In addition, however, they confront other difficulties unique to their minority status as marking them "different" from the white males that predominate the senior management of most American firms we examine some of these special problems starting with two bankers, a black man and white woman, who are uncertain about what are the real criteria being used to evaluate their performance.
Unhappy Managers at Reliable Bank
Grover Lestin, thirty-four years old, is a black banker with an amazing background of experience and jobs. Work has taken on several meanings for him as he has moved from a southern farm to assistant vice president in a northeastern bank.
Grover's parents were poor but independent farmers, owning a small piece of land in Virginia. It was a life of hard work but with much love and joy. His mother was a vivacious woman who was a perfectionist in everything she did: cooking, sewing, and attending church. She repeatedly told her five children that they could do better, that they shouldn't just settle for "getting by." Grover's father was a giant of a man whose physical strength and psychological stability conveyed to his young son a fundamental sense of security and an abiding optimism that you could fight the world on even terms. In those early years, the family was never starving and even enjoyed substantial status in the local black community. Mr. Lestin would say to his son that the world was changing and that Grover would be able to fulfill his dreams to a greater extent than he had.
Mr. Lestin died when Grover was fourteen. His mother had to give up the farm and become a housekeeper for a wealthy white family in town. Grover became the all-purpose handyman for the household. Although he loved being in town, he hated being treated as if he were a stupid. Grover did attend school more regularly, but the work was so boring that his grades were poor. The teachers seemed to expect him to make trouble so he obliged them. No one was interested in his ideas.
At seventeen Grover left home and joined the Army where he spent three years in a variety of posts, including almost two years in Vietnam where he won several commendations. He liked the military and was nominated for staff sergeant shortly before he was discharged. Upon leaving the Army, Grover attended Tidewater State College, a predominantly black college where he majored in business administration. He worked hard, performed well, and graduated in the top 5 percent of his class. Unfortunately, job opportunities weren't very good at the time and Grover decided to apply for an Army commission. He subsequently became a second lieutenant and embarked on a successful military career of eight years, leading to promotions up to captain.
Later, Grover decided to leave the military and try the civilian world again. He enjoyed the Army but felt that job opportunities for educated African-Americans had significantly improved. Besides, he had three young children to support and he wanted to earn more money.
Grover resigned his commission and accepted a position with the Reliable Bank in Northeastern City. He was the first black professional ever hired by this medium-sized bank and he was to initiate a new bank activity--loans to minority enterprises which in the past had not qualified for loans through the regular corporate and small business units.
After a two-month training program, Grover was appointed an assistant treasurer (AT) and given the title of manager of minority enterprise credit. He was assigned a modest office and a secretary whom he shared with a regular loan officer. Grover was a little older than the others at his level, but his salary seemed fair at $32,000 and he was enthusiastic.
Grover's immediate superior, Frank Swain, Assistant Vice President for Credit, was opposed to lower credit standards for minority applicants, but President Alfred Robbins put his weight behind the effort and Grover was given substantial autonomy in making loans below $50,000. The bank's advertising soon emphasized its awareness of its social responsibilities and featured Grover in many print ads and television commercials.
During the past four years, Grover has enjoyed good relations with the bank's president. Several times Robbins has directly called him about specific problems with minority issues and even solicited advice on personnel policies affecting black employees. Grover was invited to accompany the president on numerous speaking engagements. In total, Grover has probably spent more time with the president than anyone except the senior vice presidents. And last year his title was upgraded to assistant vice president with a salary of $51,000.
All of this has been heady stuff to Grover and he feels a great sense of satisfaction (and some anxiety) when he considers how far he has come from the Virginia farm. He and his family live happily in a lovely historic suburb where his kids walk to the same school at which his wife teaches third grade.
Nonetheless, Grover has become increasingly distressed about his job situation. He enjoys the work and his autonomy but feels that his limited responsibility curtails his ability to contribute. Some time, when his title was upgraded, he requested an increase in his loan authorization authority to the same level of equally experienced regular corporate loan officers. Frank Swain said he would look into it, but then Swain was transferred. His replacement, Andrew Widder, has put off Grover's request because, as he put it, "changes are necessary in this operation--we're losing too much money."
