Companies must focus on value for customers. However, all customers are not the same. Globalization has created all types of problems for businesses. One of the issues is how to stay ahead of the competition by exploring new markets while keeping the same customer base. This action is not easy.
Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of Relationship Selling, maintain that customers expect and deserve consistency in the way an organization’s value-added message is put forth. [1]
Being strategic conscious about these business relationships is not simple. Marketing expert Ken Favaro further suggests that putting value creation consistently first requires leadership skills, discipline, and perseverance. He further challenged organizations to demand higher standards from managers who would jeopardize these business relationships.
These marketing problems are worthy of the most decorated scientists. In fact, the right value proposition is critical because all customers are not created the same. When organizations place value creation as a high priority, organizations will beat their competition because they will deploy capital better and develop internal talent better.[2]
Customer expectations and customer needs are often different. Management expert Ray Miller further suggests a “strategic trap” for businesses seeking to meet customer expectations. Delivering below expectations is obviously bad. However, simply satisfying customers will not guarantee customer loyalty either because they are getting nothing more or less than they expect.
Furthermore, some businesses get caught up being efficient in developing cookie cutter solutions for the masses. Yet, they overlook that value seeking customers are looking for products and services that solve their specific needs.
Consequently, employees should be motivated to provide value for customers if the businesses want to be successful. In fact, this reality involves being compensated fairly, being treated with respect, and being given meaningful work. Finally, companies must understand that customer value expectations are often different. Therefore, businesses that manage customer expectations effectively will possess a distinctive advantage in the market.
Please discuss your professional experience with customer value differences.
Senior executives should build value creation in their business strategies. To act otherwise is only asking for trouble. In the infancy of a business’ existence, a good value proposition for customers is essential.
Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of Relationship Selling, argue that value-added selling changes much of the sales process.[1] Value is defined as “the perceived experience and worth gained from a product or service.”
Phillip Kotler and Kevin Keller, authors of Marketing Management, maintain that it is important for businesses to understand customer perceived value: “Buyers operate under various constraints and occasionally make choices that give more weight to their personal benefit than to the company’s benefit….Consumers have varying degrees of loyalty to specific brands, stores, and companies.”[2]
Customer-perceived value is related to the difference between benefits the customer gets and costs the customer assumes for different choices. Yet, customer-perceived value often is a graded approach.
For example, if an individual wants a cheap, fast-food option, he or she may select McDonald’s. In this case, the buyer’s expectation for quality food is lower than eating at a five star restaurant. Customers are very understanding when the seller’s value proposition is clear.
Given that market framework, perceived value is in the eyes of the customer and varies from business to business. Kotler and Keller further note, “The marketer can increase the value of the customer offering by raising the economic, functional, or emotional benefits and/or reducing one or more costs.” [3]
Therefore, organizations are challenged by selling value. Consequently, managers must better align themselves strategically to provide long- term value for customers, rather than focusing only on short-term profitability.
Being strategic conscious about these business relationships is not simple. Ken Favaro, author of Put Value First, further explains that putting value creation consistently first requires leadership skills, discipline, and perseverance.
He further challenged organizations to demand higher standards from managers who could jeopardize these business relationships. Favaro further adds that sharing information widely within the management team builds a shared sense of commitment toward building value for customers and shareholders. Customers and all members of the supply chain should provide input so that the expectations are clear.
Businesses that pay more would get more benefits (i.e. certain perks, discounts, etc.). Therefore, the value proposition would be enhanced. Yet, all good business transactions start with trust.
Johnston and Marshall argue that customers expect and deserve consistency in the way an organization’s value-added message is put forth. When a customer begins a relationship with you, he or she already has a specific set of expectations.[4]
Sadly, unproductive firms put little strategic thought in the matter of value creation. Nat Martin, III, Director of Purchasing and Concept Support, Darden Restaurants, Inc. notes: “If the value exceeds expectation, the customer is highly satisfied. If the value falls short of expectation, the customer is dissatisfied.”
