White Men Can Change at Rockwell Automation

Lee Tschanz, vice president for North American sales at Rockwell Automation, thought a black employee he was coaching was too timid to advance. But Tschanz was feeling pressure from his bosses to help people of color and women succeed at the Milwaukee-based industrial automation and software company. He decided to try a different approach after learning in training about the distinct challenges faced by workers who aren’t white men.

Tschanz told the employee he wanted to better understand his experiences as a black man at work. The employee then shared that his father and grandfather had always warned him not to challenge white authority. “He said he’d grown up in the South and could end up hanging in a tree if he did that,” says Tschanz, a 24-year veteran of Rockwell. The frank exchange helped: The employee started speaking more at meetings with superiors and eventually was promoted to a management job. “Up until this point, I’d always thought I was fair and promoted the best people and didn’t understand it isn’t equal for everyone,” Tschanz says.