The Model Black: How Black British Leaders Succeed in Organisations and Why It Matters

by Barbara Banda

This book is for anyone who wants to understand what being more inclusive at work means, especially as it relates to black leaders. It is intended for those people who are saying “I don’t know where to start,” “I don’t know what to do” and “I don’t know what to say” when understanding and talking about race at work. Based on candid interviews with 30 successful black leaders, it peels away the multifaceted layers of black British leaders in organisations to offer a new way of thinking about the black British experience. This book provides the insights and ideas required to have positive conversations about race at work and to create work environments where black leaders can thrive. In identifying the attributes and behaviours that successful black leaders have in common, this book offers new ways of thinking about black people at work that help to further inclusion. It shines a light on the daily reality of being a black leader in the workplace, providing an alternative entry point for conversations around inclusion and explores what individuals and organisations can do to increase inclusion in the workplace. Through first-hand stories this book explores the challenges, compromises, struggles and successes that black people encounter, and the range of strategies they employ to achieve success as they navigate the “white” workplace. It is essential reading for business leaders in the private, public and third sector, human resources professionals, students, anyone teaching or mentoring black students or leaders and everyone interested in understanding race and furthering inclusion in the workplace.

Genres: Business

208 pages, Paperback

Published June 27, 2022

Reviews

[Ebs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took so much from this book one that I’ll share with others and refer to within my own organisation. It was comforting and disturbing at once, triggering a lot for me around race.

Really great book I’d recommend to many

[Winston J. Bygrave · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all types of mentors in preparing the next generation of successful Black leaders.

Barbara Banda has deconstructed for us as Black leaders, what we have always done intuitively in white spaces in order to succeed, and she has explained strategically, what our parents told us to do, in order to survive in a white dominated world, but they never explained why.

Within the context of institutional racism within the workplace (whether conscious or unconcious), she argues that the model black succeeds by reflecting the following nine characteristics:

1. They know who they are.
2. They have cultural capital .
3. They know how to respond to white fragility.
4. They are part of a strong, reliable black community.
5. They are strategic about their career.
6. They are emotionally intelligent.
7. They understand their broader social and moral responsibilities.
8. They accept that they have to perform better to be equal with their white counterparts.
9. They need to be resilient.

The book is a master class in explaining these characteristics, supported by real life case studies and interviews with black leaders, and explaining how such leaders succeed in organisations, and why it matters for both black and white people.

This book is a must read for all black parents, leaders and mentors, as well as white people who will act as advocates, in preparing the next generation of young black British leaders to succeed in predominantly white institutions and organisations.