Value creation can be considered the powerful engine that energizes sustainable growth. Therefore, value creation for businesses must be strategic and deliberate for any sustainable growth.
Please discuss your professional experience with company’s value creation initiatives.
Relationship selling is about creating positive, lasting impressions with customers. For example, Carrabba’s Italian Grill is one of my favorite restaurants in Knoxville. During our 22nd anniversary, my wife and I celebrated there. Our waitress was very attentive to our needs. In terms of positioning, I think the restaurant is above Olive Garden.
Yet, even though I had a high level of praise for this business, I became a little irritated when our waitress took a break and left us unattended. It took us some time to get over that situation. Therefore, customer satisfaction can be a little fickle and make a customer-centric approach difficult.
Building relationships with customers is very important for sustainable success for businesses. However, some customers have a negative reaction to the seller-buyer interactions (i.e. salespersons in retail pressuring customers to buy). Although selling is about business transactions, selling is also about building relationships. Consequently, the concept of relationship selling is a hot commodity in a hypercompetitive environment.
For this blog, we will examine the basic concept of relationship selling. Relationship selling requires somewhat different skills than traditional selling as it involves securing, building, and maintaining long-term relationships with profitable customers.
Furthermore, many organizations simply do not consider customers when planning their sales strategy. Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of Relationship Selling, share four relationship mistakes by businesses which are (1) wasting customer’s time, (b) behaving as a victim instead of an employed salesperson, (3) lacking the understanding of the customer’s business, and (4) bringing problems instead of solutions to the job.
For example, Carrabba’s Italian Grill failed to adequately address our needs due to a focus on their internal operations rather than how to maximize their profit. However, it is only due to relationship selling that we will go back.
Furthermore, Paul Peter and James Donnelly, authors of Marketing Management, suggest that profitable marketing begins with understanding customer needs. Yet, it is a trait that is not gained by accident. Being a professional in a highly technical field, we are required to possess certain skills and abilities. Finally, serious businesses cannot afford to master the concepts of selling relationships. It should begin today!
Please discuss your personal experience with relationship selling.
During our last Caribbean cruise together, my wife Estraletta and I made it a nightly routine to eat a formal dinner together with new friends, enjoy a nightly session of Latin dancing in a new cultural setting, and end the night in a variety of dancing venues, from contemporary to the classic waltz.
I must admit what captured my attention on the dance floor was watching senior citizens who were African-Americans dance the swing with so much precision and accuracy. I was amazed to see an elderly man who was riding in a mobile cart, stumble on to the dance floor with some assistance, grab a senior citizen woman and swing her around the dance floor til there was no end.
With his knack of swing dancing, he found himself the bell of the ball. Women were lined up to dance with him until he was exhausted. When we returned home, we attended another social event where seniors were swinging on the dance floor.
The swing dance was not a dance choice for my generation of break dancers. In fact, my older sister was a Baby Boomer and her generation appeared to reject swing dancing of that generation. Therefore, I found myself intrigued and ignorant about the contributions of African-Americans on swing dancing in American history.
In September, I will be sponsoring a swing dance through the Academy Ballroom in Knoxville in order to celebrate the art of swing and honor the contributions of African Americans in this art form. The event,” Dr. Green Presents ‘Swing at the Savoy’: a dance class series reflecting the music and dance of Harlem in the 1920s.”
The class will start on September 6th, at 6pm. Dancing can be life changing. Paul Bottomer, author of Let’s Dance, explains the power of dancing: “Whatever your musical taste or individual preferences, the huge variety of dance ensure that there is something to suit you. You do not need to be a good dancer to enjoy the dancing, the music, the mood, the atmosphere and, of course, the social life.”[1]
Of course, many folks will not embrace anything different. This reaction is fine. However, some individuals make it a habit to criticize others in the process. Criticism can be noted as ‘the expression of disapproval of someone or something based on perceived faults or mistakes.’
Critics come in all shape and sizes. If you are a weak individual, you will find yourself needing to maneuver through the opinions of critics. Different people have distinctive “locus of control” which refers to how people perceive life events.
