Kenneth Frazier on workplace segregation
From International Executive of the Year 2022: Kenneth C. Frazier · · Executives' Club of Chicago
“I learned something very important which was and I'm going to be very honest how segregated the workplace is because if you worked at bookbinders there were certain jobs for black people and certain jobs for white people and there was not only that sort of dividing line around race but obviously there was a huge economic difference and the work was very hard and it convinced me that everything that my dad told me my dad was a janitor about going to school was 100% right.”
On , Kenneth Frazier, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Merck & Co., spoke about workplace segregation during International Executive of the Year 2022: Kenneth C. Frazier on Executives' Club of Chicago.
About Kenneth Frazier
Kenneth Frazier, former chairman and CEO of Merck, has spoken extensively about corporate leadership, racial equity, and the importance of taking public stands on social issues. In 2022, he was recognized as International Executive of the Year by the Executives' Club of Chicago. Frazier has described his decision to resign from President Trump's business council after the 2017 Charlottesville comments, stating that he felt an obligation to stand up against what he called "intolerance and extremism." He said his board unanimously supported him speaking to the company's values rather than as an individual. Frazier has also discussed the OneTen initiative, a coalition of companies committed to hiring one million Black Americans without four-year degrees over ten years, describing it as a way to create "family sustaining wages" by making jobs skills-based rather than credentials-based. Frazier has been outspoken about voting rights, noting that he helped organize a full-page ad signed by about 700 business leaders opposing what he described as undue interference with voting. He has said that "it's a mistake for corporations to take democracy for granted" and that companies should insist on "everyone who's an eligible voter having a fair and equitable opportunity to cast their vote." During the COVID-19 pandemic, Frazier emphasized the need for broad, equitable access to vaccines, stating that "unless all of us are safe none of us are safe." He has also criticized what he called "vaccine nationalism" and urged transparency in vaccine development, saying that pauses in clinical trials should reassure the public that safety systems are working.