How Colin Powell became a four-star general. Best practices indiversity management

Colin Powell's promotion did not just happen.




Clifford Alexander, who was Secretary of the US Army from 1977 to 1981, explains how he held up a list of proposed generals because of lack of diversity. He then gave instructions to look at all records of eligible colonels to ensure ratings were based only on fair and equitable criteria.

His board followed his directives and .... Colin Powell emerged on the candidate list.

As he explains in the NY Times article Colin Powell's Promotion: The Real Story "He did not get anything extra and his white colleagues did not get anything extra either. The rise of Colin Powell through the ranks of the United States Army to brigadier general had to do with his performance as a soldier”.

This is a great success story of a good diversity practice. I had heard about it a long time ago and today I mentioned it to some friends. Then I googled it and I was lucky to find this excellent article published in the NY TImes.

Entradas populares de este blog

¿Qué es la ecualización fiscal? Expatriados (7/10)

La ecualización fiscal es un concepto complejo. En la entrada anterior hablamos de los impuestos y presentamos la Introducción a los impuestos de los expatriados . Uno de los elementos más importantes a la hora de entender tu expatriación es saber cómo se van a tratar los aspectos fiscales.  A la hora de afrontar una expatriación, hay que distinguir si nos movemos en una Política de Brutos o estamos Ecualizados: Compensación en Brutos : en este sistema, cualquier compensación de la empresa se define en términos brutos (es decir, antes de impuestos), siendo el Expatriado el beneficiario o perjudicado de los mayores o menores impuestos que deba pagar en cada momento. En la compensación definida por la empresa, se puede entender que va incluida una cierta compensación por el efecto de la fiscalidad de cada país. Ecualización : en este caso, la empresa ofrece una protección fiscal al Expatriado por la que se pretende mantener la misma carg...
Leer más

What is Tax Equalization?

Tax  Equalization is an agreement whereby the Company offers the Expatriates a certain tax protection that is intended to maintain the same tax burden as if they had not moved from their country of origin . This is a complex matter. One of the most important topics as an Expat is to understand your tax implications. In short, t here are two basic tax policies around this topic: Gross Compensation : In this scheme, any compensation paid by the company is defined in gross terms (i.e. before taxes), being the Expat the risk taker of lower or higher taxes to be paid during the assignment. Tax Equalization : in this case, the company offers the expatriate a certain tax protection that is intended to maintain the same tax burden (in relation to their employment with the company) as if they had not moved from their country of origin. The advantage of this alternative is that it allows the company and the Expat to negotiate neglecting t...
Leer más