First Words, Now Action

“I am heartbroken by the deep pain our communities are feeling,”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an email to his employees in June, when protestors took to streets across the country after the death of George Floyd—yet another Black man insensibly killed by police. Caught on camera, the tragedy followed months of a pandemic that laid bare deep inequities between Black and white Americans in every facet of life, from healthcare to employment.

Nadella’s email wasn’t enough for 250 employees, who signed a letter addressed to Microsoft’s executives, asking the company to formally support the Black Lives Matter movement. A few weeks later, Nadella followed up with another blog post, listing additional substantive steps the company planned to take, including investing $150 million more in diversity and inclusion efforts, and promising to double the number of “Black and African American people managers, senior individual contributors and senior leaders in the US by 2025.”

Nadella wasn’t alone. Scores of company leaders