A Few Chips in the Cookie

Last week I attended a "thinkers" seminar on behalf of my employer.  The audience consisted of mainly senior management and some 1st line level managers.  As we were segmented into groups for various exercises I couldn't help but notice the racial demographics.  Each group of five had one black person; the total number of participants were 29, 23 of those 29 were white and the remaining six were black.  It's obvious we don't need a rocket scientist to decipher only 20% of the room containing management was black!  Is this phenomenon new? Absolutely not; but is it tiring, Absolutely YES!

As I worked within my group I wondered about the other 20% and was curious did they too feel the disparity.  Unfortunately these instances aren't new, however, I often self-examine why do they exist.  We often here the term equal opportunity; if there is only 20% of blacks in a room of management, did equal opportunity really prevail? Does the term equal opportunity mean equal amongst blacks and not the position? Is it equal to a certain allowable number? The methodology surrounding the equal opportunity equation is one that leaves some serious bafflement.  Unfortunately I do not have the answer; but I do know there is a problem.  Ironically the thinker seminar was based on problem solving.

So, Corporate America here's a problem for you "Why are so many high level positions still held primarily by whites?"  A couple of ways to solve this problem via the suggestions of the seminar was through mind mapping.  As my mind maps to this problem here's what I came up with:

Segregated Education -  Brown vs  Board fought for equal education amongst races, but not amongst financial class.  Once whites realized this they took they money and moved into all white neighborhoods.  Legally from a taxation view schools that are housed in a district with a larger income tax distribution receive more funds, less teacher to pupil ratio and overall a nicer place to learn, hence enhancing the desire to learn, preventing drop out rates.  Statistics show blacks/hispanics are poorer than whites; so if this doesn't change which obviously is affecting our education; are we doomed to always be the 20%?

Culture Differences - Black/Hispanics culture and needs are different from whites.  We do not care about hiking, camping, what do to in the case of a bear interaction.  These instances are not part of our normal lives.  Therefore, answers to questions regarding hobbies during an interview or personal perspectives may not necessarily attract an interviewer.  Yes, I know we can work around that but quite honestly the work around may seem inauthentic which ultimately discredits our chances.

20% - OK who's looking for us? Who thinks we're qualified? Are those in position considering candidates seeking us? Are they recruiting from inner city schools? Do they look in certain minority organizations? Where is the search coming from?

Using my newfound skills in addition to mind mapping the problem we're also supposed to define a viable solution that can be implemented and controlled.  Based on the results of my mind mapping exercise very little can be done.  I don't mean to sound gloom; however this is a truth.  As a people; do we work 110% harder?; do we increase the “hard work” number to 200%?; what is it that we can do to double our numbers from 20%?  The one thing we can do is provide awareness to the next generation.  20% may not seem like a lot but it's more than 1%, it's more than 5%, it's more than 10%!  20% is still not OK but it shows progress.  I've been in Corporate America for 25 years and I do remember when I saw 5%.  Being a young woman in a new world it really didn't appeal to me, but as I grew in ranks I began to understand the differences and applaud the strives being met.

My advise to you coming into this corporate world, do not become discouraged.  Speak your voice, don't worry if you don't hike or battle bears, honestly if that makes a person then this world is more screwed up than we thought, LOL.   At the end of the day you need to be yourself, there's a reason you were chosen.  Examine and embrace that reason and keep moving forward as you battle this fight.  As they say in boxing "may the best man/woman win!" Be the best you can be.  I’m sure strives will continue and as the 20% rises you can be proud that your best resulted in much deserved progress!

Peace Out,

Blacktina

The Message

Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge, I'm trying not to lose my head - The Message by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (Mellie Mel).  The Message was one of those songs that had it's  first lyrical conscious rap.  This song will remain timeless for a myriad of reasons.  However, its main lyric or should I say "hook" has been my corporate personal mantra for the past few weeks.  By the way my first rap corporate mantra is DMX's Ya'll Gonna Make Me Lose My Mind; works every time when an "all hell break loose" moment is about to erupt :), but for now let's talk about pushing people close to the edge.

