Critics in the black community claim that successful black leaders fail to help their own communities suceed. The charge on an NBC program today? Accomplished Blacks tend to help themselves ... rather than support still struggling Black peers. Do you agree?
Such claims may be as unrealistic as lumping all people together into any category … in ways that good people fall behind. Certainly greed may snare a few
Black professionals ... just as it traps any others who develop their talents and move forward.
It’s also true that there could be better organizations ... and that we can support talented leaders who focus on issues in the American Black community. Check out a few Black self help programs that currently exist. But should all Black professionals turn backs on their calls ... to focus attention and energy on Black issues only?
I say it’s time we help to create brilliant organizations that genuinely learn from and promote unique talents from every human background. How so?
When I enrolled in UBC's PhD program … my closest friend and confidant in the graduate program … who happened to be Black … told me that every time she gets into a conversation with other professionals … issues of race and discrimination dominate. She was a brilliant musician … and called to international influence through her music and studies of international cadence ... as it impacts cultural understanding.
Dr. Akosua Addo ... one of the smartest and coolest people I know … taught me a great deal … through her unique call. She longed to engage others on what she did best … not on race issues alone … as Martin Luther King was called to do and taught his world so well. She wanted to talk about ... laugh about ... and create music with others of any culture - her own included. My point?
One person’s call may not be another’s command … but highly developed talents can support other humans ... as we each model leadership and inclusion and talent growth. Let's support more diverse human development!
In caring for all people … and in developing her amazing acumen … Akosua became a better advocate for Black colleagues than if she’d ignored her own musical call to solve problems of race. It’s easier to stereotype people who work hard, sacrifice, or set high goals for their lives … than to debunk dangerous myths that hold people back. There are obstacles we can all help to overcome. How so?
One snag has sleeping universities exclude talented people from the Black community … partly because they draw from too narrow a student population … and partly because they fail to develop multiple intelligences that ALL learners bring to class. Another problem comes from workplaces that fail to focus more on brains than on color. Have you seen it?
Black friends such as Jim Walton … a business leader far smarter than me … likely have better solutions. But that’s my two-bits … from a brain based perspective. Similarly … White friends such as Dr. Robyn McMaster … here at the MITA International Brain Based Center add equal passion for all people's talent mix. It fun read Jim's thought provoking articles ... and to work in a setting where Robyn daily recognizes and supports people's extravagant potential at work.
Akosua's rich Ghanaian family ... or her highly successful doctor father ... could have taught circles around my carpenter father ... or poor Nova Scotia family. But we learned together how intelligence and success is also about far more than mere monitary riches ... and I'm glad we did.
How would you rate your workplace intelligence?
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Wow, it takes courage to take this issue on! I applauld your courage. I will pass this post on to my friends from the afro spear community.I was a poor upstae New York child that understood early to never ask for anything and do your best. I have always taken great delight in helping other blacks get positions to earn their keep.I came close to chosing the wrong path but elightment came to me from having examples of sucessful blacks that were doing things right.Often times successful blacks have a lower net worth, bigger bills and can be called on to bail out other family members. I love the black community, and those that put themselves in a positon through education will find many black professionals willing to help. There are some with out hope and lack the self esteem to fight for more out of life.My strategy is to be a role model for those that will say, if JD can make it, I can too. Ellen you may have opened a hornet's nest here but hopefully will have a lively debate. I am old school, I like to blame Mr Charley for all things bad, in most cases I am right by that. But the bottom line, we have to provide for ourselves. Where there is the most despair, we need government help to help people become employable. I know that will make republicans gag but to invest in the natural resourse of our youth is smarter than shock and awe has proven to be.
It is an unfair burden to expect successful blacks to be responsible for the the despair of the black community. We are a community of that are the relativites of former salves. Our fore fathers built this country and made many whites rich. This money has pass on to generations and contribute to the wealth difference between blacks and white. Proverty is not a black issue or a white issue it is an American opportunity to make right. How can the world's greatest country allow such disparity? That is the question, not if successful black America provides enough help. Let's leave Iraq and invest money in our inner cities.
Posted by: JD | April 7, 2008 9:35 AM | Permalink to Comment