by Solange Lopes | Dec 17, 2013 | Career |
Photo: madamenoire.com
It’s year-end, and while some of us corporate sisters are vying for a promotion or raise, others are considering finding a new place of employment. New decisions are being made, new resolutions are being subscribed to (read our post on why you shouldn’t subscribe to professional resolutions this year), new professional avenues are being looked at…As this year is drawing to a close, we are all looking for ways to better ourselves, to make it further this year than last, and maybe to even finally look at this “glass ceiling” in the face and confront it once and for all…Yet few are the discussions around one aspect of our corporate struggles that we, as corporate sisters, should mind even more than others, the big C, that is, the corporate culture we are evolving in or are getting ready to evolve in as we accept a new job, a new position, or embark on a new corporate adventure.
According to wisegeek.com, “corporate culture” is “a set of characteristics that define a business”. It not only involves “employee attitudes, standards, rites and rituals”, but also reflects characteristics found in society, such as the hierarchy system for instance. Or cultural stereotypes, erroneous assumptions, sexism or flat-out racism. And just like society, it can be positive, neutral, or plain negative… One of my big corporate sisters once told me this about the corporate jungle: “If you hadn’t experienced the real world, well, you’re about to!” In other words, if you didn’t know, now you know…
As corporate sisters, from those of us who are just entering the corporate jungle to the rest of us who have been doing the corporate “do” for a while now, culture is KEY! In order for us to evolve and grow in any environment, especially in the professionally challenging corporate space, we need to mind the culture at hand and wonder IF, and HOW we fit in. Yet it is one of the questions that is rarely asked in interviews. It is also one of the components of our success as women, and double minorities, that is not as much talked about as its resulting negative effects. Why is it that when we enter a room, we as humans are able to sense the “culture” in the room, and either adapt to it or separate ourselves from it? Likewise, when we commit ourselves to a corporate environment in which we intend to evolve and succeed, we should evaluate, measure and pre-position ourselves within the culture that we are entering.
Many a corporate sister has felt the disheartening pressure of a male-dominated, at times racially charged corporate environment. And since corporate culture is but the reflection of our culture as people in general, it should no longer be surprising. What should still surprise us, on the other hand, is that even as we struggle against and many times rise above the challenges of our world culture, we yet to have to put more into question the professional cultures we commit our successes to, possibly before we actually suffer from its negative effects…
So the next time we consider a raise, promotion, or new job, or even just a lateral move in a different department of the same company, maybe one of the first questions we should lean in and ask ourselves, as well as the person on the other side of the table, is: “What is your corporate culture, and how do I, as an ambitious, driven and successful corporate sister, fit in?”
Are you minding your corporate culture?
The Corporate Sister.
by | Dec 3, 2013 | Career
Throughout my experience in the corporate jungle, as well as through many of my conversations with other corporate sisters, one of the most recurring comment I’ve come across, including straight from my own mouth, is: “I don’t want to be perceived as lazy!”
The stereotype around Black people being characterized as lazy is a real one, and has existed for as long as we can all remember. It exists in the workplace as much, if not more, than everywhere else. And for many of us, it’s a silent Damocles sword weighing over our corporate heads day in and day out. In an environment where perception still matters very much, many a corporate sister ends up suffering from the backlash of stereotypical and unjust perceptions, against which we have to fight back with what limited means we have at our disposal…
Some of us fight back with our innate sense of duty and responsibility, overworking our already depleted selves, dipping into our endless guilt reserves to find even more reasons why, no matter how much work we produce, we’ll never measure up…
While others end up getting stuck in this awkward place between repressed anger and destructive guilt, never quite sure which stance to take…
While yet again others stop buying into the mere theory that we can make it at all and flat out give up…
In any case, the effectiveness of the response rarely matches the breadth of the problem.
One thing I have come to understand is that stereotypes are just as hard to erase as a marker stain on a white shirt. They just exist, in all their incoherence and absurdity. And it’s neither our responsibility to feed them nor is it to circumvent them:
Do your best, without the pressure of over-extending oneself when unecessary is one way to not allow stereotypes to rule over us.
Set clear expectations and define fair boundaries from the start is also par for the course. It’s all about being honest with ourselves and others, honest about our expectations and that of others, as well as our limitations.
Always, always, always remain professional, even in the most challenging of situations. Your professionalism is your brand in the workplace, you have to maintain and nurture it in spite of all odds…
Are you giving in to the “lazy” corporate sister’s stereotype and working too much?
The Corporate Sister.
by | Nov 20, 2013 | Career
The longer your journey in the corporate world, the more you’ll realize that it is strikingly similar to high school. Unless you’re in one of the most structurally evolved corporate structures known to Mankind (which I have yet to witness the existence of), you’ve probably landed in some version of Corporate-Meets-High-School, the musical version!