Individuals with an external locus of control feel that things are outside of their control and can be easily manipulated by outside events. Individuals with an internal locus of control feel in control of their own fate.
Dr. Richard Draft, author of Management, notes, “People with an internal locus of control are easier to motivate because they believe the rewards are the result of their behavior.”[2]
He further explains that people with an external locus of control are harder to motivate, less involved in their jobs, and more likely to blame others. Living life based on the opinions of others can lead individuals toward a mediocre existence. Can you afford to live a mediocre life?
Since my wife and I have started ballroom dancing, I have gained a great deal of confidence, creative brain power, and a healthier lifestyle (about 2-3 hours of dancing a week). Perhaps, it’s interesting that guys who cannot dance are the ones who are most prone to ridicule and mock others who can.
Fortunately, good leaders understand how to inspire followers to exemplary performance even in the face of stiff criticism. Therefore, doing things like swing dancing sets you apart as a leader guided by his or her own internal locus of control.
Discuss the concept of leading with an internal locus of control.
I do know how to make my wife laugh…even at my expense. I have been fascinated with ballroom dancing since last year. It was something I reluctantly embraced after being taken kicking and screaming to the dance floor. Several weeks ago I thought it would be nice to practice my dance moves so that I would perform them better. My wife was out of town at the time. I got a notice about a dance with a live band on Saturday. I thought it would be cool.
However, I should have read the fine print. When I got to the event, it was packed full of energy and enthusiasm. What I failed to learn was that the dance was at a senior citizen center. That meant I would be dancing with my mother and grandmother at the event. Secretly, I pledged to myself that I would not ask anyone to dance and gracefully exit from this event. The average age of the attendees was over 80 years old. I was but a puppy at 40 + years old.
However, my exit strategy did not work. I invited myself to sit (of course, I did not know anyone and just dashed to the nearest unoccupied sit) with a well-to-do couple who was visiting in the area. They were well educated, financially secure, and very mobile; they had winter and summer homes. Having a questioning nature, I asked about how they perceived life and what the general attitude of these folks was in general since they were all part of the Greatest Generation. I was pretty shocked at the responses.
They noted that many of them did not care about any past accomplishments, titles, wealth, or status symbols. Most folks were mostly concerned with their health, quality of life, and having enough money to live. Kids and grandkids were rarely mentioned (many had been abandoned by them). With them approaching the end of their golden years, the focus was on current relationships and values. In fact, there was an evolution by many of them in their thinking: “There was no shame in their game.”
Many couples had forgone the taboos of living together (aka ‘shacking up) because these people did not want to lose their Social Security checks or other financial means. In a nutshell, they did not care about what others thought about them. It was something that I could relate to in ballroom dancing.
My male friends give me a hard time about ballroom dancing. However, at the same time, they cannot dance, garnish the attention of others by doing something others could not do, or inject into their character fresh confidence in learning how to do something new and different. Many people do not progress in life for fear of being criticized.
No one wants to be criticized. Dr. William Watley, Senior Pastor of the St. Phillip African Methodist Episcopal Church observed, “Criticism’s certainly something that you can’t be delivered from…From the womb to the tomb, you can’t escape it.” Criticism can be defined as ‘the expression of disapproval of someone or something based on perceived faults or mistakes.’
No one can avoid criticism if they are active in an organization or serve in a leader’s capacity. Yet, individuals can also be criticized because of lack of action. Dr. Watley argues that criticism is all that some people know how to do, which indicates to him that ”these people need to get a life.” Perhaps, actress Ava Gardner summed it up best about critics: “Hell, I suppose if you stick around long enough, they have to say something nice about you.”
On the contrary, a Constructive Critic points out things that will assist in the personal or professional development of a person. A Petty Fault Finder can always locate some short coming in an individual that is not helpful and a fault that he or she does not have a problem with. In fact, no matter how hard you attempt to correct a problem noted by a Petty Fault Finder, he or she will not be satisfied; a Petty Fault Finder will seek to only locate another problem in this individual’s life.
