Six years ago, Isaac Butler graduated from the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative Fellows Program, which is like a professional-leadership boot camp for minorities.
“Who I was before the amazing, life-changing transformational program was, quite frankly, a person who followed,” said Butler, interim vice president of inclusion, diversity and community liaison at St. Louis College of Pharmacy. “Unless you know your own mission, you’re always going to be following someone else’s.”
Butler left the program knowing exactly what his mission was, he said, and that’s “to serve.”
His advice for this year’s graduating class was, “Don’t chase income. Chase impact, and everything else will fall into place.”
On September 15, the initiative celebrated its 10th graduating class at Emerson’s headquarters in Ferguson. Now more than 500 people have graduated from the program, and about 92 percent of them still live in our region. More than 69 percent of them have been promoted or have had an increase in responsibilities.
“This program is not about checking the box, but about raising the bar,” said Rebeccah Bennett, founder and principal of Emerging Wisdom LLC.
Bennett moderated a 10-person panel, which included one alum from every graduating class. The professionals spoke about the journey that the Fellows program has taken over the last 10 years. Butler was among the panelists, along with people from BJC HealthCare, MasterCard, LaunchCode and other organizations.
Throughout the graduation, various panelists spoke about the deep soul-searching they did with the help of their peers and program leaders.
“I found out how afraid I was of being great,” said Fred Burdell of Emerson, who graduated in the first class. “Sometimes your parents can only take you so far.”
Launched in 2001, the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative is made up of companies and organizations committed to attracting, retaining and advancing talented, diverse employees. In 2012, the initiative became part of the St. Louis Regional Chamber. Its flagship is a yearlong fellows program, where professionals of color meet monthly to sharpen their leadership skills and explore aspects of inclusion.
“Why is this image of exceptional excellence important?” Bennett said of the panelists. “Right now, the majority of children in our country are children of color. That’s 20 years before the majority of adults are expected to be people of color.”
Fortune reported in February 2014 that just over 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs at that time were minorities, including African Americans, Asians, and Latin Americans. The heart of the initiative’s mission is to help area companies in building successful diversity and inclusion programs through training, convening and consulting.
“When you do not invest in the talent we have, we are doing a disservice and we are crippling not only our present but our future,” Bennett said. “We are not going to get the shift we want without programs like this. Being the first does not matter if there is not a second. The power of this investment is that coming behind it is a tidal wave. If it’s only a trickle, it would be devastating to our region.”
Bennett said programs like the diversity initiative offer a path forward and put in place a cadre of leaders who are ready and prepared to open doors for the next generation.
The house was full at the Emerson auditorium with present and past participants and their families, along with other supporters.
“Because of your participation, you are supporting us in doing our part in unleashing your authentic purpose and power to be more impactful leaders in our community,” said Valerie Patton, executive director of the initiative and vice president of inclusion at the Regional Chamber. “As impactful leaders, you are about the business of influencing the lives of others in and around our community.”
For more information, visit http://stlbizdiversity.com/.
Follow this reporter on Twitter @rebeccarivas.
