Mellody Hobson seems surprised when I ask her whether she has encountered discrimination because of her race.
I'm trying not to appear presumptuous, but suspect she probably has, and she quickly confirms it. "I'm black," says Hobson, who is one of corporate America's shining stars. "So, yes."
More Digital Life Videos
- Video duration
- 01:19
Google's diversity troubles
Google's diversity troubles
Google's new head of diversity has denounced an employee who suggested women don't get ahead in tech jobs because of biological differences.
Up Next
FBI investigating Uber over Lyft
- Video duration
- 01:20
- Video duration
- 01:20
FBI investigating Uber over Lyft
FBI investigating Uber over Lyft
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing to see if Uber Technologies used software to illegally interfere with its closest competitor, Lyft.
Up Next
Samsung boss gets five year's jail
- Video duration
- 01:01
- Video duration
- 01:01
Samsung boss gets five year's jail
Samsung boss gets five year's jail
The billionaire head of South Korea's Samsung Group, Jay Y Lee, paid bribes and was involved in embezzlement and perjury.
Up Next
Microsoft Surface devices fail on reliability: report
- Video duration
- 01:17
- Video duration
- 01:17
Microsoft Surface devices fail on ...
Microsoft Surface devices fail on reliability: report
The breakage rate for Microsoft's Surface devices is significantly worse than for other manufacturers' laptops and tablets, according to Consumer Reports.
Up Next
The human microchip is here
- Video duration
- 01:25
- Video duration
- 01:25
The human microchip is here
The human microchip is here
Implanted under the skin, a Swedish company is offering human microchips to their employees to replace keys and cards, but at what cost to their privacy?
Up Next
Concept Mars Rover unveiled by NASA
- Video duration
- 00:34
- Video duration
- 00:34
Concept Mars Rover unveiled by NASA
Concept Mars Rover unveiled by NASA
NASA displays a 'concept' Mars rover passenger vehicle that the space agency hopes will help inspire the public about interplanetary travel.
Up Next
Jeff Sessions announces dark web shut down
- Video duration
- 01:38
- Video duration
- 01:38
Jeff Sessions announces dark web shut down
Jeff Sessions announces dark web shut down
US Justice Department officials are announcing a takedown of an internet marketplace for drugs, counterfeit goods, weapons, hacking tools and other illicit items.
Google's diversity troubles
Google's new head of diversity has denounced an employee who suggested women don't get ahead in tech jobs because of biological differences.
The president of Ariel Investments, a boutique firm with more than $US15 billion ($A18.8 billion) in assets under management, is a director of The Estee Lauder Companies, Starbucks Corporation and Dreamworks Animation, and in Sydney to promote Ariel's office set up here more than two years ago. But we quickly get caught up in discussions about gender and politics.
Trump's legacy
The Chicago-headquartered firm is one of the largest African-American mutual fund companies in the US. It invests in all-size companies around the world, but as yet doesn't own any Australian shares (Hobson notes they are "underweight" in bank and mining shares).
The Sydney office, managed by Ian Webber, recently landed aviation superannuation fund AvSuper as a client (Ariel will manage about $110 million in offshore equities for the fund) and an institution based in the Middle East.
Hobson doesn't believe uncertainty surrounding Trump and North Korea are significantly weighing on the global sharemarket, but is worried about the impact Trump's rhetoric could have on future generations.
In the era of Donald Trump, perhaps no issue has galvanised Americans more than race. When Trump initially failed to criticise white nationalists after the attack in Charlottesville in which three people died and dozens were injured – he waited until two days later to directly condemn the supremacists – Hobson felt deflated.
Civil Rights 2.0?
"It's surreal and sad," she says, adding that she still respects the American presidential office and always will.
"I don't worry about my own destiny, I worry about our kids … who don't have the resources or the life experience to put this in context. And that this could sow seeds of distrust and anger and hate that could take generations to fix."
Hobson hopes Americans turn division into unity. Some are calling it Civil Rights 2.0. "We have the opportunity to make sure we speak our truth and not be bystanders and sit on the sidelines," she says.