Great leaders know how to use criticism in a way that can transform an organization. Most people are unwilling to change even when it is out of necessity or survival. Richard Daft, renowned author of Management, notes that change can be problematic for organizational growth.
Employees and managers often resist change. Dr. Daft explains, “Yet most changes will encounter some degree of resistance. Idea champions often discover that other employees are unenthusiastic about their new ideas….People typically resist a change they believe conflicts with their self-interest.”[1] Most managers understand how to control and oversee their organizations.
Few managers have the innate ability to inspire their employees from mediocre to extraordinary performance. That position description requires a leader, not a status quo manager. All great leaders, from President George Washington to Albert Einstein, had their own share of criticism and a merry band of Petty Fault Finders.
Sadly, some individuals never are effective in their positions because they can never seem to manage because of fear of negative criticism. Gareth Jones and Jennifer George, authors of Contemporary Management, explained how bad leadership damages an organization: “When leaders are ineffective, chances are good that their subordinates do not perform to their capabilities, are demotivated, and may be dissatisfied as well.”[2] Consequently, it is important that leaders develop strategies for managing criticism effectively in order to move their organizations to exemplary performance.
Please discuss how to cope with negative criticism in a professional work environment.
Last week, we had a special guest come to our MBA class. Rev. Anthony Rodgers, author of How God Restored My Life, shared with us his personal story that showcased a lifestyle of prestige, power, and wealth. However, this pathway was through illegal and criminal behavior that the average individual would find distasteful.
Rev. Rodger’s was transformed; his life has become a symbol of how individuals can be redeemed and changed. His lifestyle of drugs and crime are demised. In the same vein, some business managers act immorally, unethically, and participate in illegal activities that can get organizations into trouble. Do you remember Enron? BP Oil? There is a laundry list of these organizations.
If organizations are serious about having profitable operations, they must have good ethical systems. Operations management does not exist in a vacuum; other business areas must be considered. Marketing and strategy are underlining principles that must be addressed for organizations selling abroad.
Michael Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of Relationship Selling, argue that customers who reside in other countries pose unique ethical concerns for salespeople and management, especially in (1) cultural differences and (2) differences in corporate selling policies.[1]
Regis McKenna, author of Relationship Marketing, further suggests that effective marketing is the integration of the customer into the design of the product; to design a systematic process for interaction will create substance in the relationship.[2] Creating a good ethical system is critical for success.
First, any meaningful, ethical program must start with senior management behavior. In fact, ethical behavior must start at the top. Salespeople are not the only members of the sales force who face ethical concerns. Management must address significant ethical issues with (a) salespeople, (b) company policies, and (c) international customers and policies.
I do think that organizational culture is the cornerstone for understanding the ethical environment. Trust is the foundation of any meaningful corporate structure. Gareth Jones and Jennifer George, authors of Contemporary Management, maintain that when leaders are ineffective, chances are good that workers will not perform to their capabilities.
Johnston and Marshall further suggest senior management style (do their actions match their words), the established culture of the organization, and external forces can create a climate where unethical or even illegal behavior is tolerated.[3] Therefore, senior managers should lead the way by example.
Second, the organization must evaluate the current corporate culture. There are both written and unwritten rules and behaviors that come into play. For example, Enron senior management demonstrated a lack of moral and ethical judgment that played a critical role in its decision-making (i.e. breaking laws) policies. Therefore, one must review the organizational culture of the organization before attempting to implement an ethics program.
Last, the organization must be committed to a win-win approach. Companies need to have a plan for implementing ethics. However, these plans need to involve the workers. Typically, executives come up with a mandate on corporate policies and HR is forced to implement them. There is little worker involvement.
Yet, ethical conduct impacts everyone. Employees at various levels face ethical issues all the time. Their input would be invaluable. This fact has a great bearing on ethical behavior among employees.
Discuss your professional experience on how ethical decision making can impact business operations.
