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guy made it through every test they
gave him and became one of the top
three officers in the company.”
Have One Set of
Standards for Everyone
Latham also points out that too often CEOs place top senior Black, Latino and Asian executives lower in
the organization than they should.
The reason given is that they need
the opportunity to fail in a smaller
arena. One CEO told Latham of
a top Black executive who was
brought in at the controller level
but should have been a COO.
When Latham asked why the
Black executive was brought in at
a lower level, the CEO explained
that if the candidate failed at a
higher level, senior white officials
would use that as an excuse to not
hire more Black, Asian and Latino
executives at senior levels.
“They’re holding the minority
candidate to a higher standard
than the white candidate,” says
Latham. “I asked, ‘When a white
male fails, do you stop hiring white
males?’ Of course, he said no. Most
talented people are looking for an
opportunity and to be treated fairly
and rewarded fairly and equitably
if they succeed.”
Overall, Latham is optimistic
about senior-level diversity efforts
and diversity recruiting in the
senior ranks is gaining popularity
among the leaders of Fortune
500 companies.
“Many good-natured, brilliant
CEOs, when dealing with diversity, just need advice and counsel
of someone who does not have a
vested interest in the outcome,
like their direct reports, but has
an interest in helping the CEO
appropriately and lawfully achieve
their legitimate diversity goals and
objectives,” he says.
