Why Black Women Make The Best Leaders

I once had a white boss who didn’t understand why I, a black woman, was rated as a good manager by my team. He often asked me: “Why does your team like you so much, they always speak so highly of you, how do you get them to do that?’” he insisted, almost incredulously.

At first, I didn’t think much about his comment but the more he repeated it, the more I realized that he struggled with the fact that I was, in fact, a good leader. It didn’t seem to enter into his world view that a black woman could lead and could lead well.

Yes, black women can lead and well

He sometimes even seriously hinted that I must be paying off my team or giving them something in return for them to say good things about me.

I couldn’t understand why he was having such a hard time believing that I was a good boss. I was putting in the time to develop and coach my team, as well as provide them with guidance, and with opportunities to shine with senior management.

I left nothing up to chance. I made sure to give them enough independence and freedom to do their work without micromanaging or stifling their creativity and productivity. I was empathetic and understanding when they had personal challenges and encouraged them to prioritize their work/life balance up and above everything else.

I worked hard to be a good leader

In the highly political environment in which we operated, I sought to speak up for them, as well as protect and defend them. I made a conscious effort and put in the hard work to be a good manager. I wasn’t perfect, there were still areas I had to improve on, like securing senior-level sponsors to champion and provide visibility to our work.

I realize that that was difficult mainly due to the fact that I wasn’t born into a life of white privilege and an established network of powerful white folks. I speak more about this in my earlier article: I Am A Black Woman And My Mentor Is A Privileged White Man.

White people rarely see black women lead

The more I thought more about it, the more I realized that my white boss had never seen or experienced black women in positions of leadership in the corporate environment throughout his whole career spanning at least 20 years.

So because he hadn’t seen them, he assumed that they were not cut out for leadership or that they were simply not good at it. Either way, his brain pathways had a hard time taking it in, maybe even accepting it, and as a result, he did not accept or respect me as a leader.

Insidious effects of the lack of diversity

And even if this bothered me personally, it gave me reason to think of the wider more insidious implications of this situation. Here was someone in his 40s — so still rather young, who was not used to seeing a black woman in a leadership role. How many other younger white men and women out there in the corporate world have never been socialized into seeing black women in leadership roles?

For me, this is where the main problem lies. Corporations that are not diverse enough, reinforce a certain white supremacist view of the world — a view that mainly only white men and women can lead.

And even if companies don’t set out to be racist, the simple fact that they don’t have enough black and brown people in their ranks signals that they don’t think we are good enough. And somehow this view is perpetuated making it difficult for white colleagues to even accept that a black woman can be a good leader. And this makes it even more challenging for black women to climb the corporate ladder.

My leadership style

In my own personal journey in a corporate environment as a black woman, apart from not being accepted and acknowledged as a true leader, I have also encountered many other challenges.

For one, I noticed that I was not respected or taken as seriously as my white colleagues. Not by my white boss and not by my white peers. This had a trickle-down effect to junior members in the team who in turn did not respect me.

In important meetings, I could see people switch off completely when I started speaking. Frantic note-takers would lay down their pens when I started talking as if to say “You are not important, what you’re saying doesn’t matter”.

I frankly don’t think that many of these acts were even done consciously. More alarming to me was that most of the time, they seemed to be quite unconscious — which spoke to the deeply rooted nature of this bias against black women.

Why black women make the best leaders

This lack of respect and acceptance makes navigating the corporate world a tremendous challenge for black women, yet the reality is that black women make some of the best leaders.

There is a simple reason why: black women are often the most discriminated against group in society. Not only are we discriminated against, but we are also often excluded.

When you live a life of exclusion, you grow up to be someone who naturally includes others, someone who is empathetic, and someone who is respectful of others. You build a natural resilience which makes you an inspiring and charismatic leader. The type that people actually get out of bed every morning to come work for.

To retain and attract young talent, you need black women leaders

I read some research the other day that demonstrated that Generation Ys and Zs are driven by purpose. If their leaders don’t inspire them, they disengage or quit their jobs at a moment’s notice. There needs to be something more than just money to keep these generations engaged. Black women are more often than not inspiring leaders and companies should hire and develop more and more of them to attract and retain young talent.

As the world becomes increasingly diverse, companies should also make sure that their workforces are used to seeing and accepting black women and other minority groups in leadership positions. It’s a known fact that diverse companies are more profitable — so it is definitely in any business’s interest to hire more black women to join their ranks.

Thanks for reading my perspective.