Work And Life With Stew Friedman

David Thomas was recently named as the new president of Morehouse College, a traditionally African American, all-male college in Atlanta. He was previously the H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Professor of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where he served as dean from 2011 to 2016. His research addresses issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership, and organizational change. In recognition of his arrival at Morehouse, we’re publishing this conversation from our archives, done while David was Georgetown’s Dean. Stew and David talk about the impact of his early childhood, including his first experience with race consciousness as a five-year old. David believes there is still a problem with diversity and inclusion in corporate America, specifically in leadership roles. For instance; there are less than 10 CEOs in the Fortune 250 who are African American. Unconscious bias is a likely reason for t