Your boss is the nice or downright wicked principal, your co-workers are all members of some corporate clique with special interests, there is the unmistakable nerd, the gossip-queen (or king), and your other usual suspects…
And you, the corporate sister on the block, are left to take sides or forever keep your peace. As if you weren’t already struggling with figuring out your professional identity as a Black woman, or how to fit your generous 34DD chest size into anything that remotely looks like a white button-down shirt…For the record, keeping your peace is a viable option only for a limited amount of time, after which you eventually will be assigned to a side or another. In the process, you will probably get really closely acquainted with what I’ve come to call the “only” syndrome. Through my years in corporate, as saddening as this may sound, I’ve learnt to expect to be the “only” woman in the room, and unfortunately, the “only” Black woman in the group…
See, the interesting thing about the corporate jungle is while it claims left and right that employee initiative and innovation are key to career success, it also fosters a generalized groupthink type of mentality that, left uncontrolled, stifles that very spirit…
And you, my dear, happen to be at the very edge of this double-edge sword of a conversation. With very few role models or mentors to identify with, and limited resources for sisters on a corporate mission, you are like that kid, you know, the newbie who stands alone at recess…that is, until they decide to walk over and make their way into one of the groups, after having carefully weighed the pros, cons and extent of their involvement…
Just like high school, except that even if you’re at a disadvantage in this real-life popularity contest, you still need to know the rules of the game…
The Corporate Sister.
by | Nov 20, 2013 | Career
One of the dilemmas that many of us corporate sisters struggle with in the corporate jungle, is whether to fit in, make no waves, stay safe, or to stand out in all we are and all we possess of uniqueness. From our dress to our hair to the way we speak, there is no denying that more often we stand at the crossroads between conformity and originality.
I mean, let’s be real, we look different than what is considered to be the norm. We pull from a richness of cultural sources and influences that, whether we like it or not, are reflected in who we are and how we carry ourselves. And THAT, all of it is beautiful because it’s part of the fabric of our identities…And here we are, a double minority in the somewhat traditional mold of Corporate America, faced with an apparently narrow path to success on one hand, and our own larger-than-life uniqueness as a people and as individuals. And as we make our way through our respective professional careers, what with society’s limited exposure to and constrained view of Black women in the corporate world, we can’t help but wonder: “Should we fit in or stand out?”
It’s not a hypocritical question, neither is it an admission of guilt. Certainly, we are who we are; yet certainly, we need jobs, and paychecks, and a way to make it. And in order to reconcile the two, we need to face the tough questions…
For many years, I tried too hard to fit in, to the point of stifling my own personality. My hair was pressed too straight, my suits too dark and conservative…And no, for as long as I was able to sustain it without blowing up on the inside, that did not work out…Not for myself, and not for anyone around me. People can sense your lack of authenticity, even before you can realize it yourself.
By the time I realized that I was no longer myself, I also realized that there is no perfect answer to the question. That in one hand, there is a need to conform to some extent to a certain organizational image that we chose to subscribe to, whether deliberately or not…And on the other hand, our authentic selves are our best assets and should not under any circumstance be stifled. So nowadays, you can find me rocking my natural curls in the meeting room, while sporting classic outfits with my own brand of funky touch…
So, when it comes to fitting in or standing out for sisters in the corporate world, there is no right or wrong answer…As in real life, compromising without losing our authentic voice is key. Now how we each go about it is our choice…
Do you fit in or stand out…
by | Nov 20, 2013 | Career
Through your corporate journey, however long it’s been, you may have noticed that there are not a lot of sisters out there with you…Look around you at meetings, and you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of minorities sitting at the table. Divide that by 2, and that may just equal how many sisters are actually present (which most times is closer to 0). That’s just a fact, plain ol’ simple fact.
I remember my first years in public accounting, being assigned to successive audit teams where time and time again, I was the only Black woman standing (or sitting or counting). And during those long “busy season” hours when we worked 12 to 14 hour days, I found myself seriously missing the unique comradery of sisters, the occasional hair or outfit advice, or the more than occasional cultural references… Not to be exclusive of anyone else, we just have to admit that as human beings, especially through the ups and downs of the corporate jungle, we find comfort, strength and resilience in those things and people who are familiar. And whether justified or not, our natural first reaction is to feel somewhat intimidated when frankly, there are not many of us around…And in an environment when you’ll come to learn that unspoken alliances and tacit codes very often rule over actual performance, and in a society where prejudice and discrimination are still very much rampant, it’s even more prevalent…Just sayin’…..
So where are the corporate sisters at? With the number of Black female college graduates rising, and despite the fact that women’s workforce participation is about equal to or greater than that of men, they are nowhere to be found…Actually, according to a survey by League of Black Women, professional black women make up only 1% of U.S. corporate officers, despite the fact that 75% of corporate executives believe that having minorities in senior level positions enables innovation and better serves a diverse customer base, says Sandra Finley, CEO of the League of Black Women.
There, you’ve got your answer…For a variety of socio-economic, political, and simply historical reasons that this post cannot even begin to get into, sisters are painfully absent from the corporate world. And for the few that happen to be there, they are stuck somewhere between menial jobs and middle management…It’s just the reality, and it’s just the reason why you, yes you, one of the rare corporate sisters out there, can make a difference…
The Corporate Sister.