Recently a situation occurred in which I facilitated a training session with staff and managers. The managers were belligerent, discounted everything I said, was disrespectful to their staff and worst of all sucked out any positive energy.  It was almost as if the Dementors from Harry Potter were present.  As the session ended I was extremely happy that the terror had now ceased; this happiness was very short lived as I heard the dreaded words, "Blacktina, there's been another class scheduled for this group with different team members but the same managers.  Y'all know I had an "aw shit" moment, mouth curled, eyes rolled, head shaking back and forth you name it moment. But wait there's more, just when I thought it couldn't get any worst, an email was sent to me my by the two Senior Managers requesting a meeting on training suggestions.  While part of me cringed at the thought of talking to these Senior Managers who I will refer to as Heckle and Jeklyl, I knew in my professional heart I had to concede and grant this request.  In an effort to appear fair and embody the team player mentality I agreed to the meeting and sent out the invite. Well unbeknownst to me Heckle and Jeklyl planned on having some sort of battle royale meeting in which I would be the weaker opponent. This little plan came to light when I noticed my meeting invite was forwarded to five additional managers.  As I retreated back to the "aw hell no" moment I quickly decided not to hold this in and take a minute to cool off which I normally would do. Nope, I decided this was one of those times where someone was trying to push over the edge and in the words of Mellie Mel "I was about to lose my head"! With this mindset I sent am email and stated the following:

Heckle and Jeklyl
To my understanding the proposed meeting was intended for Heckle, Jeklyl and myself.  I now see the meeting has been forwarded to several managers.  The presence of others managers who weren't on the original invite lend the impression that this would be an "attack" session in which I would be the one being attacked.  Considering the behavior of all managers during our last training session, it leaves me little to believe the contrary.  The purpose of this email is to set clear expectations, I will not be involved in a meeting reminiscent of the OK Corral. I want to be very clear this meeting is to take place between us three to provide training suggestions with the intent of enhancing training.  If your intentions are to alter materials then I suggest you contact the course Program Manager who will be more than happy to assist; other than that I have no problem meeting with the two of you as long as the conversation is civil, insult free and productive.  

I'm sure you could guess Heckle and Jeklyl's reaction. First let me tell you I was dealing with a white woman and a black man.  The black man by the way is married to a white woman and it's clear he has little respect for his kind (other situations provide credibility to this statement, that's another article :)).  The first response was from the white woman who did one of their common responses "I'm sorry you were offended, those were not my intentions."  Black guy's response "I think you mis-interpreted our intentions." Honestly, I knew I had them backed in a corner; my email was professional yet candid and to the point. Basically a translation of my email was "Um, hell no you said between us and I'm not about to get set up, so either y'all chill and leave as is or bounce boo and check your situation with the next one."  This whole little debacle did end with me just meeting with one of the Senior Managers, the Black guy, who apologize profusely regarding their behavior in my last class and only wanted to convey if I can skim over some topics they are not using and provide greater detail on processes his team is using.  I agree but I also told him this could of been conveyed in an email and you really didn't need 7 managers on a conference call to tell me that.  Again he apologized if it appeared as such.  BTW - Notice between the two Senior Managers the fake brotha is doing all the apologizing. Can you imagine the conversation between him and Ms. White Senior Manager about how to approach this situation, Arsenio throwback, things that make you go hmmmmmm.........

This scenario taught me a few things:
1) Never be afraid to call a spade a spade; if you feel it to be true then call it out
2) The truth will set you free; if you don't exercise it you will be imprisoned with some bullshit handed your way and
3) Remain professional and have your facts straight. Corporate America loves to see the angry black woman/man it gives them justification.  However, just because we want to avoid that stigma doesn't mean we shouldn't defend ourselves, we just need to learn how and when!

After all was said and done I was proud of myself. Yes I patted my back, wrapped my arms around myself gave me a big hug, hell I wanted to kiss myself in the mirror I was so proud!  As I get older I know one thing I like to sleep at night and there's no way I could sleep peacefully if I could let bullshit like this go on throughout my day.

Hope you enjoyed this story!

Peace Out,
Blacktina