Navigating Structural Racism in Business: Understanding Adaptive and Technical Challenges for Black Entrepreneurs

Adaptive or Technical

To fully comprehend the impact of structural racism on Black business owners, it is crucial to understand the difference between adaptive and technical challenges.

The business landscape is fraught with numerous challenges, but for Black entrepreneurs, these obstacles often intertwine with the pervasive issue of structural racism. To fully comprehend the impact of structural racism on Black business owners, it is crucial to understand the difference between adaptive and technical challenges.

Understanding Adaptive and Technical Challenges

Technical challenges are problems with known solutions that can be implemented by applying existing knowledge or expertise. They are often straightforward, requiring changes in skills or processes but not fundamental shifts in values or behaviors (Heifetz, Grashow, & Linsky, 2009).

On the other hand, adaptive challenges are complex issues that cannot be solved by technical solutions alone. They require changes in values, beliefs, roles, relationships, and approaches (Heifetz et al., 2009). Structural racism and anti-Blackness are examples of adaptive challenges because they are deeply ingrained in society and cannot be eradicated by simple policy changes or technical fixes.

Impacts on Black Business Owners

Structural racism presents both technical and adaptive challenges for Black business owners. Technical challenges include discriminatory lending practices and limited access to capital, which can be addressed through policy changes and financial reforms (Fairlie & Robb, 2008). However, the adaptive challenges are more complex. They involve changing societal attitudes and biases, dismantling systemic barriers, and fostering an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem (Bates & Robb, 2014).

Addressing the Challenges

Addressing these challenges requires a multi-faceted approach. For the technical challenges, policy reforms, increased access to capital, and business education can provide tangible solutions (Fairlie & Robb, 2008). However, the adaptive challenges require more profound societal changes.

Leadership plays a crucial role in addressing adaptive challenges. Leaders must facilitate difficult conversations and conflicts that arise when confronting anti-Blackness and racist systems (Franklin et al., 2020). They must also help people navigate through the discomfort of change.

Moreover, continuous learning and adaptation are necessary to address these challenges. This involves ongoing learning about racism and continuous adaptation of strategies to combat it (Arneback & Jämte, 2021).

Conclusion

The journey towards racial equity in the business landscape is a long and complex one. It requires addressing both the technical and adaptive challenges that Black entrepreneurs face due to structural racism. By understanding these challenges and working towards solutions, we can create a more equitable and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

More from the Author:
If you are from an organization that supports small businesses and works with black-owned businesses I invite you to view these two parts of the series “Racism in the Economy: Focus on Entrepreneurship” and “Racism in the Economy: Focus on the Wealth Divide”. When approaching adaptive challenges the knee-jerk response is often to work to solve the problem immediately. However, the best practices approach is to work to understand the problem and have an iterative approach. Please share what you think about technical and adaptive challenges and where you have identified them with your business development.

If you are black and own a business and want some help complete this form to schedule an appointment with our Business Operation Specialist, Michael Jordan. Click Here to complete the Interest Form.

References

1. Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World. Harvard Business Press.

2. Fairlie, R. W., & Robb, A. M. (2008). Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States. MIT Press.

3. Bates, T., & Robb, A. (2014). Has the Community Reinvestment Act Increased Loan Availability among Small Businesses Operating in Minority Neighbourhoods? Urban Studies, 51(9), 1704-1722.

4. Franklin, M., Dunnavant, J. P., Flewellen, A., & Odewale, A. (2020). The Future is Now: Archaeology and the Eradication of Anti-Blackness. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 24, 753-766.

5. Arneback, E., & Jämte, J. (2021). How to counteract racism in education – A typology of teachers’ anti-racist actions. Race Ethnicity and Education, 24(2), 209-226.

6. Kwok, H. (2020). Beyond the anti-racist reason: a postcolonial perspective on pandemic politics. Health Sociology Review, 29(2), 168-182.