Call and Response: 10 Leadership Lessons from the Black Church

“The Black Church and many of its traditions are a crucial resource in our society for preparing generation after generation of America’s top Black business leadership,” asserts business consultant Smith (Yes Please!) in this insightful exploration. Smith surveyed 155 Black business leaders and found 76% attribute their professional skills and knowledge to growing up in the Black church. Combining her survey results with psychological research, Smith identifies 10 leadership skills commonly learned in the church, such as community organizing, public speaking, and resilience. She models these lessons through real-life stories, like that of former Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall, who held ministry leadership roles as a teenager, which instilled in her a sense of duty and responsibility for her actions. When she later took the reins of a sports organization mired in workplace misconduct and dysfunction, she emphasized the importance of accountability, successfully overhauling HR policies and implementing zero-tolerance harassment standards. A chapter on collaboration is particularly illuminating; Smith draws parallels between church choirs and workplaces, explaining that the listening and blending of voices singers must do “to produce a collective, rich sound” is analogous to the emotional intelligence business leaders must tap into to create an effective team. Executives, religious or not, will find much of use here. (Feb.)