LAWRENCE OTIS GRAHAM is a nationally-known business author and advisor to companies and organizations on diversity and progressive strategies for managing a changing workplace. He is the author of fourteen books including the business book, Proversity: Getting Past Face Value (John Wiley & Sons), a guide to improving the diverse workplace, which was endorsed by the Society for Human Resource Management. He is also author of the New York Times bestseller, Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class (HarperCollins), Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World and several business books. A graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, Graham has served on the faculty of Fordham University, teaching the course, “Minorities and Women in Corporate America: Case Studies and Issues Facing the Changing Workplace”. That course is based on his book, The Best Companies for Minorities (Penguin) and draws on his firm’s research on labor practices of the Fortune 1000. In addition to his prior books, Professor Graham has authored numerous business articles for such publications as The New York Times, Business and Society Review, New York Magazine and Executive Citizen.
Graham is well known for appearing on the cover of New York Magazine twice, after writing the story, “Invisible Man: a Harvard-trained Lawyer Goes Undercover as a Busboy at a Connecticut Country Club”. That story uncovered bias against blacks, women, Jews, Latinos, and Asians and addressed the issue of eliminating bias among the corporate elite. A former White House Intern, Graham has also served as contributing editor of U.S. News & World Report and Reader’s Digest.
A leading expert on diversity issues, Graham has been profiled by Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Time Magazine and many other publications. He has also appeared frequently on “The Today Show”, CNN’s “Inside Business”, “Oprah”, “Good Morning America”, “Hardball with Chris Matthews”, “Charlie Rose” and other programs.
Through his diversity workshops, seminars, lecture programs and consulting services, Graham has advised such organizations as Lucent Technologies, Walt Disney Company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Technologies, Dallas Public Schools, Corning and Hewlett-Packard. He sits on the boards of the Horace Mann School in New York and of the foundation board of SUNY Purchase College. He is married and has three children.