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The Color of the Team
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Yvonne Viva LaRose
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Apr 05, 2009 16:51 PDT
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I watched the sports shows today, which is a bit unusual for me. I'll
usually sit through the game, only, and then move on to other programs.
Watching the pre-show, the news coverage before that, interviews of
coaches and experts, listening to the roster for Hall of Fame
candidates, and an exchange between Bill Russell and another Famer
candidate, there were some subtle things that began to surface. The
color of sports today has a lot of varying hues of black.
Each spokesperson held himself out with a lot of professionalism in all
ways. Their analyses were well thought out, articulate, and sounded
pretty sound. There was no slang in their vocabularies. It made me want
to listen to more of their expertise and wonder how they would handle
themselves at a cocktail party.
The next thing I wondered was how I would feel if I met these people at
a Black Chamber of Commerce meeting or if I discovered I was
interviewing at a Black-owned business. I started asking myself if I
would be excited to work for such a company and whether the other
members of the company conducted theirselves with equal decorum and
care, as well as how the product/service is viewed by consumers.
Let's turn the table on the observations and speculations. Let's say the
business is not located in a ghetto nor in a predominately ethnic
community so you have no clues about the racial make up of the company.
How would you feel about the business if you learned the CEO is a man
(or woman) of color? Would it then be important to you that the rest of
the company be as color diverse as possible or do you have a preference
for working in a more homogenous setting? Would you walk away from the
situation out of fear the company would not last long?
Please do not feel intimidated about addressing these issues. For
recruiters, these are the things that will come up in the minds of their
candidates and it is best that they hear from other voices in order to
get a realistic sense of the attitude that's out there. Maybe we've
already arrived at diversity nirvana and we don't need to be so
motivated and agitated about preaching diversity gospel.
Viva
Yvonne LaRose, CAC
er_ent-@yahoo.com
CERA - http://www.executiventrances.com
Executive Recruiting Entrances - http://www.entrance-s.com
The Desk - http://thedesk.wordpress.com
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