African-American Business Legacy - Forbes Special Sections

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Advertisement 2Marsha JohnsonSenior Vice President &Chief Diversity OfficerSouthern CompanyThe Power of InclusionAt Southern Company, wework hard to provide reliablelow-cost energy, satisfy ourcustomers and bring value toour shareholders.We do this through a workforcethat is diverse, engaged andcommitted to our individual andcollective success. Our core valuesare grounded in ‘UnquestionableTrust,’ ‘Superior Performance’and ‘Total Commitment’ and providethe foundation for our businessand diversity strategy.We believe diversity and inclusionprinciples must be woveninto everything we do. Whetherworking with customers,employees, shareholders, suppliersand vendors or communities, ourgoal is to achieve superiorresults through partnerships thatdemonstrate respect, value andfull engagement. At SouthernCompany, diversity and inclusionare truly competitive advantages.To learn more, visit us at:just want rider seats in the front of the bus— we wanted the driver’s seat, too.”The work continued in the 20th centurywith the Fair Share Program, whichincreased jobs and promotions for blackworkers; Black Dollar Days, which demonstratedblack purchasing power (today at$700 billion); and the Economic ReciprocityInitiative, which annually surveys the expendituresof more than 50 major corporationson workforce diversity, corporate philanthropyand supplier diversity. “As weeducate consumers on the value of theirdollar, they will make more prudentspending decisions, rewarding businessesfor their best practices and holding themaccountable for those that need improvement,”explains Bond.In 2007, the NAACP launched itsConsumer Choice Guide, which highlightsinnovative corporate diversity and inclusionstrategies. “The NAACP is both an advocateand a valuable corporate resource,”says National Board Vice Chair RoslynBrock, who began her work with theNAACP as an elected youth representativeto the Board and serves as Director ofAdvocacy and Public Policy for BonSecours Health Systems, Inc. “Throughmutual respect, we will achieve a commongood, benefiting industry and the communityat the same time.”Just this year, the launch of Gateway toLeadership, a summer internship program inpartnership with the Money ManagementInstitute, gave another boost to studenteconomic literacy by placing African-American students at Wall Street firms andconcluding the summer experience with acase study competition.Recruitment and PipelineDevelopmentAmong the most common best practicesin diversity and inclusion are widespreadrecruitment and strong employee development.NAACP programs have long workedto increase the visibility of African-Americanfuture employees and to urge corporatesponsors to hire them. “Without sincereoutreach efforts and adoption of best practicesthat cut across racial lines in the newglobal environment, corporations will neverbe as profitable as they may hope,” saysNAACP Interim President and ChiefExecutive Officer Dennis C. Hayes. Skillbuilding, mentoring, enlightened managementpolicies and leadership developmentamong employees will build a diversepipeline to the top positions.The most successful corporations havetaken these lessons to heart, and as a result,“As we educate consumers on the value oftheir dollar, they will make more prudentspending decisions.”— Julian Bond, National Board Chair, NAACPTHE NAACP: A CENTURY OF ECONOMIC EQUITY ACTIONwww.southerncompany.com1915 NAACP protestsagainst racial stereotypingby launching anationwide boycott ofthe racist movie, Birthof a Nation.1923 Dr. W. E. B. DuBoiswrites two essays on blackseparatism as the editor ofThe Crisis magazine.
Advertisement 4Bob ReedVice President ofDiversity & InclusionAT&TAT&T’s long heritage in servingAfrican-American communitiesstems from the company’scommitment to diversity andinclusion at every level.This year, AT&T was honored tobe included among DiversityInc’sTop 50 Companies for Diversity.The company also rankednumber one among the Top10 Companies for AfricanAmericans and was named as oneof the Top 10 Companies forRecruitment and Retention.Our commitment to attractingdiverse talent extends beyondAT&T’s walls. Our HBCU CampusChallenge introduces studentsfrom historically black collegesand universities to hands-on,real-world marketing endeavors,while giving them opportunities toearn scholarships for themselves andgrants for their institutions.Diversity-owned firms are vitalto our mission to deliver the bestproducts and services to ourcustomers, and AT&T spent $5.15billion with those businesses lastyear. Diversity and inclusion isalso woven into the businessstrategies for our philanthropicgiving, advertising and mediaand community outreach.AT&T is always working hard tobe an employer, business partnerand service provider of choice forAfrican-Americans, and theNAACP is a key partner in helpingus stay true to that promise.provide a wealth of growth opportunitiesfor a wide range of employees, intentionallymaking sure that diverse employees shareequally in the benefits. Examples are leadershiptraining, internal sourcing to allowbroader business perspective, internationalpostings, enlightened HR policies, mentoringprograms, and open and transparentsuccession planning. The results are seen inproducts that appeal to broader and nichemarkets, better retention rates, improvedbusiness experiences in different cultures,and diverse representation in the ranks ofupper management, the C-suite and theboardroom. These companies are positionedfor the future and already experiencingbottom line increases.Supplier DiversityNAACP programs have always supportedthe development of minority-owned businesses.Today, major corporations are selectingfrom a more diverse pool of vendors forproducts and services, resulting in significantbusiness opportunities for minority-ownedbusinesses. As proof, the elite Billion DollarRoundtable organization now has 14member companies, each of which annuallyspends at least $1 billion on products andservices from minority-owned enterprises.Its members are among the most respectedcompanies in the world, and all are reapingthe rewards of customer loyalty.Best practices for achieving the benefits ofthese new partnerships include spreadingsupplier-diversity champions throughouttheir organizations, mentoring and othersupport for the sourcing organization,establishing annual objectives and reviewingperformance against those objectives.EntrepreneurshipNAACP programs have long fostered theestablishment and growth of entrepreneurship.For example, the Reginald Lewis YouthEntrepreneurial Institute, in partnershipwith nine black colleges, has graduated2,300 high school students from its financialliteracy curriculum.The Financial Empowerment Initiative,which includes workshops on managingcredit, achieving home ownership, businessdevelopment and personal investing, isconducted regularly by NAACP branchesacross the nation.Gwendolyn Smith Iloani, founder andchair of Smith Whiley & Co., a private equityinvestment firm, and a board member ofthe NAACP Special Contributions Fundand The Crisis magazine, began attending“Without sincere outreach efforts and adoption ofbest practices that cut across racial lines in thenew global environment, corporations will neverbe as profitable as they may hope.”— Dennis C. Hayes, Interim President andChief Executive Officer, NAACPwww.att.com1944 An NAACP branch inDetroit marches in a paradefor victory over “Jim Crow.”1963 March on Washingtonto protest erosion of economicopportunities for black workers
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