Racial Economics: How White Privilege has led to White Disadvantage, unpacks racism through the lens of behavioral science. It also provides prescriptive action items to improve relationships between different cultures and ethnicities thereby leading to better deal flow, improved bottom-line results, as well as economic and human flourishing for not only contributors of Color but all people.

This week, Peter speaks with Dr. Paul Campbell, Co-founder of Brown Venture Group, and Danielle Steer, Managing Director of Lunar Startups. In 2018, Forbes reported that less than 1% of American venture capital-backed founders are black. Black women receive an even smaller percentage of that figure, all the while they are starting businesses at a higher rate than any other group.

You may ask how it could be possible that in 2020 we would witness the devaluing of Black lives such as Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd? This dehumanization persists because leaders keep responding to the symptoms of inequality rather than addressing the underlying causal factors. Although the symptoms are many, the root causes can be distilled down to a much shorter list. In this article, I will address and unpack the implications of artificially created poverty, racial friendship gaps, and our historical amnesia. Let us begin with a look at economics as it pertains to the dehumanization of People of Color.

“We are an Inclusive Workplace and will hire the most qualified candidate period.” Sound familiar? By its very nature, this statement is a contradiction in and of itself. You can’t hire the most qualified candidate without he or she first having the opportunity to acquire the right balance of experience, education and social network.

There are three barriers to communication that are guaranteed to have an adverse effect on any well-established organization. They are: 1. Positional Isolation; 2. Organizational Silos; 3. Institutional Irrational Exuberance. Whether you work in government, business or for a non-profit, these obstacles are sure to have a negative impact on your productivity and results. Let us consider each one in turn.

The Exoduster Movement 

The Exoduster Movement, beginning in 1877, was the first grass-roots movement out of the South, during which, between 40,000 and 70,000 former slaves departed the South, primarily for Kansas. Benjamin Singleton was the official leader of the Exoduster Movement.

In this article we will learn how tech entrepreneurship can reduce the effects of racial bias. We will also unpack three specific paradigm shifts which will need to take place in order to fully leverage tech entrepreneurship as a tool for social change. Finally, we will learn how disadvantage can become our competitive advantage through the creation of Black Tech Startups. Let us first begin with a quick look at a study on the economics of prejudice.

Have you ever wondered what made people like Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk so innovative? Why they seemed to have been able to keep coming up with game-changing technologies over and over again? As an Innovation Anthropologist, I have rigorously studied many of the innovative historical breakthroughs which have had the most significant impact on society.

Dr. Frank Greene Jr. stood amongst technology giants such as William Hewlett and David Packard in Silicon Valley’s Engineering Hall of Fame. A true pioneering technologist regardless of the color of his skin, he developed and held the patent for the integrated circuit, which made Fairchild a semiconductor leader in the late 1960s. Although he went on to start a venture firm NewVista Capital as well as two software companies, Technology Development Corp. and ZeroOne Systems Inc.; some of his greatest contributions to the black community was birthed out of his own personal fight for equality.

You can probably recite a quote of theirs. They may have even provided you with the inspiration to dream bigger than you would have had you not read their biography. Who are these rare people? They are business titans of course. But how did they become one? These extraordinary individuals seem to possess superhuman qualities that appear to show up only once in a generation. When you take a closer look however, what you will find is that these “Titans” accomplished extraordinary feats by being excellent at ordinary things.

“Paul shoot for the heavens and you will at least land on the stars”. “Dare to dream the impossible and then write your vision and make it plain”. These words of wisdom were spoken to me by the late Bishop John Gimenez, a visionary multiplier of leaders of leaders and one of my first mentors.

In the summer of 2006 my passion for developing leaders of leaders brought me to the city of Jos, a town in northern Nigeria. Our team had arrived in West Africa after a long 36 hour flight. As our host began to show us around town, I noticed several buildings riddled with bullet holes and partially destroyed by what looked like explosives. As we transitioned to the residential side of town, I saw what looked more like clusters of small fortified cities with walls topped with broken glass and barbed wired fences. Deeply disturbed I asked our host to explain what I had observed on the way in. His response would forever change the way I would view my role as a business leader.

Do you remember when the fax machine was a revolutionary technology? Or when the type writer went electric? What about your first time using the internet? All of these technological advancements had one thing in common. They improved the speed and means of communication in business. As leaders in our organizations it is important to remember, although we live in a rapidly accelerating Digital Workplace, fundamentally many of these technical advances find their origins in basic human function such as lifting, communicating or walking.

In this article you will learn how to identify and capture creative ideas from the field and turn them into reality. You will also learn how to save both time and money through the application of systems thinking and disciplined selection. Let us begin by unpacking the process of Structured Innovation.

How do you drive innovation in a large organization? For those of us who are entrepreneurs trapped in a corporate body, this is a challenge. I have heard many of my colleagues both current and former say to me “Paul, why should I innovate if my company does not take any of my ideas seriously?

Since the beginning of mankind’s existence we have been accidental innovators. In our early years most of our innovation was birthed out of a need to survive. Then as we incrementally achieved technological advances, we gradually moved along Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Innovation became mankind’s platform to produce wealth and industry. Today, when we think of innovation, we think of it as a special skill that only a choice few people possess such as the late Steve Jobs.