Facing The Elephant in the Room - The Reality of Racism for Entrepreneurs
Elephant in the room = an English-language metaphorical idiom for an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss, or a condition of groupthink no one wants to challenge.
Recently, in one of his posts,聽Javier 馃悵 beBee聽was open, vulnerable, and transparent about the challenges that Spanish entrepreneurs face as they move into the American market. It was refreshing to see a successful entrepreneur keeping it real. Almost immediately, someone replied to him and gave him what amounted to a pep talk on "positive attitude". It doesn't matter who it was. This reaction is quite common.
It was a reminder that there is a lot of bad advice out there, even from people who are supposed to be coaches. I am especially stunned when I hear people from visible minority groups dishing out this type of advice. "Just be positive and everything will be alright." 聽Methinks some people have been drinking copious聽amounts of "the Koolaid" for too long and buying into the hype about the law of attraction. I don't buy it. I am a Jamaican living in Canada and some of my ancestors were slaves. Are you going to tell me that they were captured, transported like cargo to the other side of the world, and enslaved and abused for generations because of what they "projected into the universe"?聽Poppycock! Within this context, the "Law of Attraction" is very dangerous thinking and a slippery slope. It smacks of "blame the victim" and provides justification for all forms of human oppression.聽
One thing is certain. Ignore the elephant in the room and you will get trampled by it.聽
When prejudices are this deeply rooted no amount of positive thinking will help. No one can convince someone who is this prejudiced to see a doctor who is "not White" or do business with an entrepreneur who is from a visible minority group or another country.聽
If you think this type of thinking represents an isolated incident, just step into any major corporation in the USA, the UK, or Canada. Do you think it is by accident that one sees so few individuals from visible聽minority groups rise to or above the level of聽manager? 聽There have been improvements in recent decades but we have a long way to go.
We need to face reality and from that vantage point begin to generate more effective strategies.
Don't be Condescending
If someone is honest with you about some of the real barriers they face, it is totally condescending to give them a pep talk about having a positive attitude.聽
If you are from a visible minority group and you have also come up against real barriers, then you are being dishonest. Shame on you.聽If you claim that you and the people you know have never encountered any barriers, I am going to call you out on that too. The term for someone who ignores reality is "delusional".
Delusional
adjective
Characterized by or holding idiosyncratic beliefs or impressions that are contradicted by reality or rational argumentDefinition
The bottom line is that denial and rhetoric about "positive attitude" and "self-fulfilling prophesies" are of NO help when entrepreneurs or employees are facing real barriers due to their race or ethnicity.
How to be More Helpful
A far more constructive approach is to acknowledge the reality of racial barriers and help the individual strategize. If it means providing suggestions for resources to improve selling skills, do it. If it involves giving advice to improve marketing material or approaches, get to it.聽
Marketing, sales, and communication skills need to be top notch to overcome many of the REAL barriers that immigrants and members of visible minority groups face.聽
I repeat what I said earlier.
When prejudices are this deeply rooted no amount of positive thinking will help. No one can convince someone who is this prejudiced to see a doctor who is "not White" or do business with an entrepreneur who is from a visible minority group or another country.聽聽
So, provide encouragement and, after you have listened actively and, without spouting platitudes, try to help the individual identify:
- 聽prospective clients who are likely to appreciate skills regardless of the ethnicity or race of the person who possesses them
- companies and markets that place emphasis on the quality of services and products rather than the race or ethnicity of the owner of the business providing them
Identifying companies that have diversity officers or VPs is one good place to start.聽
If you can help with referrals....do it. If you can help spread the word about the services the entrepreneur offers, that would be far more helpful than chastising them when they have had the guts to be open.
Javier 馃悵 beBee聽thank you for keeping it real. Your openness gives us all hope that beBee can be a place where bees can move beyond the usual facades and get into meaningful discussions about the real issues confronting them. Heaven knows, we need more places like this.
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Comments
Anne 馃悵 Thornley-Brown, MBA
6 years ago #9
Anne 馃悵 Thornley-Brown, MBA
6 years ago #8
Anne 馃悵 Thornley-Brown, MBA
6 years ago #7
Sadly, that is what my parents had hope for me and what I had hoped for my son.
Anne 馃悵 Thornley-Brown, MBA
6 years ago #6
Charlene nothing is impossible but it will take time and perhaps a new generation to see more headway. Having said that, I have been disappointed at some of the videos that have popped up with young people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_e4iLcij7I ...and the frat mom was NO better.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxNvfe2RK0E
Bill Stankiewicz
6 years ago #5
Lance 馃悵 Scoular
6 years ago #4
Anne 馃悵 Thornley-Brown, MBA
6 years ago #3
Laurent Boscherini
6 years ago #2
Julio Angel 馃悵Lopez Lopez
6 years ago #1