Even with her public profile – in 2015 Hobson was named in Time Magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2016 photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the prestigious Pirelli Calendar, and is a regular contributor for CBS News – Hobson still gets confused as the "help".
'I'm one of you'
"I've been in meetings where men at the table don't make eye contact, and I'm like, I'm president!," Hobson says. "They don't know they're doing it. It's subconscious."
I've been in meetings where men at the table don't make eye contact, and I'm like, I'm president!
Mellody Hobson, Ariel Investments
She recalls going on a business-related California retreat and being transported on a golf cart when a male member on the trip turned to her and asked how long she'd worked at the retreat. "I was like, 'I don't. I'm one of you'."
That's just one example. There are numerous others. "I've been thought to be a flight attendant many many times," she says.
"I've told stories about people coming to my office and giving me their coats and requesting that I hang them up and get coffee – which I dutifully do. And then I come in and sit at the head of the table. It's awkward. It happens less so now, because I am known. But it used to happen a lot."
No Google memo admiration
The infamous 10-page anti-diversity Google memo demonstrated that the corporate world needs to "stop admiring the problem. Act".
Yet the biggest barrier for women advancing their careers isn't just sexist attitudes held by some men; there's also the fact that women often leave the workforce to have and take care of children.
"I'm in an incredibly unique situation ... to have people who can help sustain me and my family while I am away," Hobson says. "The same is true of my husband [she is married to American filmmaker and Star Wars creator George Lucas].
"I cannot tell you how much respect and admiration I have for women who have to carry this burden on their own … I was one of six children of a single mother. I lived and saw first-hand how hard it is."
Evangelist of sorts
She says this is why she is an "evangelist" for financial literacy. "We don't learn about investing in school," she says.
And financial literacy courses available outside of formal education are not targeting the right issues. "It is not about reading a utility bill," she says. "It is about understanding the power of compounding."
Hobson continually draws quotes from Warren Buffet during our interview, but now cites Albert Einstein who said: "compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn't … pays it."
"It can work for you in terms of making your money grow," Hobson says, "or it can work against you in terms of debt and high interest. Understanding that can profoundly affect a family."
Life lessons
Irrespective of any financial literacy issues, Hobson received a decent education. The Princeton University graduate also learnt early in life about the harsh realities of being an African American woman.
In a recent TED talk called Colour Blind or Colour Brave?, Hobson explained how as a seven-year-old she'd returned home from a friend's birthday where she was the only black child invited.
Her mother, Dorothy Ashley, instead of asking her questions like, "Did you have fun?" or "How was the cake?", looked at her and said, "How did they treat you?"
"I was a child, and she said, 'They won't always treat you well'," she says. "It was foreshadowing what would come to toughen me up. To make sure that I wasn't defeated by some of the things that were inevitably going to happen and have happened."
No retribution
For the TED talk, Hobson wears a Valentino outfit – what she calls her "uniform". It's a reference to another incident, in 2006. She had accompanied her friend and politician Harold Ford, who was running a Tennessee Senate campaign, on a trip to New York.
They were heading to a lunch, where Ford was due to speak, but instead the receptionist confused them as hotel staff and led them into a secluded room before asking, "Where are your uniforms?"
"There's nothing wrong with being help," Hobson says. "But it's very wrong that we presume people of colour are in a subservient position. That's problematic."
She's not about retribution. "Hopefully we can enlighten," she says. "There are times you can't help but be angry and upset, but I really try to be elegant. I really try to use the opportunity to educate in such a way that I don't come across as an angry black woman, because that's what many people think we are."
Obama love
If anything turned this stereotype on its head it was former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama. Hobson tears up when she speaks about them.
"I love Obama. And Michelle. I was so grateful for them. They were such stunning people. We were lucky to have them. They were great symbols for our society."
In her most recent Christmas card for friends and family, she borrowed a quote from Barack Obama: "There's never been anything false about hope."
"That's why even in the midst of this, I can be very very hopeful," she says.
0 comments
New User? Sign up