Taking action through books…
I think that consumers are more savvy than ever before about their expectations from companies. In a Washington Post article yesterday, Karen Boykin-Towns, a senior counselor to the communications firm Sard Verbinnen & Co. who is also vice chairman of the NAACP national board of directors was quoted: “People don’t want to hear words — they want to see action.” After tracking CEO responses to societal challenges for years, this was one of the primary take-aways that stuck with me. Increasingly, more CEOs have spoken out and expectations are high that they do and I applaud that. But taking action is also a critical component today of securing credibility, building trust and reputation and advancing a cause or inequity.
According to a recent report, the organizations receiving the most corporate donations as a result of the George Floyd killing and other racial inequities are the NAACP and the Equal Justice Initiative.
This got me thinking about Boykin-Towns statement that hearing words are not enough. Perhaps reading words is a start to taking some action, albeit small. Are any companies or CEOs or leadership teams placing orders to buy all its employees, board members or senior members a company of some of the best-sellers that deal with anti-racisim that have emerged. Years ago, I recall a CEO doing just that on a pressing societal challenge. I remember thinking that a leader who gets everyone to read a particular book or two and convenes people to talk about it would be one step forward, even a small step. I understand that reading a book or buying a book is certainly not enough but it is taking an action. If anyone is interested, here is the list of the top 10 books (plus one) from the New York Times print and ebook combined list dated June 21, 2020 (and which I read about in the Axios newsletter):
"White Fragility," by Robin DiAngelo.
"So You Want to Talk About Race," by Ijeoma Oluo.
"How to Be an Antiracist," by Ibram X. Kendi.
"Me and White Supremacy," by Layla F. Saad.
"The New Jim Crow," by Michelle Alexander.
"The Color of Law," by Richard Rothstein.
"Between the World and Me," by Ta-Nehisi Coates: "A meditation on race in America."
"Untamed," by Glennon Doyle: "The activist and public speaker describes her journey of listening to her inner voice."
"Stamped from the Beginning," by Ibram X. Kendi: "[A]nti-black racist ideas and their effect on the course of American history."
"Just Mercy," by Bryan Stevenson: "[D]ecades of work to free innocent people condemned to death."
And at No. 11: "Becoming," by Michelle Obama.