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LEADING WITH PURPOSE: THE LEADER OF LEADERS ON CHANGING THE
RACE NARRATIVE
Author(s) -
Spriggs Skip
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
leader to leader
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1531-5355
pISSN - 1087-8149
DOI - 10.1002/ltl.20502
Subject(s) - chief executive officer , leverage (statistics) , public relations , corporate title , officer , business , inclusion (mineral) , power (physics) , narrative , management , political science , corporate governance , sociology , economics , finance , gender studies , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , computer science , law
The article discusses the author’s experience as chief executive officer (CEO) of The Executive Leadership Council (The ELC), with 1,000 members, powerful black corporate executives and top‐tier entrepreneurs, all either current or former CEOs or executives within one or two reports of their CEOs at Fortune 1,000 companies. It notes that The ELC has a responsibility to leverage its collective power and influence in business to the story of being black in America. The purpose of the organization is described as to increase the number of blacks on the top 500 corporations’ boards and CEO offices, while keeping the pipeline behind them full of the next generation of leaders; and to open channels of opportunity for the development of black executives and black entrepreneurs to make positive impacts on business and our communities overall. Also discussed are unique, black‐focused leadership development programs, stretching from the classroom to the boardroom, that draw almost 2,000 aspiring business leaders every year, such as awarding more than $500,000 annually in student scholarships; and consulting directly with corporate CEOs, their executive committees, business schools, politicians, and policy makers at the federal, state, and local levels about how to achieve meaningful inclusion.