CNBC quotes Laura Morgan Roberts on how to lead an anti-racist workplace
July 10, 2020
Center for Positive Organizations (CPO) faculty affiliate Laura Morgan Roberts is quoted in the CNBC article “Companies are speaking out against racism, but here’s what it really looks like to lead an anti-racist organization.”
The article explores what anti-racism looks like in a workplace and strategies leaders and employees can use to achieve it. These methods include acknowledging racism within the organization and examining whether five key areas are operating in an anti-racist manner: recruiting and hiring; benefits and work conditions; assessments and promotions; meetings and social connection; and learning and growth.
“To be anti-racist is to acknowledge the permanence of racism through organizations, industries and communities, and to recognize that racism is a system of disproportionate opportunity and penalties based on skin color,” Roberts says. “This isn’t always obvious. It can manifest in policies, procedures, unspoken norms and routines that push people into different paths of opportunity, where some individuals have greater access and others have less, due to race.”
Roberts is a Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia. Her book, Race, Work and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience, was published by the Harvard Business Review Press.