You got that right. I'm breaking my own rule, but your comment had to be pointed out for being correct.
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
Posted on 10/31/2005 2:11:10 PM PST by Graybeard58
Minorities can have their careers derailed by their tone of voice or hairstyle, a new study shows.
During her years as an attorney for one of the top international law firms in the United States, Angela Williams looked forward to defending clients. But sometimes she was not given the chance.
"When it came time for an opportunity to represent Fortune 500 companies on huge cases, even though I might have had trial experience over and above my white male colleagues, they were chosen," says Ms. Williams, who is African-American.
In an age of diversity, when many companies point with pride to their multicultural workforce, a sobering reality remains: Minority professionals often find their career ambitions thwarted by hidden bias - what workplace experts call the new face of discrimination. "Acting white," they say, can be the price of promotion in a business world where white men account for 98 percent of CEOs and 95 percent of top earners in Fortune 500 companies. Diversity does not always extend to the executive suite.
"Minorities are getting stuck in the early stretches of career structures," says economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett, whose study of minority professionals appears in the November Harvard Business Review. "They are not getting promoted and advanced at a rate commensurate with their weight in the talent pool."
In a survey of more than 1,600 minority professionals, Dr. Hewlett and Princeton professor Cornel West found that sterling credentials can be overshadowed by personal and cultural traits. Everything from cornrows, ethnic jewelry, animated hand gestures, and certain manicures can leave colleagues thinking, "You're different."
Forty years ago, it was very easy to see prejudice, Hewlett notes. "People wore it on their sleeve and enshrined it in law. Today, it's much more subtle, but it's pervasive. Whether it's a tone of voice or hairstyle or accent, the cumulative impact can be brutal and can derail a career."
The study comes just weeks after Neil French, the creative director of WPP Group, reportedly explained the small ranks of female advertising directors by saying that "they don't deserve to make it to the top" because of their family obligations. He resigned over the flap.
While the proverbial glass ceiling remains one obstacle for women and minorities, Hewlett identifies another barrier - a "Jell-O floor" that keeps them mired in negative stereotypes.
Over 40 percent of minority professional women in large corporations say they feel excluded and constrained by "style compliance" - the need to blend into a corporate culture dominated by white men. More than a third of minority men feel the same way.
"The pressure is added for minority professionals because we don't necessarily come from the same background as those in leadership positions, and we haven't had the same experiences," says Williams, a vice president of Sears in Chicago.
A quarter of minority businesswomen worry that they are perceived as "affirmative action" hires. In addition, nearly a third of minority female executives are concerned that their speaking style labels them as lacking leadership potential.
"Asian women executives were convinced that they weren't commanding enough in their tone of voice, and were not assertive," says Hewlett. "African-American managers were quite sure they spoke too loudly, were too threatening."
One woman, a native of India who works as an IT executive at a Fortune 500 company, learned that colleagues regarded her as quiet. "There are people who talk just to be talking," says the woman, who asks not to be identified to protect her job. "That's not my style. People said, 'She's quiet.' Management perceived that I didn't have leadership quality. Eventually people said, 'But when she says something, it's valuable.' The last few years, I haven't heard them talk about this 'quiet' thing."
Both whites and minorities must adapt, she says. "People like me coming to Western society and working here have to figure out that there are certain things you have to do, that you have to project certain things. That becomes part of the norm of being a successful professional leader."
Referring to Americans' views of professionals from India, she says, "There's a stereotype that they're very good technically, you can rely on them, but they're not really the leaders of tomorrow." Yet she is encouraged by changes at her firm. "They're looking for diversity candidates like me who can grow."
Invisibility - not being heard or seen - remains an issue for women of color, says Ella Bell, an associate professor of business at Dartmouth. "If a woman of color speaks up to make her point, it will just plop. A white male will pick it up and all of a sudden it's bells and whistles." White women might have similar experiences, she adds, but not to the same degree.
Professor Bell also notes a reverse challenge: "You become visible when they need an affirmative action poster child to show that they're making a good attempt to connect to minority communities. That kind of visibility doesn't contribute to the bottom line, so it doesn't help when it comes to promotions."
Another form of invisibility occurs outside the office. To a much greater degree than their white peers, minority professionals spend off-hours doing charitable work. One-quarter are religious leaders. Nearly 30 percent are mentors to needy young people. Forty percent engage in a variety of social outreach activities. Yet many remain silent at work about this service.