Grover feels that he has spent enough time in minority loans. He would like to transfer into the regular corporate department or into trust or investments where he can learn more about the banking business and prepare himself for future promotions. Grover has been especially upset that he has not been invited to the weekly informal training conferences conducted by the senior vice president of loans where large and complex financings are discussed. Grover has requested a transfer through Widder, but so far nothing has happened.
Maureen Daly is manager of data processing at Reliable. She manages a department consisting of two group supervisors, six computer operators, and six programmers. All but two programmers and one operator are men. Maureen has filled all of these positions since she came to work at the bank nine years ago as a programmer. She had always been interested in numbers since she learned early from her mother who taught mathematics in junior high school. Her father was also a teacher. Maureen grew up with high aspirations and confidence in her abilities. She majored in mathematics in college and then earned an M.S. in information systems. She has also completed all of her course work for a Ph.D., but hasn't started a dissertation.
After attending a two-day management development program and listening to Professor William Eastman talk about managerial leadership, she requested a private meeting with Eastman.
Daly: Professor Eastman, I enjoyed your session on leadership last week, although I didn't like your bias in favor of autocratic management. It seems old-fashioned and insensitive.
Eastman: I didn't mean to be biased. I thought I used the term authoritarian, not autocratic, and I hoped to suggest that strong leadership is sometimes appropriate and perhaps even essential in certain circumstances.
Daly: Well, maybe, but I think most young managers today know that they can't just make unilateral decisions and order subordinates around. People don't like to be dictated to; they want to feel that they are involved--and this means they must participate in departmental decisions.
Eastman: Is that the way you run your department?
Daly: Yes. Every morning I have a meeting with my two supervisors and the three senior operators and programmers to discuss what has to be done that day and what problems exist. We strive to reach consensus on each issue before going on. In addition, once a week 1 hold a meeting with the junior programmers and operators to discuss how things are going. I encourage them to contact me directly if they have any personal problems. I call all of them by their first names and insist they call me Maureen. I think we all get along very well.
Eastman: Well, what's your problem?
Daly: Two weeks ago I had an annual merit review and I am still distressed by what the vice president told me.
Eastman: What did he say?
Daly: He said that I didn't have control of my department; that things are "drifting"; that one of the supervisors and a senior programmer had complained to him about the time "wasted" in meetings "deciding where to locate the coffee machine" and about my support.
What do you think about all this?
That's what I wanted to ask you! I don't know what to think. I try to treat my people as adults, respect their opinions, invite their participation, and motivate them to set their own performance standards, but behind my back they seem to bypass me to complain to senior people. Perhaps you're right after all.
About what?
That managers really should be autocrats.
That's not what I said!
Why are Grover and Maureen unhappy?
Grover Lestin and Maureen Daly are experiencing some of the most common and disturbing problems stemming from being "different" from the majority of managerial colleagues at Reliable Bank. Grover enjoys his duties as manager of minority enterprise credit and feels that he is making a valuable contribution to the African-American community as well as to the bank. He is happy with his family life, on good terms with his suburban neighbors, pleased with his children's success in school, and proud of what he has been able to provide for his family. But he is concerned about his future at Reliable, especially now that his new boss Andrew Widder is expressing doubts about the economic viability of such loans.
Grover would not describe his position as a "token" one since he does have real (although limited) loan authority and he has seen the positive impact of his work among minority entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, he recognizes that the status of minority enterprise credit is uncertain. When he was hired, the bank's motivation seemed to be social responsibility and public relations. He was to be a visible black to whom the bank could point in many public statements and advertisements. Grover's performance was based more on his activity and visibility than the economic performance of his loan portfolio. Now, however, either the social responsibility fad has passed or overall financial pressures have increased so that his performance criteria are shifting to profits generated.
Aside from his belief that what he is doing in the minority community is still valid, Grover is understandably concerned about his personal future in the bank. Because of his unique status and his frequent absences from his headquarters office, Grover had not been involved much in the office social network among his peers and immediate superiors. To be sure, he knows the president well, but he has not had much opportunity to learn about the main business of corporate banking of Reliable. He is not being invited to the weekly loan review conferences is a disturbing symptom of his marginal status at Reliable.
Most fundamentally, Grover feels powerless. Decisions are being made that will affect his career on which he is not being consulted. He has applied for a transfer to a corporate loan area, but nothing has happened and he has been told virtually nothing. He recognizes that he might be at a competitive disadvantage in corporate loans where his peers would be markedly younger graduates of prestigious private colleges and business schools, but he feels that he could make the transition with some support from the bank. Right now, he is hearing nothing.
