‘It’s now open season on these companies’
Entrepreneur pushing for change in corporate Canada keeps the pressure on
“When I look in the mirror, I see George Floyd.” When Wes Hall penned an oped with that title last summer, describing what it’s like to be a Black businessman on Bay Street, the supportive response led him to start BlackNorth, an initiative rallying Corporate Canada to help end systemic racism. As an entrepreneur and executive chair of Kingsdale Advisors, a shareholder services firm, Hall continues to see — and experience — racism. What will it take to end it?
This interview has been edited for clarity and accuracy.
BlackNorth asks corporate leaders to sign a pledge committing to seven actions that will foster equity. What has been the response?
People say I’m ambitious. We have close to 500 companies that have signed the pledge, but more than 1,600 companies trade on the TSX and another 1,650 on the Venture Exchange. These companies access public capital so, at a minimum, a majority should put their hands up and say, “I want to participate.”
Do you think last year’s protests have been a turning point?
Yes, but possibly a temporary one. The black community has been living “Groundhog Day” since the Civil War: You’re free now. In the ’60s: You’re free now. Again with the Rodney King riots. All those events changed things temporarily. For the current moment to have
lasting impact, we need organizations to keep the pressure on.
How is anti-Black racism different from other types of discrimination?
Look at the numbers. Seventy per cent of police shootings in the city of Toronto involve Black people, yet they represent nine per cent of the population; 32 per cent of cases of police using firearms are against Black communities. Police beatings: 37 per cent against Blacks. I’m 20 times more likely to be shot by police officers than my white neighbours. Some things disproportionately affect us.
I’ll tell you a story. I live in Rosedale and a month ago, my wife, who is white, went shopping at a neighbourhood store. The package was too heavy for her, so she said she would send our two boys to pick it up at 7 o’clock. When my boys, who identify as Black, walked in, the owner and a customer who was there screamed — they thought (my sons) were there to rob the store. They just walked in being Black. When I drove my Ferrari to the office one day, somebody stopped me and said, “I’m a criminal lawyer, give me a call.” He wasn’t looking to collaborate on a shareholder file; he thought I must be a criminal to drive that car. I pull up at the Four Seasons to meet a client and somebody gives me their keys to valet their car. Why? Because someone like me doesn’t belong there.
There is greater awareness and intolerance of discrimination in corporate environments. What more needs to be done?
Some of the largest companies have zero Blacks in their executive suites. Five of the largest banks, five of the top telecoms, two of the largest insurers: none. The Supreme Court of Canada and appeals courts: not a single Black person. It’s not a matter of treating everybody the same way. The reason we are under-represented is that organizations put everyone in one bucket. “We have 30 per cent people of colour” — yet none of them are Black or Indigenous. We have to break it down.
It’s arguably harder to get away with blatant racism these days, but do you see it manifest in more subtle ways?
I remember going to a meeting with a team of nine people. I have my own company; another man, who was Black, had just sold his business for $300 million; six lawyers. When we finished the presentation, the clients say, “Wow, we’re so impressed.” Why would you be
so impressed? Because you didn’t expect us to be that smart.
We’re saying to Black folks, “We want you to be on the team but just sit on the sidelines in your uniform and watch the game, and if we call you in, just pass the ball, don’t shoot it.” That’s what it feels like — organizations want us to be window dressing. And we’re losing the game! We’re saying, give us an opportunity to win the game for you.
Most attention has focused on diversity awareness in leadership, but it’s often middle managers who have the biggest impact on a person’s career. Is enough being done on that front?
Middle management is where the jockeying for position happens and microaggressions at that level wash many Black people out of organizations. Leaders have to recognize and address the problems because that’s the pipeline feeding into the executive suite, and the pipeline is broken.
Is the pendulum in hiring swinging too far toward identity and away from the mix of experience and expertise required?
Companies say that, and it’s a cop-out. Seven in 10 Black adults have a post-secondary education and yet we’re not present in senior positions. We all know the way things work in this country: senior jobs are based on relationships and if you don’t have those networks, you don’t get the opportunities. Maybe at entry level there is equal representation, but as you go up the ladder, that representation drops precipitously. Once we get into the Csuite, it hardly exists at all. I don’t even talk about boards — we just don’t exist on corporate boards.
Would you agree that the pandemic has highlighted the importance of diverse perspectives in leadership because it has presented so many unprecedented challenges?
Absolutely. A bunch of people who all grew up together and go to the same country club will likely see things exactly the same way. Someone like me who comes from nothing and built a company from the ground up will have a different way of thinking about a problem. Companies need people with different lived experiences. We see that now with COVID-19: There’s not enough diversity around the table and as a result the problem is taking longer to solve.
At Kingsdale, you regularly help companies deal with activist investors. How has the pandemic affected the shareholder activism landscape?
It has caused investors in general to ask, what does ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance issues) truly mean? We’ve focused on the environment and governance for a while, but nobody had been paying attention to the S — not the companies and not the investors. The S caused COVID-19 and the S caused racerelations problems. Now, investors are putting value on social concerns and we will see “say on diversity” reports like we have seen “say on pay.” We know that you leave money on the table if you don’t have a diverse workforce and investors will hold management accountable.
Do you expect more activist campaigns and proxy battles targeting companies left vulnerable by the crisis?
Activists took a break last year because they didn’t want to be seen going after businesses dealing with a pandemic. That break is over.
A lot of companies’ faults have been exposed. If the management has done nothing new since the pandemic to respond, why? What are you doing proactively? It’s now open season on these companies.