2010 African-American Summit Welcome

Welcome to the 6th Annual Diversity and Leadership Conference

Your being here clearly demonstrates the passion that you have for diversity and inclusion.  Therefore we’re committed to making sure that you leave here with the knowledge needed to make a difference.  Nothing is more real than the daily battles that we face to make our society a more inclusive one -- not only in Corporate America, but across the Global Corporate Community.

We continue to make progress, but what lessons are lost as each new generation takes the reins?  We need to continue to build on the foundation
that we’ve established for cultural diversity and inclusion.

We need to understand that through communication -- asking the tough questions and understanding the frank and honest answers that we receive,
only then can we start to move forward.  Because through this understanding we can build bridges to close the gaps in communication, that have plagued
us for so long.

Our conference this year seeks to do just that through frank discussions, cross cultural dialogue and better understanding.  Therefore, my first challenge to you is to take what we have learned here and use it to help others understand.

We will seek answers and solutions to questions that have plagued us, yet
those answers and solutions will mean nothing, unless we put them into practice and test them in the Corporate Community.

You can help by asking the tough questions, challenging those with the answers, and contributing new ideas to make the world a better place.  Just because we have always done it one way, does not necessarily make it right, nor does it mean that we cannot change it.  My second challenge to you is to leave here with a greater passion than when you came.

My closing challenge to you as professional thought leaders is that you open your hearts and minds -- communicate across the diversity spectrum and seek to understand others.  At the start of a new decade, I personally think you will find this conference as one of the most rewarding you have attended.

Otis L. Scott, Jr.
President
Greater San Antonio Advisory Board