Breaking the Corporate Glass Ceilings

First Ann G of IL, to have your comments taken as serious and credible you first need to learn to write. Your tirade amounts to nothing more than a Salem witch-hunt.

Your contention that all white males in corporate positions are idiots is an absolute preposterous conclusion. You fail to realize that practically everything we have today is the result of white males in high positions, whether it be in organizations, inventions, government, health care, etc. To say they failed, is to say that every organization in America is broken, which it's not.

I will contend that the reason there are not more minority executives of corporations is that the proverbial "cream" has not risen to the top in terms of minorities. I will also contend that, as a whole, white males have thus far a proven track record in terms of their historic ability to not just tackle those challenges, but to succeed.

I also contend that private industry (sole proprietor/llc) can hire who they want to hire. Why? Because it is not our business. If their choice has reprecussions in terms of decreased sales, limited distribution, and supply channel issues, then it's their perogative and choice.

I will conceed that women and minorities ought to be given a chance to hold executive positions. However, the means to achieve that end are rather limited and elusive.

Who is going to make that moral choice? Some say government. However, understand government's role is not to legislate morality (despite what the uninformed my think).

We all hope hard work, talent, education, and sacrifice get's the best man/woman hired. But, who do you hire as leaders within an organization when two or more candidates carry equal/similar creditials and qualifications? The question is best defined when considering the demographic of those they will lead/manage. For example, it would be an unreasonable stress to an organization to expect a black woman to truely lead and inspire an organization comprized of mostly white men? She would have to be infinitely more and better credentialed then any white male applicant. Unless, of course, success is unimportant like say, government, for example. It's not unreasonable to assume that their are some black women in American who do possess that type of rare talent and ability. But to put a token black woman as a figure head is not fair to her or the organization.

However, I propose that if we want to see barriers broken for minorities, then minorities have to step-up and show that they are head and shoulders above everyone OR they build their own organizations. Citing the government as a model of racial preference/favoritism is a failed example because government is filled with passive aggressive employees who tacitly follow and where success is not a priority. Shall we commit an injustice with the view to curing an injustice?

david of ID 6:33PM November 23, 2009

I worked for thirty years for Corporate America and saw FIRST HAND that only white males need apply and the majority of the white, stupid,unorganized and undisciplined white males that were hired in the last fifty years, brought done the corporations in ruins. Most of the major corporations have gone kaputs due to the unethical, greedy, and mismanaged entities. Apparently, Yale, Harvard and Stanford U are teaching students to be unethical, thiefs, poor managers and instilling poor leadership skills since most of the CEOs leave much to be desired. I worked for a major telecommunications company with a hundred years of experience and it took only ten years to bring it to the brink of extinction. In my thirty years of experience working for corporations, only white males were in managerial and above positions. No white females went above supervisory positions, so forget about minorities. We now know what little talent some white males bring into a working entitiy so when will CEOs finally give women and minorities a real chance to show what they can do---especially since white males have proven what little talent, skills and experience they bring to the plate. America is tired of dealing with idiots, bring in some real talent, skills and people with leadership skills and credibility.

Ann G of IL 2:45PM November 23, 2009

The sooner people stop worrying about what racial group people who hold important positions belong to, the sooner these positions will diversify. This whole idea of forced diversity is completely counterproductive. Hire the best person for the job!

And to the previous poster complaining about HBCU hiring rates, since when are any other universities as competitive as the Ivy league? It's not like blacks aren't just as able to go to Ivy League schools (more easily in many cases). Why in the world are there still HBCUs to begin with?

Anthony of UT 1:19AM November 23, 2009