African American Leadership

The Black community is currently at a crossroad of incredible challenges and untapped potential. This book reaches back to honor the legacies of great Black leaders who led intentionally by service and persevered on purpose. From freedom fighters to business pioneers, these powerful stories offer timeless lessons and practical methods of application for today’s leaders. This book is a call to return, not to the past, but to the past principles that made progress possible. It is a reminder that servant leadership is not weakness, but a force we possess to restore, rebuild, and reclaim the ...

General Lloyd James Austin III isn't just a name on a document, he's a living testament to American grit and leadership. Imagine a man born and raised in the heart of the Deep South, with the warmth of his Alabama roots and the unwavering determination forged in Georgia clay. That's where Austin's story begins, a story that's etched in the annals of military history. He's a four-star general, yes, but that's just the ribbon on the package. Austin's career is a symphony of command, a testament to his ability to orchestrate the chaos of war into strategic brilliance. He led the 3rd Infantry ...

What does it take to achieve your personal and professional goals? When is the right time to take calculated risks, and how do you prepare for the moment when opportunity presents itself? If anyone can show you how to do this, it’s Nicole Lynn. As the first Black female agent to represent a top-three NFL draft pick, Nicole worked her way from childhood poverty to become a Wall Street financial analyst, then attorney, and now top agent to elite athletes and entertainers.

At just 34 years old, Ibrahim Traoré became the youngest head of state in the world — a soldier turned revolutionary leader who has captured global attention. In the heart of West Africa, Burkina Faso has faced decades of political instability, poverty, and insecurity. When Traoré rose to power in 2022, he promised not just to change, but to transform. This book tells the remarkable true story of Ibrahim Traoré’s journey: from his humble beginnings in the small town of Kera, through his years as a student and soldier, to his rise as the president of a nation in crisis. It explores ...

The first Black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company looks back at her life and her career at Xerox, sharing unique insights on American business and corporate life, the workers she has always valued, racial and economic justice, how greed is threatening democracy, and the obstacles she’s conquered being Black and a woman.

This definitive box set includes all the landmark speeches of the great orator and American leader Martin Luther King, Jr., from his inspirational "I Have a Dream" to his firey "Give Us the Ballot." Comprised of recordings previously included in A Call to Conscience and A Knock at Midnight, The Essential Box Set is a must-have for any home, library, or school collection.

Three powerful African-American female executives celebrate their gender and heritage as they share their secrets for success in this effective guide for businesswomen. Ways to communicate thoughtfully, trust yourself, and exude self-esteem are just a few tactics the authors discuss for those who want to enter the workforce as confident leaders.

John H. Johnson, the remarkable entrepreneur who founded the Ebony publishing empire, tells the story of his success. The wealthiest African-American in the US today, Johnson shares his rags to riches saga, from the many obstacles that confronted him to his ultimate triumph.

The Spiritual Development and growth in the modern church is diminishing due largely to a lack of understanding about the way church leadership is to function. This lack of knowledge is common to all levels of the church. This book is an expositional analysis of servant leadership that is based upon the biblical model of Matthew 20:20-34. The text draws church leadership to the understanding that the biblical model of servant leadership helps us not to preach human authority, power, and control, but rather creates an opportunity for mutual respect, genuine love, and strong, healthy ...

From one of the first and few women of color to reach the C-suite in Silicon Valley, Apple’s former chief of HR and first VP of inclusion and diversity, comes a heartfelt story of growing up Black and female in a world with little regard for either and a practical road map for embodying the best in yourself and emboldening others along the way.

“Dear Black Man: It’s Time to Come Home” is more than a book—it is a call to your soul. In this powerful and emotional guide, Joseph Ejike Ojih (Ph.D.) challenges today’s Black men to wake up, rise up, and return to their true identity as leaders, fathers, husbands, and kings. It doesn’t point fingers at racism or the system. Instead, it looks you in the eye and says, “This is your time. Take back your legacy.” Through ten powerful chapters, Dr. Ojih walks you through the mirror of self-reflection, the ruins of lost family values, and the battlefield of broken communities. ...

Black women continuously navigate systems that were never intended for them while playing by a set of rules they never agreed to or were ever trained for. In this book, Francine Parham shares her knowledge as a Black woman and a former global executive of two major corporations on how to move up in the workplace while maintaining a sense of sanity. The key skill—one that Black women are rarely taught—is understanding the power dynamics within your organization and learning how to “shift the power” to your advantage.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics is filled with personal stories that bring to life heroic figures we all know and introduce listeners to some of those who’ve worked behind the scenes but are still hidden. Whatever their perch, the Colored Girls, which is what Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry, and Minyon Moore call themselves - are always focused on the larger goal of “hurrying history” so that every American - regardless of race, gender or religious background - can have a seat at the table. This audiobook tells their story.

Sociologist and law professor Kevin Woodson knows firsthand what life at a top law firm feels like as a Black man. Examining the experiences of more than one hundred Black professionals at prestigious firms, Woodson discovers that their biggest obstacle in the workplace isn’t explicit bias but racial discomfort, or the unease Black employees feel in workplaces that are steeped in Whiteness. The Black Ceiling is a vital resource for leaders at preeminent firms, Black professionals and students, managers within mostly White organizations, and anyone committed to cultivating diverse workplaces.

In Diversity, Inc., award-winning journalist Pamela Newkirk shines a bright light on the diversity industry, asking the tough questions about what has been effective - and why progress has been so slow. Newkirk highlights the rare success stories, sharing valuable lessons about how other industries can match those gains. But as she argues, despite decades of hand-wringing, costly initiatives, and uncomfortable conversations, organizations have, apart from a few exceptions, fallen far short of their goals.

"She Was My Queen Until Welfare Took Her Crown" is not just a book—it is a cry from the soul, a warning, and a call to rise. With fiery passion and unflinching honesty, Dr. Joseph Ejike Ojih paints a gripping picture of how government systems designed to provide relief ended up dethroning queens, disempowering kings, and leaving families fractured. The pages confront a painful truth: welfare dependency has too often replaced dignity with despair, and survival with chains of control. Yet this is not a story of defeat—it is one of resilience, love, and hope. Dr. Ojih speaks of Black women...

Hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and inspiring, Conversations in Black offers sage wisdom for navigating race in a radically divisive America, and, with help from his mighty team of Black intelligentsia, veteran journalist Ed Gordon creates hope and a timeless new narrative on what the future of Black leadership should look like and how we can get there.

Chains to Innovations: The Extraordinary Journey of Freedom, Invention, and LeadershipUnlock the inspiring story of resilience, creativity, and triumph over adversity with "From Chains to Innovations: The Extraordinary Journey of Freedom, Invention, and Leadership." Immerse yourself in a captivating historical fiction that takes you on a transformative journey through the life of Henry Boyd, the visionary African American inventor known for his groundbreaking creation, the Boyd Bedstead.Step back in time and witness the remarkable transformation of a man born into the shackles of slavery, ...

On April 4, 1968, the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., shocked the nation. Later that month, the Reverend John Brooks, a professor of theology at the College of the Holy Cross who shared Dr. King’s dream of an integrated society, drove up and down the East Coast searching for African American high school students to recruit to the school, young men he felt had the potential to succeed if given an opportunity. Among the twenty students he had a hand in recruiting that year were Clarence Thomas and Theodore Wells....

In this thought-provoking and heartbreaking memoir, an award-winning writer tells the story of his father, John Stanley Ford, the first Black software engineer at IBM, revealing how racism insidiously affected his father’s view of himself and their relationship.