Abstract: African Americans account for 12.4% of the U.S. population (Census 2022). Companies have successfully hired African-American (AA) employees for frontline and entry-level jobs, but numbers drop-off significantly in management-level positions. At the managerial level, the African American share of the workforce declines to seven percent. Across the senior manager, vice president, and senior vice president levels, African Americans hold a mere four to five percent of positions (Hancock et al., 2021). Only six AA CEOs lead Fortune 500 companies (McGlauflin, 2022). Research tends to aggregate data from AA men and women, obscuring these populations' unique experiences and sociocultural views. Research also looks at AA men using a cultural deficit model, emphasizing a social position of need instead of highlighting the value they bring to an organization. Other research aggregates data from AA men with that of white men; however, the two groups do not have the same privileges. This glaring lack of group-specific research exploring the experiences of Black men in corporate America underscores a dire need for studies exploring this population. The experiences, attributes, and viewpoints of AA men may be beneficial to establishing pathways and plausible entry points for AA men in corporate America. Human resource development strives for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in every facet of organizations. For decades, well-crafted statements circulate through groups and organizations through scholarly writing along with formal and informal critiques as if these statements had some recognizable impact. However, evidence suggests that these communications fail to affect DEI in practice (Ballard et al., 2020). The lack of change to DEI practices demonstrates ignorance of the documented strengths of minority populations, as research demonstrates that ethnic minorities adopt a nurturing, inclusive, dynamic, engaging, and inspiring leadership style, also known as "transformational leadership" (Ardichvili, et al., 2009). Corporations may benefit from greater utilization of AA men in leadership roles, as their leadership styles may affect current workplace issues including employee satisfaction and retention. Similarly, society may benefit from greater utilization of AA men in corporate roles rather than relegating this population to the confines of generational cycles of poverty, crime, and stigma. The implications of advancing AA men through corporate leadership could have several desirable outcomes for organizations and society such as increased employee performance, interrupted cycles of poverty and crime, and decreased stigmatization of AA men. First, transformational leadership qualities of ethnic minorities could impact employee performance. Cultural background heavily influences leadership style (van Emmerik, et al., 2008), and minority populations such as AA men may bring leadership qualities that address current marketplace needs via transformational leadership. Transformational leaders positively impact followers' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and proactive behavior through the goal attributes of importance and attainability (Steinmann et al., 2018). Second, the presence of male role models in corporate positions can enhance identity and promote resilience in adolescents (Gale, 2007), which may impact social issues such as crime rates, drug abuse, and incarceration. Black men raised in poverty are more likely to be stuck in poverty than any other group (Chetty et al., 2019). According to data on the base salaries of 186 executives in corporate positions at public, private, and non-profit organizations worldwide, the average base salary was $278,800. The most significant percentage of global corporate executives earn annual bonuses of more than $50K (BlueSteps, n.d.). Empowering AA men with a corporate pathway may create a route out of poverty and into productivity. Finally, biases are deeply embedded in U.S. culture and often influence systemic racism that works against AA males in the workplace (Whitaker, 2019). As AA men fill more corporate positions, perceptions and biases may change as a result of positive visibility as opposed to negative publicity. This representation of successful AA men may even affect social issues such as disparities in arrests and sentencing through the pathway of changing implicit biases against Black men. This study aims to explore the attributes of AA men in current and former executive leadership positions. Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study will explore the experiences of Black men in current and former executive positions, identify positive attributes of AA men that may benefit organizations, and examine how political, social, and cultural experiences have equipped AA men for leadership roles. Conclusions from the study may inform future research on effective pathways toward corporate leadership for Black men.