In my office, I hung a newspaper article prominently on my wall. This 2010 article showcases the top 100 government officials in my area. Surprisingly, the university basketball coach was the top official, at over $2 million. Following suit was a short list of athletic coaches followed by highly noted professors and administrators.
This amazing list furthered stimulated my interest in determining the value of individual skill sets. In some other areas of the country, region, or state, someone would probably determine that these same jobs did not warrant the same financial worth. In fact, individuals within the same organization with the same title and similar professional backgrounds can be found making significant differences in salary. Given these realities, it is easy to see that customer value propositions differ.
Today’s companies must become adapted at determining customer value. However, all customers are not the same. In fact, globalization has created all types of problems for businesses. One of the issues is how to stay ahead of the competition by exploring new markets while keeping the same customer base. This action is not easy.
Many businesses build their profitability on this simple equation. Companies seek to reduce their inputs (outsourcing labor, better technologies) to obtain greater profitability. Yet, the process is often pretty self-serving with little regard to the customer and lesser value on employees.
Therefore, many people might insist that some business simply stumble on what customer value actually is and how it affects their business. For this discussion, value is defined as the net bundle of benefits the customer derives from a product of service.
Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of Relationship Selling, state that the starting point for learning about relationship selling is to understand the customer. A value lesson is learning that the customer is the center point for creating value.
Paul Peter and James Donnelly, authors of Marketing Management, suggest that the starting point in the buying process is the consumer’s recognition of an unsatisfied need. Therefore, the focus must go back to the customer for any sustainable business success. They must be deliberate with their connections with customers and value.
Being strategic conscious about these business relationships is not simple. Ken Favaro, author of Put Value Creation First, further maintains that putting value creation consistently first requires leadership skills, discipline, and perseverance.
He further challenges organizations to demand higher standards from managers who would jeopardize these business relationships. When organizations place value creation as a high priority, organizations will beat their competition.
Given the complexity of customer value, how do businesses stay connected with customers and their ever changing wants and needs?
Picking the right job candidate is not easy. I was given the task of recommending college students for summer employment for my organization. I promptly pulled together a team of both seasoned professionals and recent college grads to make the job selection. We reviewed more than 100 resumes and interviewed several candidates. We had to make these selections quickly.
To my surprise, I was flabbergasted at the lack of employment preparation for by some people. For example, some students did not have the correct phone number listed on their resumes. We did not have time to waste tracking down candidates.
In one situation, we had called a prospect to interview him but missed him on our call to set up an interview. He called us back with a list of times he was available to be interviewed. In other words, he expected us to work our interview schedule around his. Needless to say, we did not call him back.
In other cases, we contacted prospects and asked them two basic questions: (a) why did they want the job and (b) what separated them in terms of skills and abilities for the job. In some cases, the students could not answer those questions. I am sure in hind sight; they would have understood that those types of questions would be asked.
We were fortunate to land two quality candidates. The team continued to be concerned about the lack of understanding by these college students about the job interview process. Because of this, we developed a job strategies checklist to provide universities and college students for our campus visits or university interactions.
Sadly, these miscues in understanding the financial climate and the hiring process of employers could jeopardize their future. In this blog, we will examine the current economic crisis and how students and parents can better position themselves for more employment opportunities.
The current economic forecast looks bleak in the near term for college grads and those preparing to graduate in 2013. The U.S. Labor Department estimates that the unemployment rate for recent college grads between ages 21 to 24 has averaged over 8%.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, recent grads will probably need to settle for low-level positions.[1] In fact, about 52% of employed college grads under age 25 were not working jobs that require a college degree according to a Northeastern University economist.[2]
College grads and current students must find alternative strategies to overcome employment obstacles. Rising tuition costs, a stagnate economy, and lack of career advancement continue to haunt ambitious young professionals.
Seasoned professionals are too cautious to retire early due to the uncertainty in their own future with the rising health care costs as they age. In fact, getting a college education appears to be a big liability and financial load for students.
As the clock struck midnight several days ago, interest rates on federally subsidized Stafford student loans jumped from 3.4% to 6.8% until Congress can change it.[3] Some estimates conclude that the average college student will see an additional $2,600 cost for his or her loan.
