[Music] Navigating corporate america can be a Challenge for black americans for many Workers the issues go beyond the daily Grind of earning a paycheck it also Entails microaggressions that could Hamper upward mobility for more on this I want to bring in chad sanders he is The author of black magic what black Leaders learned from trauma and triumph The book addresses this corporate Conundrum by sharing concepts and Lessons of black business leaders Excelling in an uneven playing field Chad welcome great to have you with us Congratulations on your book so let's Talk a little bit about this concept of Black magic i know it's a big one uh and To ask you to sort of encapsulate it in A few seconds is not really fair but if You had to what would you say I would say that corporate environments Are not mentally emotionally and Sometimes physically safe for black People and those who are able to Withstand that onslaught have super Powers to call them by another name they Have abilities To withstand a lot to navigate to Strategize to execute that they can use In anything that they choose to And so you were sort of analyzing these Super powers right so to break it down For others and help them figure out uh
How to gain some of those super powers Themselves but do you feel that um That's sort of an unfair ask that you Shouldn't need super powers you know to Get ahead in corporate america It's incredibly unfair It's it's just the way that it is and The book is not to in any way uh step Away from that unfairness or step away From what's Not healthy about corporate environments It's really to shine a light on Everything that we have to do every day Every skill that that we acquire and That we strengthen by doing so so that We can have ownership over those skills And use them for our own devices for me Personally i left google which is where I felt under the weight of that type of Environment and i started a media Company and that's what brought me here Today so you know your book discusses The racial leadership gap among fortune 500 companies of which 90 are led by White individuals and you focus on the Leaders right you focus on the owners You focus on the people at the top Because you say That's where it all trickles down from Right you can have all kinds of hr Meetings and and diversity zooms and Whatever but unless the people at the Top are focused on it it's not really Going to make a difference is that right
That's 100 right you can try to boil it Down to Uh diversity and equity conferences buzz Words quotas you know at the end of the Day i think the two questions that Leaders of these companies have to ask Themselves and be honest With themselves about are do you like Black people do you think they're smart And then the question that comes after That is do you want to work with them And if we can get people to start Answering yes to all three of those Questions then i think we'll get Somewhere you know i was thinking about Your point here and how it applies right Now to the nfl because They're going through something similar Right i mean it's the owners that are Doing the hiring in a lot of cases and It's a small group of guys right so your Point kind of applies there as well Yeah it's a boys club of the incredibly Wealthy it's a group of men who think They answer to no one and In the history of the nfl and in the History of this country i think it's Been demonstrated to them that they're Right and i Am so proud so inspired and so sort of Emotionally connected to brian flores For the risk that he's taking Which is potentially his livelihood and It's almost definitely in the media his
Job to shine a light on the way that People are being bullied the way that People are not being given a shot and The way that people are being completely Discredited as black african-american Coaches yeah and again to your point it All comes from the top right okay so You also grew up with a belief that Success comes with hard work and Dedication uh you know but you say that That's often not enough because there's A culture right there's a culture uh That can outweigh these attributes what Challenges are black people facing in Corporate environments Well first i'd say success for black Folks comes with hard work and Dedication and a hundred million Different blessings and luck and skills Uh some people are handed success some People are are grandfathered into it and Uh that's not really who i'm speaking to In this book you know i would say The ways that the corporate culture does Not Necessarily foster our success is that There is just this emotional weight of Having to deal with racism every day at Work that we face that we don't get paid For it's a job on top of another job so By the time we get through all the Emotional damage all the psychological Damage every day and try to do the thing That we do get paid for a lot of times
We don't have a lot of energy left for That And chad you Know of which of what you speak because You've spent a lot of time in tech Companies and corporate america right And and you say At one point you finally stopped trying To put on a little bit of the act right And just being yourself and success came With that I tried to and i still try to every day You know there's some there's some Baggage from Trying to get white people at work to Listen to you to pay attention to you to Feel you uh that i still haven't Released and you know the crazy thing is I left corporate america because i Wanted to be an artist and when my art Got good and when people started being Willing to pay for it um you know i'm Back having to navigate sort of that White corporate world again with studios And Podcast distributors and music studios And and all over the place and i'm now Grappling with trying to hold on to Everything i learned when i got my voice Back uh and trying to make it through This system again without losing it Again so you have you know you have Great advice in your book for for other You know black people who are going
Through what you went through trying to Navigate the corporate world or whatever World that they're in in which they're Trying to get ahead right um but if you Had to give corporations some advice on How to change you know internal culture Without giving the perception that they Are favoring one group over another uh Or that it's sacrificing skilled Candidates to meet diversity demands What advice would you give Corporations Invest in black talent Invest in it Financially invest in it with leadership Opportunities invested it with time and Energy and vocal share in meetings I would say If if your mission is to create a fair Playing field there have to be dollars Behind it because we're talking about Corporations not not uh fraternities or Sports clubs these are capitalist Organizations We need money we need budgets we need Green light access in hollywood we need Uh push the button access and technology We need resources And i would say I would really love a departure from the Term microaggressions altogether They're not microaggressions they're Macro aggressions they're micro to you Because you don't have to deal with the
Reaction they're macro to us because we Take it home we take it to our family we Take it to bed And these things hurt us right and you Said that you weren't surprised when you Heard that a lot of uh black workers Didn't want to go back to they preferred Being on zoom even because they felt Like they could be at home working Remotely and and be themselves right Uh a hundred percent and uh black women Especially have over indexed on that Point of view right um People are leaving their jobs in droves They they now are having this sort of Jarring reacclimation to office cultures Corporate cultures and they can't stand It after being away for a couple years In this pandemic i think 40 million Americans left their jobs last year Over 12 million Or 12 million in the last three months Alone and The the mass exodus is upon us and i'm Speaking to that a lot in in what i'm Working on right now well chad sanders Thank you so much for joining us the Book is black magic we appreciate your Time Thank you
