Throughout my career as a healthcare executive, I have learned that leadership is not only about managing operations, meeting regulatory requirements, or achieving organizational goals.
Leadership is also about understanding people, recognizing inequity, and creating an environment where individuals are evaluated by their character, competence, performance, and results not by race, ethnicity, gender, background, or who they know.
As a woman of African descent, born in Chicago and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, I entered healthcare leadership with values deeply rooted in hard work, resilience, discipline, faith, and perseverance.
Those values have carried me through some of the most rewarding and some of the most challenging experiences of my professional career.
The Corporate Leadership Challenge
One fundamental question I have reflected on throughout my career in executive healthcare administration is:
“Why can the exact same behavior be interpreted completely differently depending on who is demonstrating it?”
The Asymmetry of Workplace Perception
These questions deserve honest, unvarnished discussion.
Extensive research has documented systemic disparities in corporate advancement and workplace experiences for people of color:
- McKinsey & Company: Research on race in the workplace found that Black representation declines substantially between entry-level positions and management and senior leadership, while Black employees consistently report concerns regarding fairness, career advancement, executive sponsorship, and true belonging.
- Women in the Workplace (McKinsey & LeanIn.Org): Research examining corporate workplaces has similarly confirmed that women of color experience greater structural barriers to advancement and significantly higher rates of workplace microaggressions than many of their peers.
When People of Color Are Expected to Work Twice as Hard
One of the most difficult and exhausting realities for professionals of color can be the feeling that they must continually and repeatedly demonstrate their competence.
and the expectations immediately become exponentially greater.
and the next question becomes why the problem existed at all.
and your leadership style and composure are immediately questioned.
and suddenly you are described or whispered about as being “difficult.”
and colleagues assume you lack decisive executive presence or drive.
and your self-assurance is reflexively interpreted as aggressive or confrontational.
This creates what workplace research describes as a perpetual need to repeatedly “prove” one's competence.
That does not mean every criticism is rooted in bias. Good leaders must always be willing to receive constructive criticism. But organizations must also be courageous enough to ask: Would this exact same behavior receive the same critical response from a different person? That is where meaningful leadership begins.
The Problem Is Not One Race: It Is Inconsistent Systems
This conversation should not become “people of color versus White people.”
That is not the solution.
The real issue is whether organizations have systems that consistently apply expectations, accountability, recognition, discipline, promotion, and opportunity across every individual.
“The standard should be the standard.”
When operational criteria, performance metrics, and accountability frameworks are applied evenly to all leaders, organizations replace suspicion with trust and politicized favoritism with true meritocracy.
What Effective Corporate Leadership Should Look Like
Organizations genuinely committed to healthcare excellence and ethical culture should regularly audit themselves against these six diagnostic questions:
Consistent Performance Expectations
Are our performance standards, operational metrics, and review rubrics applied with complete consistency across all leaders and departments?
Merit-Based Promotions & Results
Are promotions, leadership appointments, and executive compensation based strictly on demonstrated competence and measurable outcomes?
Equitable Mentorship & Sponsorship
Do professionals of color receive active executive sponsorship, board visibility, and career advocacy, or merely passive, informal networking?
Objective Concern Investigations
Are workplace grievances, allegations, and survey compliance concerns investigated objectively by unbiased third parties, regardless of who raises them?
Universal Accountability for Leaders
Are senior administrators held accountable for toxic conduct or compliance oversights, regardless of their position, tenure, or internal alliances?
Psychological Safety & Anti-Retaliation
Do employees feel truly safe speaking openly about inequity and operational vulnerabilities without fear of retaliation, marginalization, or career penalty?
These questions are not about creating division. They are about building institutional trust.
What My Experience Taught Me
My journey through healthcare operations and executive consulting has taught me a profound truth: you cannot control every perception of you.
What You Cannot Control
- You cannot control someone else's unexamined bias.
- You cannot control who chooses to support or sponsor you.
- You cannot control whether someone misunderstands your decisive leadership style.
- You cannot control corporate politics and hidden agendas.
What You Can Always Control
- Your integrity: never compromising your character.
- The quality of your work: operating with relentless excellence.
- How you treat people: leading with dignity, empathy, and grace.
- Continuous learning: expanding your technical and executive mastery.
- Accountability: owning outcomes and holding others to high standards.
- Your boundaries: refusing to lower your standards simply to make someone else comfortable.
My strong Christian faith has also played an indispensable role in helping me navigate difficult seasons. It has taught me perseverance, humility, forgiveness, and the crucial importance of remaining grounded when circumstances are challenging.
The Kay Consulting Group Perspective
These convictions are the foundation upon which I established Kay Consulting Group, LLC.
In long-term care and healthcare administration, our approach to consulting goes far beyond preparing a building for an upcoming survey. We partner with healthcare organizations to build sustainable operational ecosystems where:
“Diversity alone does not create an equitable organization. Leadership accountability does. Hiring diverse employees is only the beginning. Organizations must also create environments where diverse professionals can develop, advance, lead, and succeed.”
A Message to Women of Color and Women of African Descent
Do not allow difficult experiences to convince you that you do not belong.
You belong wherever your competence, preparation, experience, and leadership have earned you a place.
✦ Never lower your standards to gain acceptance.
✦ Lead with excellence. Lead with integrity.
✦ Lead with humility. Lead with courage.
✦ And when you earn your seat at the table, make room for someone else to rise.
References
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Race/Color Discrimination and Prohibited Employment Policies and Practices. Federal law prohibits employment discrimination based on race or color and covers hiring, promotion, assignments, pay, training, and other terms and conditions of employment. (EEOC)
- McKinsey & Company. Race in the Workplace: The Black Experience in the U.S. Private Sector. Research examining representation, advancement, sponsorship, and workplace experiences of Black employees. (McKinsey & Company)
- McKinsey & Company / LeanIn.Org. Women in the Workplace. Research examining advancement, workplace experiences, microaggressions, and barriers affecting women of color. (McKinsey & Company)
- McKinsey & Company. How to Interrupt Bias in the Workplace. Research describing recurring patterns of workplace bias, including the pressure some groups experience to repeatedly prove competence. (McKinsey & Company)