March Madness Meritocracy

My wife Cathy is not a huge college basketball fan but was willing to join me in watching the recent Men’s NCAA College Basketball Tournament.

CBS used to be the exclusive television network for all the games but the new TV arrangement incudes the TNT, TBS, and truTV networks. Even with the expansion to TNT, TBS, and truTV networks, the top talent for the pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows is largely the same regardless of which network is telecasting the game.  

The “A” team for the pre-game, post-game, and halftime show includes Nate Burleson, former NFL wide receiver, and current CBS Morning news anchor and CBS NFL commentator; Kenny (the jet) Smith, former college basketball star at North Carolina and NBA All Star; Clark Kellog, former college basketball star at Ohio State and NBA player; and the famous Charles Barkley, former college basketball star at Auburn and NBA All Star.

As Cathy and I watched the games and especially the entertaining back in forth between Messrs. Barkley, Smith, Kellog, and Burleson in the pre-game, post-game, and halftime shows, Cathy and I observed the obvious. These men were clearly incredibly talented commentators and great students of the game of college basketball, and they were also all African American. But what I thought was most notable about our conversation was the fact that we both agreed that all the men were in their positions because they were the best talent for the positions and their race was irrelevant. I believe this is something that everyone can celebrate.   

At the risk of drawing attention to my entry well into my 70th decade, I can unfortunately remember a time when race would have prevented or at least placed at a considerable disadvantage a talented former professional athlete from being part of an elite broadcasting team on a major television network. This would have been true in other areas of society, including the professions. This was shameful and disgraceful and a blight on our great country. I have no other words for it. I am not naïve enough to say that racism has been eliminated from employment and other opportunities in our nation, because racism is sin and will always be with us to some degree just because of man’s inherit sin nature.

But on the way to achieve the progress we have today in addressing racism in employment, I have also unfortunately seen the reverse occur where race was used to place an individual in a position of significance in our society for which the individual was obviously not the most qualified to hold.  I know that many in the Corporate America HR world have vigorously defended using race as a material criterion for the placement of an individual in a particular role because of past discrimination and the need to provide upward mobility and opportunity for minority candidates. But just like with “makeup calls” in a basketball game which invite frustration and cynicism, this practice can also create cynicism and damage morale within a company’s employee base.  I did not agree with this policy during my professional career, and I do not agree with it now. This practice almost always results in denying employment opportunities and penalizing innocent individuals who had no role in prior acts of discrimination. This practice is also very unfair to qualified minority candidates who have no need of this “assist” to gain employment or promotion but could still be viewed with skepticism in securing the position they hold because of the use of this practice.

I know that the Corporate America HR would be quick to argue in today’s employment world that they do not use race as an express criterion for hiring and promotion. But my question to them would be as follows: Do you find some backdoor way to use race as a criterion for hiring and promotion? What about actions such as linking management incentive compensation and promotions to the achievement of certain diversity metrics in company employment? Would an impartial audit of your company’s hiring and compensation practices prove my concerns to be incorrect and without merit? Would Corporate America and its employees and customers be better served by investing time, talent, and resources in recruiting all qualified candidates to ensure that the best and brightest candidates are hired regardless of race? Would Corporate America and its employees and customers benefit by providing training programs to all employees so that every employee has an equal opportunity for advancement? Would this type of practice result in higher engagement scores for a company’s employees and better survey results from customers?

God bless you and thank you for the privilege of your time in reading my blog.