Maureen Daly is clearly not in a token position. Data processing is well established as a department and her predecessor as manager had been a majority male. Maureen was promoted because she was technically the most knowledgeable person in the department. She has always had great confidence in her technical skill and ability to work with anyone in solving complex problems. And until her annual merit review two weeks ago, she felt that she was an effective manager of people. Now, however, she is confused because her superior sees her as too weak a leader.
Whether Maureen is actually a weak or laissez-faire leader is uncertain. Perhaps her superior perceives her as weak because she is not a male and doesn't fit his preconceived notion of how a manager should behave. Maureen reports directly to the senior vice president for operations, who is a much older male. The greater is the difference in demographic characteristics between a superior and subordinate in general, the lower is the superior's judgment of a subordinate's effectiveness. Or perhaps there is a generational difference. Maureen expresses a philosophy about youthful rejection of autocratic leadership and desire for self-determination and participation. Her refusal to see any difference between autocratic and authoritarian is indicative of her ideological commitment. Whether valid or invalid, her participative ethos may simply be incompatible with the historically more authoritarian culture of Reliable.
Finally, Maureen simply may be naive. She wants to treat her subordinates as "professionals," but even college graduates are often self-centered, irrational, and childish. Their horsing around appears to be out of hand and Maureen is too aloof to even notice. She expects participation in the most trivial decisions that her people see as time-wasting nonsense. So Maureen's problem is finding a leadership style with which she can be comfortable while earning her subordinates' acceptance and superior's praise.
Clearly, both Maureen Daly and Grover Lestin are experiencing difficulties because they are "different" in race, gender, values, or behavior than the majority tradition in their organization.
Problems of Minority Professionals and Managers
In the past, difficulty in gaining entry has been the overwhelming problem for minority candidates. Although certainly still an issue, thankfully opportunities have broadened enormously in recent years. But getting a job on the career ladder doesn't guarantee that all the rungs above you are solid. Minority professionals and managers particularly encounter discouragement about entering management, dead-end positions, overdependence on a sponsor, rejection by subordinates, being alone, hitting a "glass ceiling," and the burden of being a symbol.
Discouragement about Entering Management: Minorities with the appropriate educational credentials today have relatively little difficulty in getting entry into firms. More fundamental is a lack of earlier encouragement to prepare for managerial careers. Women are now flocking to undergraduate and graduate management programs, but it is a relatively recent development. In the past, women seeking anything more than "jobs" were usually oriented to traditional female careers such as teaching and nursing. Today, female management graduates are still largely at the technical and middle management levels either because most have not been with their firms long enough to make it to the top (remember this takes over twenty years for most men) or because they are blocked by a sort of "glass ceiling." Two to three decades back, women held almost 40 percent of the jobs that the Labor Department classifies as executive, managerial, and administrative, up from 32 percent only a few years earlier. But women hold only 3 percent of top management positions at publicly-traded corporations.
Black participation has apparently not greatly increased in business and management programs. Less than 9 percent of all managers are African Americans and their enrollment in higher education in general has stagnated and even declined. This is probably because of escalating costs and continued deterioration of many urban public schools. Even bright young blacks with the financial resources to attend college are skeptical about business careers and see more promise in other professions like law and medicine. African-Americans comprise only 3 to 7 percent of the students at prestigious MBA schools, unchanged or slightly down. Nonetheless, MBA admissions officers are still recruiting talented black graduates, and recent black MBAs are among the most sought-after people in America. Only time will tell how high and far they will go.
Dead-End Positions: All too often an effective young minority manager is rewarded with a "promotion" away from the firm's power axis into a post directly related to his or her minority status. Thus, the majority of black managers (approximately 4 percent of all managers) do not have control over budgets, final hiring authority, or profit-loss responsibility, regardless of their level in the hierarchy. And too often minorities in effect participate in their own subordination through acceptance of such non-line, dead-end jobs. Hence, a good female market analyst may be appointed supervisor of the support staff (mainly clericals) with a nice salary increase--but not as great as her male colleague promoted to supervisor of an analyst group. Or a young African-American sales representative is appointed manager of minority community merchandising. This could be a central position depending on the firm's products or services, but often the company sees marketing to the minority community as peripheral. Once in an auxiliary or low-status position, moving back to more central and powerful activities can be very difficult. One can become dead-ended. In commenting on his firm's efforts to integrate women into the hierarchy, one corporate manager observed that it went well while the central human resources department was watching. But after five years or so, the human resources department became more concerned with newer entrants and earlier women began to get sidetracked.