According to the Project on Student Debt, two-thirds of 2011 college graduates had an average debt of more than $26,000. Consequently, millions of college grads will see themselves carrying massive college debt loads with dim hopes of finding jobs in their majors.
Columnist Hadley Malcolm summed up this situation best, “Like countless Millennials across the country, they find themselves tethered to that debt load, stuck between the desire to become fully independent adults and not being able to afford the financial and cultural milestones traditionally associated with young adults.”
Employment opportunities have changed because the hiring processes have changed, yet most individuals do not realize this fact. A process is defined as any part of an organization that inputs and transforms them into outputs in hopes of greater value to the organization than the original inputs.[4]
Robert Jacobs, Richard Chase, and Nicholas Aquilano, authors of Operations & Supply Management, note, “Understanding how processes work is essential to ensuring the competitiveness of a company.”
Yet, understanding the hiring process would be an asset to college grads who are competing with their college peers and seasoned professionals. For most college grads, this reality makes it vital to find a good, well-paying job. Yet, most people are in the dark about the job strategies necessary.
Peter Cappelli, author of Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs, explains that employers have shifted their expectations on prospective employees: “With an abundance of workers to choose from, employers are demanding more of job candidates than ever before…To get a job, you have to have that job already. It’s a catch-22 situation for workers – and it’s hurting companies and the economy.” Regardless of where you stand on today’s college students, it is clear that some intervention is necessary if they are to be successful in this troubled market.
With the increases in college debt and decreases in significant job opportunities, both college grads and college students must understand today’s hiring process. Additionally, with the rising cost of a college education, parents cannot afford to idly sit by and watch their child wander aimlessly through college. Individuals can help themselves by becoming knowledgeable in all aspects of the employment process. The road will not be easy, but planning will create the right environment for success in the future.
Please discuss employment processes that have changed since you graduated. Provide valuable employment strategies to recent college grads and current college students.
Last week, I ran into an old friend at the Oak Ridge Post Office. He was a retired professional who I had played noon basketball with in my early years in Oak Ridge. He mentioned that most of the guys had retired from their jobs.
However, he also mentioned that one of the most seasoned professionals had been laid off from this prestigious firm after working for this organization more than 20 years. It was noted that the work had dried up. In fact, most of the local businesses are seeing the budget tightening in the government sector which is critical to the survival of most businesses in the area. Sadly, the financial crisis is not over.
Globalization will continue to drive down prices and force businesses to make hard decisions which impact the basic quality of living. Companies will look to operations management to gain greater efficiency and effectiveness in their systems.
The underpinning thread is how they understand value creation and what it means to customers. In this context, value can be defined as the perceived experience and worth gained from a product or service.[1] Creating value is not easy. Creating value across an international base is almost impossibility for most companies. Therefore, understanding operations management and supply management is a necessity.
Global markets continue to shift the direction of today’s businesses. Companies must be astute to the ever changing value perspectives of customers. According to KPMG 2013 Global Manufacture Outlook, companies should be optimistic. This international report surveyed 335 senior executives in five industries: Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Conglomerates, Engineering and Industrial Products, and Metals.[2]
KPMG notes, “Global manufacturers’ ability to optimize performance and cost in their entire supply chain will be key to helping them become more competitive and resilient…Global manufacturers are building closer relationships with their customers, who in turn expect more due to advances in manufacturing technology.” These organizations are seeking a competitive advantage in several ways:
Increasing transaction activity to take advantage of growth opportunities in global markets, while reassessing operations and product portfolios to control costs.
Viewing their ‘channel partners’ as more of a network and building closer working relationships with their suppliers and other partners to maximize responsiveness to changes in the market. More effective and efficient collaboration enables them to optimize inventory, logistics, and other operational costs.
Improving visibility in supply chain optimization provides a major opportunity for many companies to boost performance, agility, and resilience.
Increasingly placing the supply chain at the center of their strategies to innovate, as they begin to look at suppliers not just as a source of production and logistics but also of ideas.
