Christopher Johnson is president of Global Financial Services at Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney Bowes. Views are the author’s own.
The surprised look on my counterpart’s face as I lean forward and introduce myself as Christopher. The double take when they thought the white man standing next to me was the Christopher they’ve been emailing. The uncomfortable reshuffling as the assumptions of my seniority are being recalculated when we sit down to begin the meeting.
This scenario has played out time and time again. However it’s not completely surprising as Black employees account for only 13% of all finance staff. Further, with only 8% of C-suite executives in America being Black, why would I expect to see anything other than shock when I introduce myself as “President.”
A clear underrepresentation of all minorities persists across the financial services sector despite the recent push in many corporations via newly established diversity equity and inclusion programs to address the inequities.
Christopher Johnson
Courtesy of Pitney Bowes
This hits home twofold for me: as a Black man who was fortunate enough to rise to the senior finance ranks at the global shipping and mailing company Pitney Bowes (and previously at other firms including GE Capital) and as a father of two kids who want to know if they too will find opportunities for themselves in the sector. Right now, I can’t say they definitively would.
I was fortunate. Sure, there were obvious hurdles being a Black man in finance, but one element that served me well was the objective, outcome-based side of the business. Numbers were my strong suit, so my performance opened doors, giving me exposure to senior executives who became influential mentors.
Glass ceiling
Growing up, my grandmother would tell me to shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. This stuck with me throughout my career.
Though objective results got me noticed, I quickly found myself staring at the “glass ceiling.” It became apparent I was being passed over for jobs in the U.S., not because I lacked qualifications, but due to race. So I went abroad and worked even harder to show people that, despite being knocked down, I was willing to get back up and fight even harder.
My mentors invested in me — they invested time, energy, dollars, and, arguably most importantly, they opened up their networks and provided a connectivity not often experienced by minorities in financial services. If my mentors didn’t invest in me, I would not be holding the title of “President.” Full stop.
A question I find myself asking constantly is: how do we get more minorities into financial services? Here are some actions that could help change the tide:
1) Begin by increasing participation rates
We can list a few easy ways like blind interviews, implementing a diversity quota, or even recruiting directly from historically Black colleges and universities, however, there are Black populations in the U.S. that don’t make it to higher education, immediately shutting the door on any chance of working in the financial services sector. Therefore, we first need to address some of the systemic issues oppressing the Black community.
2) Find better (fairer) ways to measure good credit
The majority of Black people in America live in cities, which means they are not likely to own a home or a car —the two major ways to build up one’s personal credit. Without this built-up personal credit, Black Americans find themselves without access to capital needed for loans and are immediately disadvantaged by a system that’s not created equitably. We, as financial leaders, need to rethink what characteristics make up “good credit” and assess loan requests with a more macro view that looks beyond a credit score on a sheet of paper.
3) Focus on skills, not pedigree
In addition to the reevaluation of credit assessment, we can also look at how we hire and evaluate people professionally. In recent years, I’m pleased to see a stronger shift to skill-based hiring and promotion. We talk internally about core competencies and certifications over past job experience. All institutions need to begin hiring based on skills and less on which top Wall Street internship is listed on a resume.
4) Take time to foster the next generation of Black leaders
Lastly, we all have a role to play and a responsibility to invest our time to support the next generation of Black leaders. I want to see us double the current 8% of Black C-suite executives in the next five years, and we can do this by getting comfortable hiring people who may not look like us. Through mentorship, sponsorship and ally-ship we can encourage participation and give a voice to the underrepresented minorities that otherwise would not have had a seat at the table.
I don’t have all the answers, but I do believe one of the first steps toward creating a more inclusive and diverse finance industry is to open a dialogue with leaders, peers, family and friends to plant the seed of unease with our current system that automatically disadvantages and disqualifies many from participation. We need people to get uncomfortable, because from there, change is born.
