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| Rogers: "We are just not fighting hard enough." |
Rogers is Ariel Investments' founder and CEO. He, also, happens to be a pioneering African-American in the industry, one who has been a prominent investor and leader in mutual funds for 30 years. Hence, Rogers is no new kid on the block, not an industry novice who just appeared on the scene to make this striking, candid observation. He has seen dozens of market trends and phenomena, endured more than a few volatile markets, and followed a few decades of diversity patterns. The patterns, he says now, appear to be as unsettling as occasional market collapses.
He stepped into the investment arena in the 1980s, and with sufficient backing and varied contacts courageously started his own mutual-fund company in 1983. Like many minorities who surfaced on Wall Street (or in Chicago, where he has always been headquartered) years ago, Rogers perhaps had high expectations regarding diversity. Perhaps he expected over three decades, minorities would have prominent, visible, and impressive roles in every senior niche in every aspect, perch or segment of finance--in banking, trading, investing, funds management, securities processing, etc. Everywhere.
Three decades would have been ample time for the first wave of large numbers of minorities and women in finance to appear now in substantial numbers in board rooms, corner officers, and trading rooms. Within three decades, blacks, Latinos, Asians and women should have prominent roles within those hush-hush huddles that determine who gets promoted, who gets paid handsome bonuses, who is tasked on headline-wining deals, and who gets the precious amounts of capital that is allocated for business expansion and investment.
But in 2012-13, he tells eFinancial Careers: "It's unfortunate. One of the most lucrative parts of the economy; it's so dynamic, offering so much wealth, and people of color have not participated."
He adds, "Here in Chicago, at so many funds and banks, you can count the number of black partners on one hand. That's just the reality of it. It's something that needs to be addressed. People aren't demanding that industries reflect the societies in which they live."
In perhaps the final chapters of his career, Rogers is recommending that those in positions of influence should call for or take bold action: Make stronger demands, ask questions, and push harder for banks, firms and funds to do something. He recalls an occasion recently where, in working with a bank on a specific negotiation, he asked curtly why he didn't see minority representatives. By the next meeting with the same investment bank, he said, the firm had hired its first black banker.
Why might it be time for bold, aggressive tactics? Why do his words resonate? It's likely frustration and disappointment after so many years of effort. It's the puzzlement about what can be done and where do go from here, especially as major institutions struggle with current business models and announce lay-offs routinely. It's also the squashing of lofty expectations from the 1980s and 1990s, when banks and Wall Street firms opened their doors (with some outside thrusts, of course) to minorities and women and welcomed them to entry-level analyst and associate programs. They hustled to find competent, diverse talent, while at the same time, the talent sought them out.
The expectations then were that after 10-15 years of doing deals, managing portfolios, teams and large client relationships, trading large sums (in the tens of millions), doing research, making sales calls, overseeing complex financial models and advising on investments, the vast wave of minorities would now be running operations, sectors, business segments, subsidiaries in Europe or Asia, or much of the firm itself. They would be the ones with significant roles in deciding how to restructure a large banking unit, deciding whether to acquire other funds or banks, or deciding where to invest billions of dollars of capital over the next few years.
Granted, there are some minority and women bankers in such roles. And some have risen to the top echelon--either leading the institution (American Express or Merrill Lynch, e.g.) or leading an entire sector (investment banking at Citi or Credit Suisse, e.g.). (Women have previously held the CFO slots at Citi, Morgan Stanley, Lehman, and JPMorgan Chase and chief risk roles at Lehman and BoA.) But expectations had been much higher long ago, because many thought the hardest part about Wall Street was simply getting through the door.
In ensuing years and even today, getting into a lucrative Wall Street spot is still complex, agonizing and difficult. Yet retention and promotion to the top rungs remain even more complex, agonizing and difficult.
Diversity initiatives, retention efforts, networking, and mentoring programs sometimes work. They pave the way for opportunity, provide support and encouragement, and help instill confidence in those who sometimes shrug and want to give up. Rogers now suggests that all these efforts, and more, need to be capped off with strong demands.
Many institutions nowadays are struggling with reorganizations and uncertainty about reform, but with improved market conditions, they don't have the excuse of having to fight for survival while the financial system is about to collapse. To their credit, most major financial institutions devote enormous amounts of time, funds and priorities to diversity. And they support internal "affinity" programs to provide career support for women and professionals of color. On the other hand, private-equity firms, financial sponsors, hedge funds and venture-capital firms, often indifferent about such initiatives, operate as if it were the 1970s.
The pipeline continues to dwindle at mid-levels, as senior associates or junior vice presidents, including women and minorities, become discouraged about senior opportunities or pathways to managing director or become more demoralized, disenchanted, marginalized, or "plain ol' tired" of figuring out how to get to that top echelon. Many depart before they reach their fifth anniversary in the firm.
Thus, throughout the year, when institutions explore the candidates eligible for promotion to the top ranks, many women and minorities have already opted out or the few who remain are not well known to many or don't want to expend the enormous emotional energy to fight the fight.
Rogers suggests institutions and funds--big and small and in all facets of the industry--need to go beyond the placid endorsement of programs. They need a swift kick sometimes in the rear to be reminded that all can do better. All must do better.
Tracy Williams
See also:
CFN: Affinity Groups at Major Institutions, 2011
CFN: Venture Capital and Diversity, 2011
CFN: Diversity Update, 2011
CFN: Diversity: Staying on the Front Seat, 2009
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