Investing in breakthrough and incremental innovation to stay competitive. Nearly a third of respondents whose firms are stepping up R&D say their company will invest in breakthrough innovation.
Individuals as well as organization must understand the transformation properties of operations management. Transformation processes relate to utilizing resources to convert inputs to desired outputs.
For example, automobile manufacturers convert primary inputs (i.e. sheet metal, plastics, engine parts) into a desired output (i.e. high quality cars). Yet, products are not the only thing that has a transformation process. Services also follow this paradigm. In the hospital industry, primary inputs (i.e. patients) create a desired output too (i.e. healthy patients).
Robert Jacobs, Richard Chase, and Nicholas Aquilano, authors of Operations & Supply Management, argue the merits of well-constructed organizational systems, especially during global competition: “Transformation processes are used in all types of businesses…Operations and supply management is about learning how to design these transformation processes.” Companies that understand what customers want and the intrinsic value desired by them will need to effectively retool their transformation processes in a cost effective manner.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, there are roughly 5.1 fewer American manufacturing jobs than at the start of 2001.[3] In fact, organizations argue that American worker’s wages have tumbled due to China’s cheap labor (i.e. primary input in the transformation process).
Global competition demands that organizations focus on the ‘small stuff’ as well as the big picture and embrace the attractive properties of operations managements.
Discuss the concept of operations management for today’s organizations.
When I wrote my book, A Call to Destiny: How to Create Effective Ways to Assist Black Boys in America, my co-author and I were able to analyze what was happening to young black boys in America. We found some troubling trends. Without any intervention, young black boys, regardless of their social class, will not survive in the 21st century.
With Father’s Day approaching the nation, the adequacy of fathers will eventually be dissected by media pundits and culture experts. There are 26.4 million fathers in a traditional family environment. Yet, one of the biggest tragedies and failures of our society is the neglect of millions of black males in America that are failing in life. One of the key problems is the abandonment of black fathers to take care of their parenting responsibilities. Over 70% of black children live with a single mother.
The storyline for black boys is frightening. From the low social condition of black boys, it is easy to understand that every major institution has failed them and allowed to them to become the prey of urban culture. Young black males lead every negative statistic you can imagine. They have the worst test scores, the highest drop-out rates, and highest unemployment statistics. While they may fail in school, they become more successful in America’s prison system.
Reggie Jenkins, founder/director of UUNIK Academy of Tennessee, notes, “We are in a state of emergency.” While individuals may find black males missing in honors classes in most high schools, you can be assured that they will make up most of the special education students. For most involved black parents, the problems with their sons happen regardless of socioeconomic standing.
Parents must deal with the calls for medication, special education placement, or holding their child back. Many boys lack any meaningful male involvement.Therefore, an emergency call must go out to fathers! Act now or we will all regret it! Ryan Bomb was born to a biological mother who was the victim of rape; he was adopted as an infant into a family of 13 children.
The adoption was a positive force. In order to combat the fatherlessness, he created the Radiance Foundation. He notes, “We’re calling out men for shirking their responsibilities. This is not a blame game on women. This is all of our responsibilities.”
Last month, President Barack Obama spoke at the Commencement Address at Morehouse College and attempted to speak the issues of personal responsibility for young men. President Obama cautioned them about the common issues that some men make: “We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices…Growing up, I made quite a few myself. Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years, is there’s no longer any room for excuses.”
America is in trouble as it witnesses millions of fathers missing from today’s homes. The black community is no exception. Unfortunately, there are unintended consequences when men don’t take ownership or personal responsibility for being a father.
Despite all of the government and social support available, today’s children still need a strong male role model in their homes.If we allow black boys to become an endangered species, we will be laying the foundation for all American children to eventually suffer the same fate. We must hold on to the hope that things will get better for them.
However, if good people decide to do nothing in the face of this impending danger, it will be a fatal mistake. If so-please forgive us, young brothers, for not saving you. Rest in Peace (RIP) or live.
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