"The work they do in minority communities, which is leadership, is very important, but their corporate managers never know about it," Bell says. "It doesn't get counted. Meanwhile, John Doe, who happens to be Caucasian, is on the United Way board or the arts council. It's a big deal."
Hewlett tells of a young woman who formed Girl Scout troops at homeless shelters in Washington, D.C. She received an award at the White House for her work but had not told her boss about it.
"She was afraid to," Hewlett says. "She thought it would imply that a homeless shelter was the kind of background she came from, and she didn't want to be stuck with that label."
Being open about outside activities can bring rewards. When Sears hired Williams as chief compliance and ethics officer, she was told that part of the reason she was hired was because she was both a successful lawyer and an ordained Baptist minister. "The general counsel said to me, 'Who better to be the conscience of the company than a lawyer and a minister in one person?' If people really felt free to let corporate America know the things they are involved with outside their 9-to-5 jobs, that can be an enhancement to their performance on the job."
Williams, who counts fewer than five minority CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, sees progress. But, she adds, "We still have a long way to go."
Eral Burks, CEO of Minority Executive Search in Cleveland, also finds bias camouflaged.
"Companies talk about bringing on more minority board members and senior executive staff, but they're always finding excuses why they won't hire a prospective candidate," he says. "They weren't really interested in hiring, but it looks good that they brought people in. A lot of companies don't think there are qualified minority candidates."
Some firms are designing strategies to combat hidden bias. These include benefits that serve extended families.
Pointing out that minorities have spending power, Mr. Burks says, "They're going to be buying your product or service. They're starting to look at companies and say, 'Why should we spend our money here if your senior staff looks a totally different color?' "
Some CEOs, he adds, "are becoming aware that it makes good business sense to get senior-level staff on their team. They're very positive about wanting to hire more executive minorities and women candidates."
yep.
And look at post #6....
I built a new home for a guy in Wilmington, NC. When I first visited him, I was treated to a tour of his old home, and garden. When I say garden, I mean the formal kind.
He is a VP for Pfizer. He started as a "cook, and bottle washer", and worked his way up, almost to chief.
I built him the biggest house in the new development, on the biggest lot. Five years later, his gardens looked as good as the old ones. His house and grounds are immaculate.
I can't say the same for his neighbors. They are all white. He is black. The contractor gave me a hard time for that "n....." moving in next to the house he was building, telling me he would never sell his...
He was wrong. The neighbors are all glad to have this man next door. They just wish he wouldn't make their yards look so puny!
If you talked with him on the phone, you would never know his color, nor his yankee beginnings... He is well educated, and a dynamo...
you missed the last episode of Reba where Barbara Jean imitating the blacks.........funny, funny stuff........LOL
From reading Woodward's book, I would say GWB gets his points across to his team just fine.
I think it is getting in front of a camera and doing it on the fly that gets him in trouble.
Some people are good at it, and some aren't.
No. The color of success is the color of burning midnight oil.
LOL!
haha, so funny the post was removed and the poster banned or suspended. At least Jim and the mods are on the ball.
For too many folks "acting white" DOES mean speaking in an educated manner and even being courteous to white folk. An ex-colleauge of mine (female) was always chastised in high school for "acting white" because she took advanced placement classed.
For a more academic discussion of the subject, see the works of Professor Orlando Patterson.
What post number 6? What post number 2? What poster "gaijin"?
Gaijin's post #2 wasn't actually too bad, just making an ethnic joke. Unfortunatly they began to deteriorate into something worse.
I thought it was funny. Very Dave Chappelle-ish.
You got that right. I'm breaking my own rule, but your comment had to be pointed out for being correct.
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
Dang someone hit the ubuse button on that post? I guess it was the B-word. If not then I don't get it. Although, if one applies the double-standard then it could make sense.
Just a reminder that the author of the study, Cornell West, was at Harvard, where the president of the university had to remonstrate with him because, although he is big on the aggrieved-person-of-color lecture circuit, he had not published enough scholarly work, and in fact had just made a rap CD. In the ensuing high dudgeon, West resigned and went to Princeton instead. If he has really done this study instead of just lending his name to it, that is news.
Just a hunch, but I'm betting it was the stereotype of black people that pushed it over the top. Just a hunch. I know I was offended, and I came in late after others had already lambasted him for the comments.
It was me. It was offensive and now the comment, and the poster are gone.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1512849/posts?q=1&&page=158#158
LOL
I was warned not to have any nail polish except clear at a 15-person creative advertising agency - and I am one of the creatives!
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