In this series of three articles, Bernice Hewson explores what we don’t tend to discuss about race and the future of executive coaching.
Part 1: failure to adequately acknowledge race-raising awareness
Few of us today would deny the salience of race in society. While most of us hold the belief that all people are equals, we also recognise that systemic racism operates on local national, and global levels, manifesting differently depending on the context.
If coaching aspires to have a meaningful impact on a world increasingly marked by natural and human-made crises, then it requires us to pay closer attention to the role of race, power and oppression in the coaching profession.
What is the role of race in coaching?
‘Is it relevant only when working with clients from racially underrepresented groups?’
‘What about other forms of difference, like neurodiversity?’
‘Why should race matter if you treat all of your clients equally?’
These are just a few of the questions I hear from coaches, trainers, and supervisors alike. For many, the direct relevance of race to our work in coaching may seem unclear. This uncertainty isn’t surprising, given the silence around race – and systemic racism – within coaching competencies and its absence from most mainstream coach training programmes. This silence, though, has unintended consequences – not only in how we show up as coaches, but also in limiting our capacity and capability as coaches to support transformative change that truly challenges the status quo.
Our collective failure to recognise race, acknowledge its presence, and understand its role in coaching leaves us ill-equipped to grasp what true ‘inclusion’ means when viewed through the lens of racial equity. How can we assert that our coaching spaces, our practices, and training are psychologically safe and inclusive if we fail to see how race operates in society – and, by extension, in our coaching?
To fully grasp the discourse around race today, it’s essential to turn to history. The concept of Sankofa, derived from the Akan and Tui languages of Ghana, represents the idea of ‘returning to go and get it’, symbolising the importance of looking back to retrieve knowledge from the past. Depicted as a mythical bird with its feet planted forward and its head turned backwards (see Figure 1), Sankofa emphasises that understanding our past is crucial for guiding our future.
In the context of race, looking back helps us recognise how race was deliberately constructed during the Enlightenment period to justify the exploitation of workers and land. This period, also called the ‘Age of Reason’, was one of the rigorous scientific, political and philosophical discourses that characterised European society during the 18th century.
Enlightenment thinking told Europeans that nature could and should be dominated by the rational European man. Such thinking was central to the modern concept of race and racism and served to rationalise them both. Enlightenment thinkers produced so-called scientific research that established a racial hierarchy, with white Europeans positioned at the top. It is through understanding this history that we can better understand the roots of racial inequality and the systems that continue to uphold it today.
Race remains foundational to how societies, and by extension, organisations, categorise and assign value to people. When we understand how race was constructed to uphold power, it is easier to see how racism functions and how other forms of oppression – such as sexism and ableism – were similarly built and perpetuated.
By understanding this history, we can more accurately situate ourselves within these systems, rather than seeing ourselves as separate from them. We begin to accept that we’re all entangled in the structures that built and sustain racism. We recognise that the privilege or power we experience is not personal, but systemic, embedded in institutions that uphold the status quo. For coaches and supervisors, gaining clarity on these dynamics is critical to sharpening our systemic lens and grounding the ethical intentions of our work.
Why is work on ‘race’ so challenging?
As Sara Ahmed (2012) notes, “To account for racism is to offer a different account of the world,” meaning that acknowledging racism fundamentally alters how we perceive and describe reality. Racism shapes institutions, social structures, and everyday experiences, and by bringing it into focus, we reveal aspects of the world that are often ignored or hidden in dominant narratives. This process can be difficult because it challenges our deeply ingrained worldviews, which may have obscured or minimised inequalities we haven’t had to confront before.
Though this deeper understanding provides a more truthful and complex view of the world, it can also feel threatening to our sense of self and our place within these systems. The discomfort is compounded by the fear of saying the wrong thing, which the system perpetuates, leading many to remain silent. This silence serves as a form of self-protection but ultimately reinforces the status quo, preventing the critical conversations about race and power that are necessary for change. Without these conversations, systemic inequities remain unchallenged, and silence becomes complicity.
What makes this even more difficult for coaches is that we often haven’t been equipped with the racial literacy or knowledge necessary to engage confidently with these issues. Yet, there’s an unspoken expectation that we should instinctively know how to navigate them. This creates an internal tension, especially when the coaching profession champions curiosity as a cornerstone of effective practice. But in discussions of race, many of us seek certainty instead: the certainty that we’re among the ‘good ones’, that our approach is truly ‘inclusive’, and that we hold all our clients in equally high regard. The pursuit of this certainty, however, is what makes navigating conversations on race – conversations that are inherently complex, nuanced, and contextual – so deeply challenging for many coaches.
Coaching: non-racist or anti-racist?
As coaches, we often strive to create inclusive spaces, but it’s worth reflecting on whether our profession is truly fulfilling its potential to support equity and justice. Ibram Kendi defines anti-racism as the conscious and active decision to make equitable choices consistently, while non-racism has been described as a more passive rejection of racist ideologies without necessarily taking action to dismantle them. As Kendi (2019) says, “To be antiracist is a radical choice in the face of history, requiring a radical reorientation of our consciousness.”
If we assume that coaching is a non-racist profession, does that allow us to feel we’ve done enough? Or does it absolve us from the ethical responsibility to explore how race shapes identity, power, and our coaching practice? By failing to examine race, we risk overlooking the power dynamics that influence our coaching relationships, organisations, and society at large.
How to take an anti-racist stance
Moving toward a more intentional practice of anti-racism requires not only a willingness to engage with difficult conversations but also a commitment to learning, growth and action. This isn’t about blame but rather about aligning our actions with our stated values. When this work is done well, we begin to understand that systemic and structural racism ultimately harms everyone, not just those it directly targets. Recognising this allows us to move beyond a fear of making mistakes and instead approach this work with a genuine motivation to build better frameworks, systems, relationships, and communities where everyone can thrive.
- Next issue: Inviting reflection – why does examining it through the lens of whiteness make it easier to see?
- Bernice Hewson will be offering a Coaching at Work masterclass on Advancing Racial Equity in Coaching on 19 March 2025: https://bit.ly/4iNHM19
About the author
- Bernice Hewson is an accredited EMCC senior practitioner, a racial equity scholar, and an anti-racism educator. As the visionary founder of Raising Racial Consciousness, she’s committed to advancing understanding of power, oppression, and racial equity in coaching and organisational practices. She delivers accredited coach education training and partners with coach training providers and leadership teams to deepen their knowledge and implementation of these critical topics within their curricula and organisational frameworks.
- To learn more, visit www.raisingracialconsciousness.com
References
- Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. In On Being Included. Duke University Press.
- Global Sisters Report: The Sankofa bird teaches us about the future (July, 2021):
https://www.globalsistersreport.org/religious-life/sankofa-bird-teaches-us-about-future - Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to Be an Antiracist. One World.
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