Fireside Chat, Interview
Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League: Talks at GS Session Highlights
- The dialogue on race in the United States is projected to be a continuous process with a "real sense of urgency" as issues surface to the national level, with the firm anticipating that demographic shifts will make equity, fairness, and justice essential for economic competitiveness and institutional sustainability.
- A significant shift in the demographic mix is expected to occur "in 2019," while the U.S. workforce is anticipated to differ significantly in "2020, 2025, 2030," necessitating a wider talent acquisition net to avoid leaving top talent behind.
- The National Urban League is expected to continue serving "several hundred thousand young people" annually in after-school programs, "about a hundred thousand people" in job training, and "about 12,000 businesses" through entrepreneurship centers, while maintaining its annual publication of the Equality Index which compares 300 data sets across health, education, and business formation.
- The overall racial equity data index is forecasted to show "glacially changed" status over the next decade, with the status of African-Americans expected to remain approximately "71, 72 percent of whites" and Latinos approximately "75 percent of white" based on current trends.
- Goldman Sachs expects to continue its partnership with the National Urban League via the "10,000 small businesses program" to provide free consulting services, aiming to foster a more open and inclusive dialogue that impacts the firm and the economies it serves.
- Leading institutions are expected to treat diversity inclusion as a core obligation integrated into their DNA, requiring leaders to educate themselves on facts and data to navigate the reality that the "playing field" remains unlevel despite historical improvements since the 1950s and 1960s.
- Public opinion is expected to directly influence the company's reputation and frontline employee sentiment, with failure to achieve diversity at every level posing risks to talent retention and economic competitiveness in an age of globalization.