NAACP President Derrick Johnson on Inclusion Fueling Business Growth

As president and CEO of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson leads a century-long effort to fight for economic inclusion by building black political, social and economic power. This week, we spoke with him about working with the private sector, including the recently released report from the Congressional Black Caucus and why he says not pursuing inclusion “is not a growth strategy. It’s a containment strategy.” Below is our conversation, edited for clarity.

Rhett Buttle: Throughout its history, the NAACP has worked to give black Americans a fair chance in all aspects of life. Tell me about the long arc of the NAACP’s work.

President Johnson: The NAACP was founded in 1909 as a reaction to mob violence, where African Americans and others were lynched on average once a day in this country, but we also understood that we had to have a proactive mission in advocating and voicing our to improve the quality of life. A key factor in this democracy is to promote and support entrepreneurship and business growth so that African American communities have the means to build the kind of infrastructure, institutions, and community health necessary to fully engage in this society.

Rhett Buttle: In your work, you’ve talked about challenges with our economy and potential threats to our democracy – can you expand on that and what the business community should know?

President Johnson: I think the business community needs to understand and appreciate this because they already know that we are the most diverse society we’ve ever been and we need to maximize the brain power that individuals bring from multiple communities. It must be an approach that is both inclusive and based on equity and opportunity. Where would we be in this society if we didn’t allow the most capable and talented individuals across communities, across gender identities, and across racial backgrounds to be fully engaged? Our secret sauce as a leading democracy and one of the strongest economies in the world is not a monolithic society. It’s because we have so many diverse individuals who have the intellectual capacity to be creative and the means to contribute. Corporate America must take advantage of this to a much greater degree if we are to continue to realize our full potential.

Rhett Buttle: You’ve talked a lot about the effectiveness of community-centered leadership and energetic leadership. What do you mean by that and what would you say business leaders can learn from it?

President Johnson: Egocentric leadership in a social justice context places all responsibility on the personality, i.e. the charismatic speaker. What I’ve learned in the social justice setting, and frankly in many ways in the corporate setting, is that when you tap into all the gifts and talents that people bring to the table, it really allows you to strengthen and expand your own property. perspective and outcome. If there is an interest that everyone attracts and works towards, the result is much more sustainable, more effective and creates the greatest potential. It’s very similar in a corporate space. When you have employers and workers who are aligned, looking in the same direction, having respect for the product, and honing their craft in a way that is mutually beneficial for the individual workers and the corporate entity, everyone benefits. It’s not about one person. It is about the whole team.

Rhett Buttle: How does the NAACP work with the private sector and where do you see the role of the private sector in advancing NAACP priorities in the next few years?

President Johnson: Our goal is to work to ensure that the private sector can access the most qualified, creative and talented individuals or entities that our community could engage. So we are working hard to ensure that the corporate sector achieves this. We also help them recognize that there are so many untapped markets right here in the United States and that each community brings nuance to the table. There is no monolithic community that I am aware of. If Corporate America has the kind of decision makers that represent a broader perspective of the American experience—which includes the African American experience, which is not monolithic—it could increase its potential to access new markets and broaden its ability to be more profitable and successful company.

Rhett Buttle: In addition to working with larger companies, the NAACP also has programs for small businesses. If a small business owner wanted to seek the help and support of the NAACP, how should they go about it?

President Johnson: We accelerated our small business development during Covid-19, and as a result of the BeyGOOD Foundation asking if we could help them identify African-American-owned small businesses and target areas, we realized that if we announced this, we would have been inundated with requests. So we partnered with an AI technology company called Hello Alice to get feedback from the African-American business community across the country, so much so that the NAACP has one of the largest communities on the Hello Alice platform. As a result, we can share timely information about grants we’ve made available, loans from the Small Business Administration, and other information that many small businesses would not have access to. This partnership has expanded our reach to work with more than 100,000 African American-owned small businesses across the country to really deepen their ability to be an effective company and position themselves for growth.

Rhett Buttle: The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) just released its report measuring corporations on inclusion. What do you think of the report’s findings?

President Johnson: We absolutely support the CBC report. It is the right signal to send that it should be a requirement for corporations to ensure that every individual – regardless of race, ethnic origin, religious belief or gender – is considered for employment and contracting opportunities, because that is what make like , not only is this country the country we are in, but this is the best reality of business growth. Business diversity is necessary to ensure we continue to progress as a society within our system. We are the most diverse we have ever been in this country, and it would be a bad business decision not to exploit all the potential that has otherwise been left aside and unaccounted for. We need to accelerate diversity because it is through this diversity that we have the greatest potential to grow as a corporate community.

Rhett Buttle: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

President Johnson: The corporate community should not fall into the political trap of the current landscape. That trap is self-defeating. It is not in the interest of the shareholders. It is not a growth strategy. It’s a containment strategy. The consumer base is more diverse. The customer base is more informed and making small-minded temporary deals based on the political climate is the wrong direction for any company. Consumers have long memories and if you turn your back on consumers today, they will turn their back on you tomorrow, devaluing your company and not returning shareholder value if the companies are publicly traded.