Dr. William E. Cox and William E. Cox Jr.
My dad was the consummate entrepreneur, a risk-taker who always followed his dream and passion to be financially independent. He was also always confident in his ability to succeed. He and Frank Matthews saw an opportunity to solve a real problem – the information and resource void for Black higher education professionals, and fulfilling the need that Blacks sought for opportunities for advancement in higher education. With their mission in place, they decided to take matters into their own capable hands by creating a company and resource that would address those needs. No other national publication was providing information in the real, hard-hitting, edgy, and authentic way that would resonate with Black professionals in higher education as they could. “Let’s just write it ourselves” they would often say to get the inspiration. It was ground-breaking. I vividly remember the enthusiastic feedback we heard from higher education professionals who could hardly wait to receive their next issue in between editions.
I remember my first few years at college feeling so proud of what he was accomplishing as president growing and leading the business, coupled with Frank’s brilliant vision creating and publishing content, laser focused on the hard-hitting issues as publisher. Then, growing the business to new heights with their entree into live satellite video conferences. It was during my college years when the business was establishing itself and building its foundation. Interestingly, I was studying engineering at the time and ultimately graduated with a degree in mathematics from Tuskegee University. I had no interest or plans to join the family business. I thought that the work he and Frank were doing was rather boring at the time. “Who’s actually reading this stuff about Black issues?” I was a subscriber, but mainly to support and collect the magazines as keepsakes and to share with my friends.
Once I graduated college, I followed my passion for statistics and was hired as a statistician. Again, no thoughts or desire of ever joining the family business. I was carving out my own career path, advancing through the ranks of my cushy government job.
Then, I’ll never forget that fateful day in 2001 when my dad called and asked if I wanted to come work with him and grow the family business. I was already seven years into my own career and was growing fatigued with my position at the government agency. I gladly agreed to come on board and join him and Frank. Little did I know what I had signed up for. I worked directly under my dad, learning so much about the business and the business of higher education. I quickly learned the difference between my dad, “the boss” at the office, compared to the dad I’ve known all my life from our household. I remember attending the early conferences and not knowing a soul, following him around, getting introduced and feeling intimidated by higher education’s elite thinkers and brilliant leaders. Nothing intimidated him though. He navigated each event effortlessly and immediately drew attention. I always admired the respect he and Frank commanded from their colleagues at these gatherings.
I spent the first few years learning all aspects of the company. We were approaching our 20th anniversary. We decided to commemorate this milestone with our 20th Anniversary Conference and Gala event in 2004. I vividly recall keeping under wraps the pending name change from Black Issues to Diverse during the conference celebration. Little did our attendees know, but we were still working through the final internal discussions and debates over the decision to rebrand. I had anxiety over this decision since I was responsible for bringing on the consultants who recommended changing the name, among other things. I recall asking myself in sadness, “what have I done?”, after the company released the news to the world amid negative feedback from our loyal and die-hard followers.
Lessons learned: My dad taught me so much about leadership, emphasizing the difficulty of making decisions, but not dwelling too long making decisions. He and Frank agreed with the consultants, sharing the same vision toward the future and the broadening academic landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns. It was time for the name change and the rebranding of our most revered publication. It was a decision they stuck with and was my first lesson in understanding the difficulty in making consequential business decisions.