Note that these dead-end positions are not strictly token jobs without content. There are necessary activities that may well provide intrinsic rewards along with a nice income allowing a satisfying life off the job. A survey of executives from vice president and up at Fortune 200 companies indicates that the women average $124,632 per year. Nice, but men at the same levels (but mostly closer to their firms' power axes) average $213,000 per year. It appears that women actually receive more early promotions than men and that they are happier in middle management than men. The problem is that these more frequent small promotions are not traditionally on the route to the top, and they may be more vulnerable to managerial fad changes or economic downturns.
Many executives still seem to believe that most women work for fun or pin money so that underpaying them doesn't "hurt" them. Women who are seen as "breadwinners" in their families, however, feel more satisfied with their pay and perceive greater promotion opportunities.
Overdependence on Sponsors: Sponsors are important and, as we've seen, sometimes difficult for minority managers to find. For this reason, some minority managers (and of course some majority ones as well) become overly dependent on a single senior person. To avoid endangering the relationship, they may become too uncritically accepting. Some superiors complain about female protégés who are reluctant to ask questions or to point out their superiors' mistakes, and that women make "too much" of the simple routine action of going to see their boss about problems. They think the boss is busy with other more important matters or feel they lack the ability to cope competently with a superior. Specific topics reportedly avoided include asking for a pay raise, requesting a promotion, correcting a superior who is wrong, challenging a decision, and selling a new idea (of course many young men also suffer from similar reluctance). As a result of their passivity, some female subordinates may work diligently on misunderstood problems.
Rejection by Subordinates: Although (hopefully) this attitude is declining, some white males still feel uncomfortable working for a minority superior. Males may feel threatened by a female boss because of unresolved childhood conflicts with Mom and her authority. And even "liberal" whites may be surprised by their resentment of a black superior who is necessarily tough in saying "no."
Remember that upwardly mobile managers are a little surprised to confront increased dependence as they move upward. This stress can be even greater for minority managers who recognize how easily disloyal subordinates can wreck their careers. They may try to reduce this tension by identifying downward and striving to be one of the gang with dirty jokes and hard drinks. This may ease personal strain but can be a recipe for managerial and personal disaster. You can lose credibility downward and influence upward because your own boss sees you as over identifying with your troops.
Being Alone: The women who pioneered in management often found themselves alone in predominantly male settings where the majority didn't accept them as equal colleagues. To be a "solo" minority can be very difficult. Majority pressure on a lone minority person to conform is difficult to resist. This is especially true when the minority individual is alone in his or her nonconformity but still wants to be accepted as a group member.
A persistent problem for minority persons is that the majority perceives them according to a stereotype. The individual's unique attributes tend to be submerged in the majority's premature categorization and blindness to how this particular minority individual differs from the stereotype. Peering over cultural boundaries, we tend to exaggerate differences between ourselves and others while perceiving others as being homogeneous. Thus, an individual woman manager is more likely to be seen as a female manager than as an individual female manager. And an African-American might be seen by fifty-year-old white senior executives erroneously as a member of a group that on average they don't consider as bright as whites. This perceptual bias is greater when perceiving a single "foreigner" than a group and greater with cultures less familiar to the perceiver.
Some years ago, I explored perception and behavior in cross-cultural, graduate student groups where the majority was composed of American white males and the single minority members were American white females, or African-American, British, Japanese, French and Latin-American males.20 In general:
- American white males rejected group leadership aspirations of lone minority members (with the sole exception of British males whom the American majority tended to perceive as having stronger communication skills).
- Japanese males and American white females responded to their exclusion from power by not contending for leadership, accepting marginal status, and scrupulously adhering to majority norms of timely attendance, preparation, and effort.
- African-American, French, and Latin-American males tended to respond to their exclusion by rejecting the group and violating group norms by not showing up or sharing in the work.
- Minority males generally perceived much conflict on their teams and were unhappy with the experience.
