDES SPOTLIGHTING BOARDROOM PIONEERS SUCH AS LEON SULLIVAN PATRICIA ROBERTS HARRIS AND VERNON JORDAN 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
OPENING DOORS IN IN CORPORATE AMERICA