PERFORMATIVE ALLYSHIP LOOKS GOOD BUT GENUINE TRUST TAKES TIME
Performative Allyship Looks Good but Genuine Trust Takes Time by Ron Pegram Over the last four years, I’ve researched minority entrepreneurship and how a minority entrepreneurs’ lack of trust for banking systems impacts their willingness to borrow. As you might imagine, many minority entrepreneurs self-select out of the banking system, even when they need funding, if they don’t believe that banking systems are fair and trustworthy. After concluding my dissertation, I began to ponder the effects a similar lack of trust for corporate initiatives and policies might have for so many brilliant Black employees, who are locked out of the top echelons of the companies they helped to build. The result is this article, which reviews the benefits of trust, how trust is established, and ends with a call to action for corporate America to move beyond performative measures and begin real partnership with Black America. RON PEGRAM – is currently a Vice-President and General Manager for Federal Signal, Inc., and is an adjunct lecturer of management at several universities.
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UNDOUBTEDLY SPURRED BY THE SOCIAL UNREST during the summer of 2020, many well-known and large corporations took to social media to declare their support for Black Lives Matter, diversity, and equality. The collective message seemed to be, “We get it; it’s time for a change; you can trust us.” This is lovely sentiment, but, as we all know, true change takes time, and it is much harder to implement change than it is to craft messages. Unsurprisingly, many of my colleagues and friends maintain a healthy amount of skepticism in the face of so many companies pledging support. It all looks good but where do we go from here?
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