Indeed, many participants in the program have found the program to be the boost they needed to handle being one of a small number or the only Black executive in their company.
"Seeing other people who are in an experience similar to your own helps to deal with isolation," Porter says. "They learn to better understand their organizations and the signals the organization is sending them."
Ronald E. Harrison, senior vice president for global diversity and community affairs for PepsiCo, and a member of the Executive Leadership Council, an organization for African American corporate executives, has collaborated with AALI to provide three customized programs for PepsiCo employees.
"I feel business schools need to sharpen their focus on better preparing all students in learning ‘how to effectively work with, lead and follow people of many different cultures,' " says Harrison, who has spent more than 30 years in corporate management, adding that business schools also need to help people of color to deal with and master all of the issues required to be successful within corporate cultures.
For more information on the Anderson School's executive education programs, visit <www.uclaexeced.com>. The next session of the African American Leadership Institute is scheduled for March 10-14, 2003
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