the conference was organized by the Harvard Business School’s African Business Center, and it was attended by African American business leaders from around the globe. This was an opportune time to hear from many of those leaders about the challenges they face in their organizations and to see how they are addressing those challenges.
I was happy to hear that despite the challenges in various organizations, African Americans are actually doing quite well, and we can see this in our neighborhoods. The conference was a great opportunity to hear from some of these senior executives on the issues that affect these businesses. The African American business leaders that were there were also eager to provide commentary on their organization’s strategies to address the issues they’re facing.
For instance the head of global marketing at the world’s largest clothing company, Michael Kors, spoke about their organization’s efforts to change the perception that the company is racist or sexist. He was quick to point out that they have a very strong focus on diversity and inclusion, and that they are increasing their efforts to increase their diversity and inclusion. He also talked about efforts to reduce their use of non-profits to support their efforts.