Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Think Black CEOs are scarce? It’s worse than you think
Organization | Diversity & Inclusion
April 29, 2021 – Black employees aren’t being promoted to leadership positions at the same rate as others. Combined with higher attrition rates among Black employees, that means that companies often lack Black leaders and miss out on diversity’s known benefits.
To read the article, see “The Black experience at work in charts,” April 15, 2021.
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Visual form
Single-panel dot-field comparison chart.
Layout / body structure
The chart centers one large circular field of dots and then pairs it with a left-side parity note and a right-side callout for the current count. Reader first sees the circular field, then uses the left annotation to understand what the highlighted ring represents, and finally lands on the right-hand current-number box as the shortfall summary.
What is being compared
It compares the number of Black CEOs currently leading Fortune 500 companies with the number that would exist if Black representation matched the Black share of the US population.
Measurement system
The measure is a count of Fortune 500 CEOs. The chart uses a 500-dot field to represent the full Fortune 500 universe, highlights 60 dots as the parity benchmark, and then prints the current number as 4 in the callout box on the right.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Most dots in the circular field are gray, while a band of blue dots traces the parity benchmark around the outer portion of the circle. The separate callout box on the right isolates the actual present count, which makes the difference between the large parity ring and the tiny current figure feel visually stark.
Main takeaway from the visual
The current number of Black CEOs in the Fortune 500 is far below parity. The chart makes that gap feel enormous because the parity target occupies a visible ring of 60 highlighted dots while the present total is reduced to a single printed number of 4.
Key standout values or extremes
The two anchor values are 60 Black CEOs at parity with roughly 12 percent Black population density and a current number of 4 Black CEOs. That means the actual count shown is only a small fraction of the parity benchmark printed on the page.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.