Press play above to watch CEO-to-CEO with rolling out CEO Munson Steed and INROADS, Inc. president and CEO Forest Harper, Jr.
Forest Harper, Jr. is the president and CEO of INROADS, Inc., the world’s leading nonprofit organization for diverse talent solutions in corporate America. Among the many services provided by INROADS is the provision of salaried corporate and government internships and corporate and community leadership development for underrepresented leaders.
Having fostered partnerships with 250 Fortune 500 companies, Forest’s leadership has strengthened INROADS’ financial position by increasing its partnership network by 40 percent and expanding its alumni base to more than 30,000 members worldwide. INROADS’ partnering organizations include some of the most influential companies in the world, and the INROADS national board is comprised of several members from Fortune 100 companies.
What would you like individuals to know about your title and what it means to you?
I’ve been in various leadership roles for the military, corporate America, nonprofits, and even in my church. The title of CEO brings along a different kind of meaning, and the first thing it means is taking care of people who you’re depending on to do the work. Number two is decision-making. CEOs are charged with decisions they make every day, every hour, you may not even see half the time how they get to the decision. When they make it, there’s a lot of weight on their shoulders regarding the outcome of that decision. The third thing is accountability. CEOs are responsible for holding accountable, what it promises they will deliver, whether it’s in the private sector, nonprofit, or higher education. The last thing it comes down to, it’s really about the human side of what difference are you trying to make.
What has your mission at INROADS meant to you?
It became very easy, but it also became very humbling at the same time. Rarely do we all get a responsibility – without sight of our children – to be able to take care of the next generation. That’s a task that’s higher than any mountain, any building you can climb on, because when you are given charge of helping the next generation, that means that in your backpack is the future and someone who puts you in charge of helping with the future. With that in mind, when the opportunity came for INROADS, it was about getting the future-ready, and that future is what I take with a lot of pride every time I talk to a student or a parent, or the community on schools.
Tell us about your business.
INROADS has been in existence for over 52 years. We were born out of the civil rights era and I heard Martin Luther King Jr. speak. He looked at the disparities in opportunities for Black and Brown kids going into corporate America, and he wanted to do something about it. It was thousands of them, but he could only do it with the help of corporations. He went to corporate America and he first started with 17 companies, with 27 students. Now, we partnered with over 250 Fortune 500 companies and over 1,000 students a year that we impact. Over the years, we have culminated over 35,000 alumni that are from leadership in the community to the C-suite.
What is your conversation with the individuals in corporate America that are CEOs and what would you suggest to those who aren’t?
We believe that INROADS is a disruptor in the success track for students that we actually help. If you’re a CEO sitting out there, and you want to make a difference in that commitment you make, think about partnering with organizations like INROADS, UNCF, Thurgood Marshall, and others, to be able to get to those marginalized students early in the pipeline. Because when you do, and they get into those professional jobs, we begin to close the racial wealth gap in America. We can close that racial wealth gap, we can give prosperity, not just hope, but a reality. I say to CEOs, if you want to do more, go outside the walls of your company, not just write a check, but also involve yourself in getting those students to come in and have the experiences. And we’re working with partners by inroads to bring them to your company.
What are some principles that your company stands by?
People who have more unique skills than you think they do. Don’t take it as if people only have a limited amount of skill, give them opportunities, let them fail, pick them back up and let them skill again. The second one is respect for people. Let’s not judge, before we respect. Respect people because you don’t know where they’ve come from, you don’t know what they’ve gone through and what their journeys are. They can have opportunities in front of them that we never imagined and look at them today. We allow all of our students to bring out what we call their unique skills. Everybody is born with a birthmark and we believe that everybody is born with unique skills. Let them let those unique skills come out and they will surprise you every single time.
What are some tips that you would give to young CEOs?
Be a great and better listener. You only can make good, sound decisions if you’re listening. If you’re not listening, then you don’t take in the full clarity of how you can be a decision-maker. The second one is to be a good and sound leader of judgment. Judgment is one of those skills that are not in the Harvard review, it’s really what you grew up on. Judgment is what we depend on as parents when we send our 16-year-old boy out for the first time to drive a car. You can’t give them every lesson, but you can lean on them for good judgment. Who you let in the car, and who you don’t let in the car. How you drive up and present yourself. Those are the biggest parts that I would say a CEO needs to embrace as a younger person going up the ranks to become a CEO.
What should you know about what your board’s role is and should be?
If you have never been on the nominating committee, take an opportunity to be a participant in the nominating committee and how the board members are interviewed. It will share with you some of the traits and skills and expert roles you’re looking for, for board members in those interview questions. Secondly, remember that board duty in a nonprofit is all about board service. It’s about board members understanding the mission and the passion for what you’re doing because your service is respected. After all, it’s volunteered. Nobody gets paid on a nonprofit board. You’re there for the mission, to ensure the judiciary responsibilities that you have, and to ensure that the mission is carried through to its greatest skill. You’re accountable for every move you make.
Why is professional currency important?
Professional currency says all of us have currency. It’s the currency of appreciation. All it takes is a note. All it takes is a phone call, text, or whatever it may be, but congratulate people when you see them achieve. It gives you a sense of good feeling that says “I just complimented someone.” I still do it today. If I’m on LinkedIn, or on somewhere else, and somebody gets a promotion, I click the like button, and then I say congratulations. That’s simple currency. We all have it. We got a lot of it. We just need to act on it. Use that currency, because every time we can make a human being feel good about what they just did, it’s going to make their day and my day go better.