- In spite of their exclusion by the majority males, lone white American females generally perceived little conflict and were happy with the team experience. Their token status seemed to render them deaf to the conflict occurring around them.
These results were generally consistent with stereotypic gender perceptions that women are more selfless and concerned with others and less self-motivated or driven to dominate others than men.
I later added situations where a white American male was in the minority on a team of white American females. The results:
- Women are much more likely to strive for leadership when in the majority than when alone among a group of males.
- More conflict was perceived on all-female and predominantly female teams than in all-male or predominantly male teams.
Lone males absolutely hated being in the minority in a predominantly female team and surprisingly, in general, women preferred being in a minority rather than majority status.
I recently replicated this research to see if relations between males and females had improved. Thankfully, they have and dramatically so. Young males and females today are much more effective in working together. Lone women on predominantly male teams are much more likely to strive for leadership and to be successful. The male members are less inclined to reject her out of hand. They are more able to tap the resources of an assertive woman than in the past. And recent research suggests that male students today may even work better in a mixed gender team than when it is all men. Andrew Jackson once claimed that "One man with courage makes a majority." I would add: "One woman too." And thankfully, it takes a bit less courage than it used to.
In addition, lone males on predominantly female teams are much less unhappy about their plight; it is no longer the devastating experience (although men still are clearly less adept than women when in this lonely situation). Although men still act differently toward female team members than toward other males (they interrupt women more and accept less interruption from them), their urge to dominate the females is much reduced. Contemporary young women appear much less subject to the general male attribution that to be female in itself conveys less capability to exercise power.
Perhaps even more important, young women seem to trust each other and work together more effectively than in the past. The perceived conflict level on all-female and predominantly female teams is markedly lower in the more recent sample. And their satisfaction level when among other women has sharply increased. A fundamental objective of the feminist movement appears closer to realization: that women must learn to trust each other and to work together more effectively if they are to compete successfully with men.
The cost for contemporary women in predominantly male settings, however, appears to be a certain loss of innocence. They are clearly involved in more conflict with males than in the past when the male majority tended to reject female leadership claims and insulate them from male jockeying for power. As a result, although more successful in exercising influence, female happiness today with being in a predominantly male group is significantly lower than their earlier sisters. Now they perceive the conflict because through contending for leadership they are involved in it. Thus, greater involvement in conflict seems to be inevitable for the progress of women and all minorities.
Hitting a "Glass Ceiling.": Although women and minorities constitute up to 30 percent of the professionals and managers in many U.S. firms (and over 50 percent in banking), few have made it to the highest executive levels. Only one company on Fortune's list of the 500 largest U.S. industrial corporations has a woman chief executive. And the situation is no better in other countries.
As suggested earlier, this can reflect the length of time to make such a climb and the frequency of minorities beginning to climb the ladder. In 1970, women constituted less than 5 percent of MBA students at the top graduate schools of business and management. It is over 30 percent to-day. Still, it has been almost twenty years since women began to attend business schools in significant numbers, so their underrepresentation at the top may also reflect other factors.
Many women today question whether their opportunities are really improving. A recent Gallup poll indicates that women's feelings of being discriminated against at work have increased over the past twelve years. And numerous observers comment on the discrepancy between firms earnestly courting young women for entry-level professional positions followed by either less significant promotions or slower mid-career progress.34 Women appear to be 20 percent less likely to be promoted in any given year than male colleagues.35 And even though they start at quite similar salaries, within ten years women may be from $3,000 to $18,000 per year behind the men they started with. Perhaps reflecting disappointment with this reality, applications from women to MBA programs have declined from their peak in 1986 (at my school from 32 percent to 25 percent).
As women approach top executive ranks, many seemed blocked by a "glass ceiling" imposed by a difficult double-bind test: "Show us that you can be tough and also that you have the excellent interpersonal skills that are needed at the top". Thus, women are only allowed a narrow range of acceptable behavior. They must be tough, but not too tough; behave like a man, but still be feminine. If a woman is too tough, she makes too many enemies and is excluded from promotions to the highest level. Aggressive behavior that might be accepted in a man (even if disliked) is rejected in an ambitious woman, as it was for Ann Hopkins who was rejected for a partnership at Price Waterhouse for lacking "interpersonal skills." But she was told that her chances for promotion would improve if she would wear makeup and jewelry and walk, talk, and dress more femininely. But, stereotypic female caring and leadership that is too participative (perhaps seen as a bit idealistic in a man, but acceptable) also can exclude women from the ultimate promotions. The art of the successful woman executive is staying within that acceptable behavior range.
