Idiot Who Founded DIGITALGUESTLIST.com | Rebel With A Cause | Hired Gun | Analytics Junkie | AntiHero | Serial Envelope Pusher | Optimist/Cynic
Last week, my fraternity’s college chapter group forwarded a link to an Uptown Magazine article entitled “Black Fraternities at 100: Are They Fulfilling Their Legacy?”. And the author is pretty much dead on. When I asked my frat brothers what they thought, one in particular stood out – we are still holding true to our objective of developing leaders.
Good response, but is it time to alter the objective based on the current problems/needs of the African-American race? I say “yes”, and I propose a new way to solve these problems. AND I strongly recommend using a new process (Lean Startup) to develop the solutions.
Our Problems
Too many and too complex to name. We need an entire team dedicated to understanding the problems, and the types of people experiencing them (customer segments).
Solution
Ironically, the day before I read the article, I thought black fraternities are like branches of the military: Alphas (Marines), Navy (Kappas), Army (Omegas), Air Force (Sigmas), Coast Guard (Iotas), whose primary responsibility is to protect the African-American race from all enemies both foreign (non-AF-AM) and domestic (AF-AM).
From a strategic standpoint, the fraternities should not be on the front lines. There are enough non-profits/volunteers involved in “hand-to-hand” combat. In a large city like Atlanta, I’m sure there are 500 organizations (including churches) with programs for black youth. Do the fraternities need to make it 505? Heck, many of these brothers are involved with community service outside of their fraternities. Why add onto it?
If we assume the fraternities hold some of our most talented men, wouldn’t there talent be best utilized in higher-level strategy roles? Imagine an Atlanta where the graduate chapter of the fraternities assisted with connecting those 500 organizations to each other, funding sources, and complimentary 3rd party organizations. The sum of the organizations could be 1,500 instead of 500 or the 250 (which is closer to reality).
Taking a page from the Customer Development handbook, the fraternities should be the problem team (focused on identifying the problems), and local non-profits should be the solution team (focused on building a solution to said problems). The sum of these teams is an ecosystem with dramatically increased odds of eliminating our most pressing problems (and there are many).
Why This Won’t Happen
the sad reality is these organizations (fraternities and non-profits) aren’t focused on seeing the problems get solved, they are focused on attempting to solve the problems in way they think is best. Regardless of whether they’re making any progress or not. And why?
Ego, money, and the press.
Ego: they all think their way is best.
Money: if these problems end up getting solved, many people will be without a job.
Press: they want all of the positive press from organizing/executing community activities for themselves.
Also, please spare me the “you’re not active so you can’t complain” crap. Doesn’t faze me one bit, and doesn’t make anything I wrote any less true.
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Beautiful vision of a solution. Though I’m not a member of a Greek Organization, I’ve contemplated how they can use their network and numbers to actually serve the black community.
I could imagine that if the best and brightest were to unify, problems in the black community would be easy to manage, and via using the technique that you mentioned in your blog post, they would obliterate challenges or opposition.
Sadly, at the surface (which is all I can comment on), it seems that they effectively divide the best and brightest in the black community, rather than come together to solve the problems.
All things considered, you ended on a pessimistic note which I would have to also agree with.
Dare I say, now what?
I would argue NOW is a more important time than ever for the black community to come together. In the coming years, we will face more challenges than ever and like Nelly used to say “WE ALL WE GOT”
Is the NPHC’s contribution to a unifying movement a pipe dream?
not a pipe dream, but they aren’t solving the problems either (which is a complete waste of everyone’s talent, time, and energy).