The first thought that went through my head seeing these news reports was how long is the business world going to wait for another top black executive. Going through my senior year in undergrad and later, grad school the Wall Street Journal was like the Bible for most business students. Of course, most figures in WSJ were whites. So it was a welcome sight for me to read about a few blacks heading up major corporations.

Another thing about my time in business school was there's no way whether in law or business classes, you didn't have to deal with mergers and acquisitions. The Time Warner and AOL deal came on the heels of some of my classes and we debated the pros and cons (more cons) on this deal. Secretly, I wondered why a brother (in Richard Parsons) had to head this mess.

But all was not doom and gloom, Parsons at least made way for minorities with film and music projects he tried to bring on board. Everybody have their critics but Parsons had no control of proposing the merger.

Speaking of critics, I've heard and read a pile of criticism placed on Stan O'Neal about his risk-taking penchant. Hmm, he's in the Finance industry, he's head of Merrill Lynch, the sole business of finance industries is about "risk."

Now, if he was head of a top-five accounting firm, say Ernst and Young where one of the core accounting principles is to be "conservative," I'll have a problem with his business acumen regardless of his skin color.

Sent by Moji | 3:35 PM ET | 10-29-2007

What about the number of Black entrepreneurs who have started small businesses? The economy has grown because of small businesses and start-ups. Being a CEO is not a desirable marker for success for everyone.

Sent by Nichelle Stephens | 2:11 PM ET | 11-01-2007

See my comments from my previous blog post for the story "Analyzing the Impact of Black Executives" on NPR at http://www.npr.org/blogs/newsandviews/2007/11/analyzing_the_impact_of_black.html#c15885743

Sent by Lafayette Howell | 1:37 PM ET | 11-02-2007