Burden of Being a Symbol: Minority managers who have fought the good fight and performed better than their white male contemporaries in order to stay even may weary of their role as minority symbol. They grow tired of having to represent a minority point of view on every committee and project team. They understand but lose patience with the self-restraint that they should demonstrate lest other fellow minorities be hurt by white reaction to their losing their temper. The feeling of always being on stage or the defendant in a never-ending trial is stressful to successful minority executives, even to the point of their experiencing greater career burnout. Corning Glass Works, for example, estimates that women and minority managers drop out of the company at roughly twice the rate of white males. The tension of seemingly having to operate in a bicultural world of black and white particularly exacts a heavy price, since white institutions are oblivious to their black professionals' daily transitions. Greater incidence among African-Americans to high blood pressure appears to be one cost.
The United States has seen a revolution in opportunity since World War II. Men from an extraordinary variety of white ethnic groups have made enormous progress in climbing corporate ladders displacing earlier establishment types. Most of these Italian, Irish, Polish, and other ethnic Americans made it by learning to behave like the traditional white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant culture with controlled emotions, cool communications, and prudent rationality. A recent poll of male executives commissioned by the National Association of Female Executives found that men still believe that most women view their jobs too emotionally. Thus, history suggests that aspiring black and female managers should learn this culture even as WASPs should learn to live with diversity. Nonetheless, some black and female reformers decry a loss of distinction. They criticize the African-American who becomes an "Oreo" (black appearance around white values, so called because of the cookie with chocolate pastry exterior and white sugar interior) or the "iron maiden" woman who behaves as coldly and unfeelingly as stereotypic males. Some feminists want us to reform corporate society and make it more "feminine" (that is, more caring and supportive). It is even suggested that women can "feminize" managerial jobs, thereby making them even more effective than a male.
The weight of experience would suggest, however, that promotional success is more likely to go to those who act more in accord with traditional executive culture. As a Fortune survey of executive women put it: The managerial women now in line for top executive jobs are the first sizable group to compete head to head with men. Though feminists had once hoped women would "feminize" the corporation by making it more cognizant of family concerns, the opposite has in fact occurred. Successful female managers have taken on many of the values and life patterns of careerist men, who long have fixed an unblinking eye on the price.... Rather than try to change the corporation, they learn its rules and play by them.... The issue for women today is not whether the world is fair. This is the way the world is. If you wish to be a part of it, live with it.
Two African-American businessmen in 1989 purchased the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association, thus becoming the first to own a major sports franchise. On being interviewed, the new owners Bertram Lee and Peter Bynoe said: I don't think the color of our skin will be the standard against which we will be principally measured. I think this is a positive. The diversity in this country is something we should celebrate. It's something that has made this country great. It is clear to us when we look in the mirror each morning who we are. But we've never used it as an excuse or carried a chip on our shoulder. If we become role models--if we manage to set a standard for performance--we'll be very satisfied.
Mature minority managers may come to thoughtful decisions that the sacrifice isn't worth the reward; that they really don't want to be a vice president or head the finance department; perhaps staying in human resources or external affairs is more satisfying even if less central. In making such judgments, all of us experience difficulty in judging whether we are truthful to ourselves or just rationalizing failure. It is even harder for minority managers who worry whether or not they are copping out or being co-opted by accepting a well-paying fringe role.
What Can Grover and Maureen Do?
Grover could exercise initiative on both a formal and informal basis. He is concerned that he is not learning about the bank's regular corporate loan area. He feels he has been excluded from the loan review sessions. But perhaps he has just not been formally invited because a secretary who sends out the announcements simply didn't find his name on the corporate loan department roster. He could just show up for the meetings. It is doubtful that anyone would complain or even that his presence would be resented. In addition, to supplement his formal education, he might request that the bank support his application (and if accepted, pay the tuition) to a local Friday-Saturday Executive MBA program. This would demonstrate his ambition and increase Reliable's investment in him.
