The real reason behind the lack of Black talent in the C-suite

In this week’s guest column, executive diversity recruitment expert Kenneth Johnson provides the real reason behind the stark representation of Black leaders in corporate America.

Johnson explains why statements like the one made by Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf about the lack of Black talent (before he issued an apology a few days ago), doesn’t actually help to address the lack of Black representation in the C-suite. Not only does he shed some light on the real issue behind the lack of Black professionals in the boardroom, but also why corporate America needs to step up and deal with the “deep-rooted structural racism” and “unconscious bias” that is preventing Black talent from entering the senior ranks of Fortune 500 companies.

I founded East Coast Executives, a diversity recruitment firm, in 2001 with the goal of addressing the lack of diversity in the C-Suite at Fortune 500 companies. My goal was to specifically introduce corporate America’s decision makers and hiring influencers to the Black professionals that they were reluctant to acknowledge existed. 

THE FACE OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

In 2018, I stood on a TEDx stage and delivered a talk entitled “The Face of Workplace Diversity” urging the employees of Fortune 500 companies and their CEO’s that have made a commitment to support diversity in their workplace to act. [See video below]. At the time, over 300 CEOs had pledged through the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) initiative to commit to addressing a lack of workplace diversity in the senior ranks of their organisations.

CEO ACTION FOR D&I

Approximately one year prior, Tim Sloan – the then CEO of banking behemoth Wells Fargo – signed the CEO Action for D&I pledge promising to further advance D&I efforts at the bank. Maybe he should have shared his pledge with current Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf. 

In a Zoom call with Wells Fargo employees (back in June), Scharf is reported to have said: “We need more diverse representation on our operating committee,” referring to the banks top executives. But he then went on to say: “While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from.”

Although Scharf’s view that his organisation’s failure to reach their modest diversity goals is due to a “limited pool of black talent”, this is not actually true. Scharf’s reality contradicts research, data and my own experience as a diversity recruiter. His position is not “reality” at all. It’s actually false and definitely an excuse. 

This isn’t solely about Scharf. This is a reflection of corporate America and its monolithic structure viewing “reality” through its own two-way mirror. I believe this limited talent pool sentiment is not just limited to Scharf, but actually many in his inner-circle of C-Suite executives. It’s also been proven that these views and opinions from the C-Suite permeate throughout entire organisations and their talent acquisition hierarchies. 

UNCONSCIOUS BIAS

There are some underlying factors that align with Scharf’s views and others in his position, and they run as deep as systematic racism itself, or as he described in his apology last week – “his unconscious bias”. Call it what you want, but it’s rooted in ism’s – racism, nepotism, classism, etc. 

According to his biography on the Wells Fargo website “Charlie served as Chief Executive officer of Bank of New York Mellon from July 2017 to October 2019 and the Chairman of its board from January 2018 to October 2018. He was also Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Visa Inc. from November 2012 to December 2016.” These are impressive accomplishments indeed. I’ve personally never met “Charlie” but I’m sure he’s an extremely intelligent human being. His accomplishments speak loudly for his networking and leadership acumen. 

TIME TO STEP UP

If we take a deeper-dive into how one ascertains the belief that there is a lack of Black talent in the 2020 workplace, we just need to look at the ramp from which they’ve launched their own career. According to Wikipedia, in 1987, shortly after graduating from college, Scharf was the youngest professional employee at Commercial Credit Corp. Scharf was still a senior at Johns Hopkins University when he started working at the company part-time, having sent his résumé to Jamie Dimon “through family connections”. Yes, that would be Billionaire and CEO of JP Morgan Bank, Jamie Dimon.

Maybe it’s not a matter of there not being enough Black talent in the “pool” but that the gatekeepers at the pool don’t believe Black talent to be worthy of admission. This is why statements like the ones made by Scharf are so damaging to efforts to address the lack of Black representation in corporate boardrooms and hallways. Again, I’ll encourage our corporate leaders to step up with a clear defined strategy to address the structural racism and “unconscious bias” that keeps the global workplace in a holding pattern preventing the hiring and advancement of Black professionals. There are currently just four Black CEO’s leading Fortune 500 companies. I’m sure Kenneth Frazier, Marvin Ellison, Roger Ferguson and René Jones would welcome the company and we would all benefit from the influx of talent. 

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY 

Kenneth L Johnson is President of East Coast Executives, a leading diversity recruitment firm in the US. He is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and a Google Learning Center NYC Career & Job Readiness Facilitator. He is the Diversity Staffing Consultant for the New York Urban League and hosts the National Urban League Jobs Network Digital Career Success Series. He’s also Host & Producer of The Career Seekers Show on 106.5 FM WPPM Philly. Read more about Johnson’s D&I journey here.

Check out his guest column on how to leverage Black History Month for real D&I results here.