Publisher's Message: Diversity Employers Finding the New Beat

Published on Wednesday, 25 May 2011 21:02

By Preston Edwards, Jr.

Forty years ago THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine was started to help Black collegians prepare to enter the workforce – to help them navigate an alien land where the norms and rules were vastly different from what many of them were accustomed to. That workforce was made up predominantly of white men, starting with entry-level positions and extending all the way to top levels. The higher up one moved the more defined the norms and rules became, and of course the more white men one saw. If a non-white man was fortunate enough to move up those ranks, then that person needed to at least play by a very defined rulebook and dance the dance of white men.

Okay, let’s fast forward to today. Even today, if a person journeys up the corporate ranks, he or she will still find predominantly white men with a defined rulebook. However, he or she will find that increasing numbers of employers are making progress in the area of workforce diversity – at all levels. Needless to say one will see more women, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, indigenous peoples, gays and lesbians, Muslims, people with disabilities, older workers, veterans, among others...

These workplaces – progressive and competitive – include people who are different: those who think differently, who bring new ideas and perspectives to the group. Such people may start out as outsiders. Do they rule? Not hardly, but they do have a special role in the new consciences and daily conversations on decisions that are changing American businesses and America itself. Make no mistake, though: These outsiders are getting their employers dancing to a different beat.

This new beat is even changing how we dance. THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine is now DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS. This change is now a part of our conversations, our relationships, our daily decisions. We’re building a new audience, a new community, and finding new ways to connect. We’re finding new ways of working with employers that are becoming more diverse and that are dancing to a different beat.

With this issue, my father hands off the baton, after 40 years as the publisher of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine, to me as the new publisher of DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS. Wish me well as our company grows and captures the essence of this new beat in DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS.

-- Preston Edwards, Jr.

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