Crossovers Are African-America's Salvation

By

Sherman N. Miller

 11/27/1990

     African-America is once again yelping over a racial slur made by a member of the Japanese hierarchy.  These slurs bespeak of an Afro-American credibility problem in the eyes of the Japanese.  Yet they also symbolize a leadership style chasm between Afro-Americans and the Japanese leaders.

      Some appreciation of this leadership style difference will offer insight into kindling Afro-American credibility in the eyes of the world.  Let us first examine the nature of the Afro-American leadership.  The national Afro-American leadership is skewed towards preachers, educators, politicians and social workers.

      Its focus has been on civil rights.  The Afro-American leadership did an excellent job prodding the United States to accept civil rights as the norm.  It has also remained steadfastly committed to preserving Afro-American civil rights gains.

      But an escalation in the ranks of Afro-American elective officials has not translated into prosperity for the Afro-American community.  On the contrary, Afro-American leaders are often heard whining in the media about socioeconomic regression.   These complaints suggest that socioeconomic parity is the real Afro-American goal for the Nineteen Nineties.

      It further suggests that "crossover" Afro-Americans (The Talented Tenth) are now the salvation of the Afro-American community.  Nevertheless, these people are now shunned because they think and operate at world standards of excellence.  They are also painted as quasi-carpetbaggers who despise the downtrodden Afro-Americans.

      But the crossovers' business acumen is just what the Afro-American community needs to have for meaningful negotiations with the Japanese.  Afro-Americans need only listen to the moans of Mainstream America over the dominance of "Japan Incorporated" in the world marketplace to understand that the Japanese psyche is highly skewed towards making cold hard business deals. 

      The Japanese people have set the world standard in business dealings (finance, international trade, and technology development).  Therefore, African-America needs to have an appreciation of their thoroughness.   Let me share a story that makes my Japanese business thoroughness case.

     I was once the only member of a domestic business group to give a technical presentation summarizing a joint development effort to a Japanese multinational corporation.  After my  presentation, our delegation leader began to pose questions to the Japanese.  The Japanese Marketing Vice President excused himself from the meeting to get some transparencies.

     Upon the marketing vice president's return, our leader asked him a technical question.  The Japanese vice president smiled and placed a transparency on the overhead projector with a detailed response. 

     Our leader then asked a series of marketing, legal, and political questions.  Each time, the vice president put another transparency on the machine with a detailed response.

     After roughly 14 questions, our leader's frustration overtook him.  He uttered, "Is there anything you don't have an answer to?"

The Japanese vice president smiled, for he still had roughly 100 transparencies left to be put on the projector. 

     Clearly, this Japanese multi-national corporation knew our U.S. domestic market better than we did.  Will they ever be in peril with such knowledge?

     My own experiences have led me to conclude that there are some axioms that the Afro-American leadership needs to embrace to garner positive responses from the Japanese leadership:

     * One's personal credibility must be established before major deals are made.

     * All holes in presentations will be uncovered, so they should be acknowledged beforehand to establish trust.

     * Programs must be well thought out endeavors that can withstand rigorous scrutiny.

     * The fear of embarrassment does not dissuade Japanese executives from accomplishing their objectives.

     * The world marketplace emphasizes quality and competence, and altruism is a luxury.

     * Race and ethnicity are second tier factors in negotiations unless they are shown to dictate a given market.

     * A thorough assessment of your opponent's strengths and weaknesses undergirds all negotiations.

     My above comments can be summed by arguing that the Japanese are "as rifles that hit distant targets with great force versus shotgun blasts with only a short range impact." 

      Thus I ask, Will the Afro-American community re-enfranchise the crossovers?  Is now the time for the national Afro-American leadership to expand its ranks to include those persons astute in business?  Has the Afro-American community merely sent negotiators with incorrect backgrounds to deal with the Japanese?   

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