League of Black women  and Delays LLc. Project Manager and Graduate of Tuskegee University Bakari  Finley  is supporting  one of most amazing stories in our countries history going to big screen! ” I think the Tuskegee airman sacrifice is truly what made me want to go to  Tuskegee University because  I met one of them while I was picking schools”(Bakari Finley)

Diversity: Why the C-Suite Needs Women of Color

January 13th, 2012 in Diversity by Roger O. Crockett0 Comments

When Avon Products Inc. recently announced that CEO Andrea Jung is stepping down as CEO this year, investors and corporate leadership gurus cheered. I get Wall Street’s enthusiasm. Though Jung, a 53-year old Asian-American woman, dazzled early in her 10-year reign, Avon has struggled mightily under her leadership in recent years. Still, I cringe at Jung’s looming departure. The unspoken fact is that her exit will leave only two women of color — Xerox’s Ursula Burns and Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi — sitting in the chief’s chair of Fortune 500 companies.

Don’t get me wrong. I am no advocate of promoting or retaining women in the C-suite simply because of their gender or ethnicity. Merit should unquestionably be the priority for serious hiring (or firing) at any level. But Jung’s imminent exit underscores a disturbing fact: Women of color are woefully underrepresented in leadership.

Across the economic spectrum — whether business, law, sports, politics, academia or religion — women represent less than 20% of the leaders in the U.S., even though their workforce participation is equal to or greater than that of men, according to a White House Project study. The numbers are even more dire for women of color, especially black women. Professional black women make up only 1% of U.S. corporate officers, despite the fact that 75% of corporate executives believe that having minorities in senior level positions enables innovation and better serves a diverse customer base, says Sandra Finley CEO of the League of Black Women. “You can’t name five that sit on a corporate board,” Finley laments. “Black women are toiling in middle management and that is usually the height of their career.”

The shame of this stunted existence for women of color is that U.S. companies are missing out on a proven competitive advantage. Consider that a few years ago, a study by research firm Catalyst demonstrated that companies with three or more women board directors reported considerably stronger-than-average financials. The perspectives, the intelligence, and the creativity that women bring to the boardroom are why policy makers in several European countries have begun to legislate that their corporate boards recruit women directors.

I should hope there’s no need for such a mandate in the U.S. I would prefer that shareholders with financial returns in mind send this urgent message: The boards of directors and executive management teams of America ought to be equitably represented by women, and those women must be ethnically diverse.

In this day and age it only makes sense. Consider that the combined buying power of racial minorities (African Americans, Asians and Native Americans) will rise from $1.6 trillion in 2010 to $2.1 trillion in 2015, accounting for 15% of the nation’s total. Similarly, the buying power of Hispanics will rise from $1 trillion in 2010 to $1.5 trillion in 2015, nearly 11% of the nation’s total buying power, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. The Hispanic market alone is larger than the entire economies of all but 14 countries in the world.

With markets that lucrative at stake, corporate decision makers would benefit from innate understanding of how to sell to them. The fact is, women generally drive the purchasing decisions within these communities, just as they do in the rest of the population. And the sensibilities of women of color only enhance a management team’s or a board’s ability to strategize ways for reaching these markets. Why then are these women so absent from our leadership ranks? “Organizations do a really poor job of assessing talent, especially among those that don’t fit the homogeneous norm,” explains Ginny Clarke, CEO of Talent Optimization Partners and a veteran executive recruiter. But she warns: “If you don’t have a system that allows you to identify who’s good, better and best — without regard to gender and ethnicity — then your success will be limited.”

After 10 years at the helm, perhaps Andrea Jung’s time at Avon has run its course. But Jung should not be an anomaly. There are plenty women of color like her, with the talent to lead.

People & Places

On the move: Why are NFL scouts looking at Daranne R. Edwards a senior at H-F high school?

Recent resources have showed that the NFL is constantly getting faster super fast, stars like Michael Vick , Cam Newton are high profile players because of there position as a QB  but the DB position and Wide receivers are in more demand  and the future needs  people that can keep up with the super fast but what’s is overlooked is the ability to maintain that fast speed over long periods in a game. Daranne Edwards is fast like Michael Vick fast but over longer periods of time that’s different says one track coach he runs Track and plays Football for HF his stamina is not normal he has a huge vertical and now he grew to  6Ft that is 3 inches in 5 months, he had limited playing time this year in football but NFL scouts and College scout where at HF watching practices and talking to each other about his future. Daranne’s  runs the 400 and can even poll vault he was voted the most athletic player on his team so why did he get so much limited playing time?

High school Football is very political often players don’t get noticed because of this, ask Jerry Rice and Doug Williams who whent to a small schools because of this fact, so with the new competitive nature of the game and laws because Darranne is still an amature all the pros can do is look but not speak to him until he is eligible to go pro.

One scout says” You can’t depend on highschool tape to show you everything it’s featured if you show up you see the the real talent”(L.Winker).  If you think about it how does a Tim Tebow who is in the NFL make it when there are so many better players faster stronger ect. Tebow has caused scouts to look at mental profiles, intangibles little blueprints as well as physical lifestyle and competitiveness, also the biggest thing the future athlete should have is closing ability and gaming ability huge.  How does a player like Kobe Bryant have 5 rings and great players like Charles Barkly,John Stockton ect. don’t have one? The desire to win above all has to be translated into action. Daranne Edwards  for Homewood Flossmoor is one of the few new future generations who profile fits the new future athletes edge. He is smart balanced happy organized humble and passionate about school life,but in the game he like Tebow improves as time goes on it’s like he transforms and pressure witch bothers most doesn’t get to him because he is not tired so he is focused longer his blood flow to his brain is allowing him to think faster but more then that where other players want to win Daranne needs to win there is a big difference!

Hopefully Daranne will get to go to a great school  or on the other hand which lucky school will get Daranne R. Edwards and maybe one day soon he can play a sport that proves that there is a place for this new athlete leader winner humble and above all loyal to God,Family and fans that wish him the best.

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