Study: C-Suite Exclusion of Black Women Due to Inadequate Visibility, Networks

As more companies are downsizing and reducing budgets, now more than ever, companies must understand how invaluable diversity is to its bottom-line, especially the influence black women executives bring to the corporate sector, according to a recent study.

Despite the fact that black women are graduating from college, graduate school, and joining corporate companies at high rates, many are having difficulty moving into senior positions. According to “Black Women Executives Research Initiatives,” a new report from the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) and the Executive Leadership Foundation, “because both their race and gender are beyond the norm in corporate America, black women like other women of color, face the burden of being ‘double outsiders.’ ”

Black women hold just 1% of corporate officer positions at Fortune 500 companies, according to a 2005 Catalyst report cited in the study.

“Companies can’t afford to overlook black women executives,” said Ancella Livers, executive director of the Executive Leadership Council’s Institute for Leadership Development & Research, at a private reception in New York City unveiling the ELC’s report.

The study explains that black women’s inclusion at senior levels can “help heighten the chance for broader and more innovative approaches throughout the organization” because they “champion new viewpoints to companies mired in status quo thinking.”

The report, sponsored by the Moody’s Foundation and J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation and conducted by Springboard, represents a year-long study on the success factors and impediments for black women executives reaching the C-Suite, including relationships, mentors and sponsors, work-life balance, risk-taking, and cross-cultural competence. Seventy-six black women, 18 CEOs, and 38 peers were interviewed.

Some of the key findings include:

Relationships with senior executives need more work. Black women executives suffer the lack of comfortable, trusted, and strategic relationships at the senior level with those who are most different from themselves, most notably white males.

Feedback is alive, but not well. Networks for black women executives do not provide enough strategic feedback about how they are doing and how best to advance.

Experiences that lead to the C-Suite are not visible enough. CEOs are often unaware of the breadth of skills and experience of black female executives. At the same time, the bar is higher for all C-Suite candidates.

Work-life balance means getting your house in order. Being proactive about managing the integration of work and life increases the ability of black female executives to compete at the highest levels.

A new leadership model emerges.

The interview data clearly defined a new leadership framework for black female executives based on critical success factors for rising to senior levels in their organizations. The framework provides the foundation for a leadership assessment that black women at all levels can use.

CEOs interviewed for the study believe many black women executives “just say no” to leaving Profit & Loss (P&L) roles too early, seek big operating roles, and spend

too little time developing strategic relationships. CEOs say black women executives need to be more visible and increase risk-taking. A CEO interviewed said, “White men don’t have a frame of reference. Most of them don’t know any black women in this setting. Black women need to be aware of this and work on it. The burden is on black women to figure it out.”

Livers and her team hope this report starts a dialogue across corporate America, resulting in actionable steps. The ELC plans to reach out to CEOs and business schools to develop formalized coaching programs for black women executives in route to the C-Suite.

To attain C-Suite status, one participant put it best: “When you’re in the C-Suite, everyone who’s at the table wears the company hat, not just a functional hat. You’re really up at a high enough level where you’re representing and should be able to speak to all aspects of the company. They see you as someone who can embrace change and who knows how to look through the windshield and help lead.”

Further reading: More Minorities in C-Suite is Good for Business