A Black Money Manager Speaks Out on Workplace Race Conversations

(Bloomberg) --

Francis Coleman spent more than three decades persuading corporate executives to address issues such as diversity and the environment. Over the past three weeks, he’s been discussing the latest episodes of racism in America with his White friends.

His advice to them: Have uncomfortable conversations on race, sit through the confusion and awkwardness, and control the need to be defensive.

“You have to fully realize that your automatic privileges have adversely affected others for a long time,” said Coleman, who is Black and was vice chair of a $7 billion responsible-investing firm before stepping down late last year. He pauses. “You have to own the responsibility of the moment for things to get solved. That’s the hard part.”

Coleman says the systemic racism in corporate America was exemplified on May 25 in New York when a White woman -- who had also worked in money management -- called the police to report a Black man “threatening” her in Central Park after he asked her to leash her dog.

The event was overshadowed when on the same day in Minneapolis, an unarmed black man died at the hands of a White police officer, prompting nationwide protests and putting race relations in the U.S. into sharp focus.

‘Stomach-Churning’

“She represented herself as a progressive liberal who lives in a diverse city and claimed not to be racist,” said Coleman, referring to the woman in Central Park who was later fired by her employer, Franklin Templeton, over the incident. “That event was stomach-churning for me, more so because she was a peer.”

As Americans start grappling again with the centuries-old issue of race, companies have been responding as protests erupted across the nation. Companies, including Bank of America Corp., Sephora USA Inc. and Nike Inc., have either designated funds, pledged to stock more products from Black-owned businesses or formed task forces to address racial inequality.

Coleman, 66, who worked at Christian Brothers Investment Services, a Chicago-based money manager, before stepping down in December, said he welcomed moves by companies to address racial disparities announced, but he said they need to go beyond making statements.

“Listen, listen and listen to the stories from your Black employees, and not just the select few but everyone,” Coleman said, recounting the array of macroaggressions he faced regularly from being mistaken for a coat check attendant to being overlooked by taxi drivers when hailing cabs in New York.

Progress will be made if executives go beyond the standard reporting on environmental, social and governance issues, Coleman said. They need to disclose data, set metrics and goals, just like they do across their businesses. And then they need to be held responsible for meeting them, he said.

Corporate Action

“Some companies think they’ve done their part by merely having a diversity team,” Coleman said. “But they need to address the cause, not the symptoms. CEOs need to turn the can’t-dos into can-dos much like how they do throughout their businesses.”

Coleman joined CBIS in 1987, six years after it was formed. The firm invests for dioceses, colleges and religious institutions. It has advocated for changes at companies by speaking with executives, filing shareholder resolutions and proxy voting. During the 1990s, it pushed Microsoft Corp. to name a woman to the board, Coleman said.

Microsoft later added Jill Bared, then-chief executive officer of Mattel Inc., to the board. CBIS also pushed for Target Corp. to make public data on race, ethnicity and gender of its employees. The company agreed.

A spokeswoman for CBIS didn’t return messages seeking comment.

Coleman, who had studied at Columbia University, was recognized for his work last year by the investor group, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. He’s now in the midst of starting his own business to advise financial companies on developing boards, strategic planning and leadership development on ESG matters.

Calvert Research

Coleman isn’t alone in emphasizing the role that companies play in addressing racism in the U.S.

Another social-impact investor, John Streur, said tackling racism is a responsibility of corporations. He said his firm, $21.3 billion Calvert Research and Management, which is now part of Boston-based Eaton Vance Corp., will make a greater push to press companies to publicly disclose data on racial diversity. He said he expects to see transparency within the next 12 to 18 months.

Coleman said this is the least that companies should do, adding that those who don’t disclose should do so right away, even if they risk looking bad. He said he is hopeful that things will improve, provided that White executives acknowledge that systemic racism exists.

“This needs to be done to get to the other side,” he said. “It will be so transformational.”

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