In an interview with the Washington Street Journal, Mellody Hobson, Starbuck’s new chairwoman, said that we are in “civil rights 3.0.”
Hobson is the only Black chairwoman of an S&P 500 company and claims that throughout her career she has seen a lot of pledges to increase workplace diversity come and go.
Hobson says in today’s world, “It’s going to be super hard to be a Fortune 500 company without a diverse person on your board.”
When asked what grade she would give the US in terms of board diversity, she answered “B-minus.” She stated that “white men make up 30% of the U.S. population and 70% of the board seats” but she has seen a lot of change in the last year and the US is headed in the right direction.
