NEW YORK — The conversation on racial injustice that has been taking place since the video of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has reached all corners of the country, including corporate America.

During a panel discussion sponsored by WE, an organization dedicated to empowering women leaders in the retailer and supplier communities, Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, executive vice president and global chief human resources officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance spoke to the impact of Floyd’s death on corporations and the possibility for substantive change. “This awakening light has had all of us across corporate America having this conversation,” Wilson-Thompson said. “Locally, nationally and internationally, we will all have the conversation, but also move to action.”

The discussion was part of a “WE Move Forward” panel series, and was focused on developing African American talent in the retail and consumer packaged goods industries.

Other executives on the panel were Latriece Watkins, executive vice president of consumables at Walmart; Esi Eggleston Bracey, chief operating officer and executive vice president of beauty and personal care at Unilever North America; and April Mills, the marketing director in charge of global brand development and licensing with iHealth, a division of DSM nutritional products.

The discussion was moderated by Wendy Liebmann, chief executive officer of the global consultancy firm WSL Strategic Retail. The common thread among the executives was that in this moment, which has galvanized the country like no other since the Civil Rights Movement, mere symbolic actions and rhetoric won’t cut it.

“You can’t commit to action and then do nothing,” Watkins said, arguing that companies and leaders who say they want change but then pull back when the spotlight goes away will never build the trust necessary to make change. “I do think that at the forefront of this change are businesses and people like us who are leading in companies and people like us who are influencing their companies to be different and act ­differently.”

The first step toward meaningful, lasting change that companies can take is to make sure their boards and their leadership better reflect and represent the country as a whole — in other words, open those executive ranks to African American voices and talent, which today is not the reality.

African Americans make up about 12% to 15% of the U.S. population, and account for 10% of the nation’s college degree holders and 8% of its professional class. But they represent only 3.2% of executive/senior level officials at U.S. corporations and only 0.8% of Fortune 500 chief executive officers.

Many companies that want a more diverse workforce and leadership team step up their recruitment of Black and other diverse talent, but Bracey argues that is not enough on its own.

“At Unilever, we want to have a workplace that is representative of the consumers that we serve,” Bracey said. “And that’s not just for altruistic reasons. It makes business sense. And of course, we want to have a business that’s inclusive.”