Grover could simply remain in his minority enterprise position until completing the two-year MBA program, but he would demonstrate greater assertiveness by using his link to the president to express his desire to move into traditional corporate loan work. Sure he runs a risk of alienating Andrew Widder, but just drifting will only make his situation worse. Simply staying in minority enterprise credit could well lead to a sense of failure and even economic insecurity if Reliable decides to eliminate the activity.
At present Grover is a bit paralyzed, afraid to do anything to rock the boat, because he deeply enjoys his family and what he has been able to provide for them. He doesn't want to risk anything. This is understandable in someone who has already climbed such a long socioeconomic ladder. Still, perhaps he exaggerates the risk in drawing on his potential presidential sponsor, for now appears to be the time to do so.
Although less serious perhaps, Maureen's predicament is more ambiguous. Her boss questions her technical competence, but she is being criticized for behavior that reflects her deeply felt antiauthority values. She believes subordinates should be treated as "adults" and to her this means everything is decided after extensive participative discussion. But perhaps she has carried a good thing too far. Her people resent the time wasted on minor matters and they fool around on the job so that higher management perceives Maureen as a weak leader.
If Maureen continues with her present style, she at best will plateau in her current position, but more likely will be asked to return to a non-managerial role. This might make sense given her technical orientation, but she might forever regret foregone opportunity. To change behavior is not simple, however. She might ask the company to send her to a longer management development program, or she might seek personal counseling about her reluctance to exercise authority. My guess is that a successful woman executive or consultant might be better able to convince Maureen of the desirability of being somewhat stronger as a manager.
Advice on Being Different
Prepare for and seek positions in knowledge-based organizations where competence is judged by technical skills or measurable performance results rather than more subjective factors like appearance, style, or judgment. The most promising situations are likely to be rapid growth and even chaotic businesses.48
- Fight for high-visibility, power-axis positions, especially in midcareer. Don't accept lateral transfers or diagonal "promotions" away from the power axis unless you truly would prefer the content of the offered position and understand that getting back to the power axis is probably impossible.
- Don't accept positions where your particular sex or race would be your strongest asset. Such positions tend to be either token or peripheral to the firm's main business. Look for posts that have been filled by majority managers.
- Conform to the majority cultural style in appropriate ways: control your language, wear conservative (but feminine if you are a woman) clothes, learn to play golf or tennis, talk about stock prices or sports, or whatever is necessary to encourage the group to feel comfortable around you. This may appear to be sacrificing one's personal style, but such superficial conformity will make you less threatening, thus freeing you to maintain your integrity by being independent on more important issues.
- Do not handle your minority isolation, however, by slavishly con-forming to all formal rules and informal traditions. Some hope to be accepted by being a super "organization man." Such passive behavior may bring you acceptance and security, but will only validate higher prejudice that minority persons are unsuited to more responsible positions.
- Remember that mentor-sponsors may be flattered by obedience and faithfulness, but that the good ones even more desire assistance and protection. Therefore, be active in initiating reports, advice, warnings, and even constructive criticism. This is best done confidentially in writing or orally on a one-on-one basis.
- Use your token visibility as an opportunity to impress your superiors that you have the ability to do other things. And don't feel apologetic or guilty about whatever extra vertical links your race or gender gives you. It is just one compensating factor against other handicaps.
- Move beyond technical expertise. Minority professionals probably have moved ahead fastest in areas where their technical competence could be clearly demonstrated. Engineering, science, and computers have been areas in which the relatively few females experience less difficulty in managing men. (This is in contrast to advertising and public relations where over half the professionals are women but they are sharply under-represented at the top.) But managerial success eventually brings you to levels where technical skill must be supplemented by interpersonal competence and general business knowledge. Early broadening training can be helpful but fundamental is awareness that one's abilities must be expanded.
- If a woman, strive to avoid implications of sexual innuendo with male colleagues. Unfortunately, the onus for reducing sexual implications still rests primarily on women.
- However important your career, recognize that you must protect some separation between your professional and personal selves. Losing an argument or backing down on the job usually does not compromise your integrity as a person. And recognize that some criticism of you is often ideological, not factual. It reflects not your true worth as a person but the obsolete and biased perceptions of some who evaluate you.
- Accept that you can't carry the weight of your minority group on your shoulders. Fear of making a mistake will block you from taking the risks necessary for personal success. Don't feel that you have let your group down if you feel the cost of high office is too great and that you want better balance in your life.
