Success Strategies for Minorities in Business

First there's the credibility issue. A businesswoman who is a member of a racial minority will probably find her credibility questioned—however silently—by colleagues. Then, there's what's known as "the double take": When a minority woman strides into a business gathering, other executives meeting her for the first time are likely to be taken aback.

"It's the awkward look that says, 'Gee, I didn't expect someone who looks like you to show up,'" as one panelist at the January 24 Dynamic Women in Business Conference said.

As poisonous as racial discrimination can be in society and in work life, a group of accomplished executives from the worlds of finance, consulting, and politics have developed ways to counter its worst personal and professional effects—techniques they shared with students in a filled classroom. The lively session was moderated by HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts, who teaches leadership and organizational behavior with a specific focus on issues of race, gender, and identity in organizations.

As a child of Indian-American immigrants, Shamina Singh finds it essential to laugh now and then and not take things too personally. Singh, the deputy director of America Votes, Inc., an organization that tries to register, educate, and mobilize voters, said that minorities who are successful in their careers often feel more obligated to give up an element of their privacy in order to live a more public life than non-minorities probably do. They also feel responsible for making good on their parents' and relatives' many sacrifices. One way she stays happy and energized, Singh said, is to associate with "trailblazing" women and other role models—in her case, politicians Ann Richards and Nancy Pelosi.

The way in which a woman is treated in her career depends to a degree on geography and the norms in her profession, said both Boston-based private equity specialist Daphne J. Dufresne and Miami native Francis A. Hondal, whose sphere in her vice president and general manager post at American Express includes the male-dominated business arenas of Latin America and the Caribbean. Dufresne (HBS MBA '99), a principal with Weston Presidio, a $2.3 billion private equity fund with clients that include JetBlue Airways, Fender Guitar, and MapQuest, said her professional experiences in Europe and the U.S. have been rather different. In Europe, people seemed surprised when she—a black American female—took the helm at meetings. "In Europe, it was more of an issue to be a woman," she recalled. "I was seen as an American, then as a woman, then black. In the U.S., people see color first."

She noticed that in Europe, despite the initial awkwardness, colleagues soon gave her their attention thanks to her sterling education and her extensive experience in business. "Your pedigree and track record answers the question of credibility," she told the audience. As for the awkward look and the double take, she learned to ignore them by being comfortable with herself. People will size others up in thirty seconds, she said, so it is important to influence these early impressions by having opinions and wanting to share them.

For Hondal, the vice president of AmEx's international consumer card and small business services, her status as a Cuban-American in a city like Miami puts her in a majority—and is a boon for networking. She praised her regional U.S. office for its work identifying high-potential leaders among the women, a process from which she benefited, she said. So, while she hasn't had to dwell too much on inequity when in Miami, it has been more noticeable in Puerto Rico and in Chile, Panama, and other Latin America countries she's traveled to on AmEx business. Occasionally she is subjected to a double take, but working there has "actually been easy," she discovered. When she and Latin American male colleagues sit down to discuss business issues, she finds herself on an equal playing field, she said. "I've tried not to see gender issues as a challenge," Hondal added.

Getting heard
Three other hurdles were highlighted by Maxine Johnson, vice president of City Advisory Practice, the consulting arm for Harvard University Professor Michael Porter's project, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, which aims to influence the view of inner cities as smart places to do business. As a native of New York City, Johnson told the group she has faced these issues: 1) being herself, 2) being heard, and 3) finding mentors (which she preferred to call developmental relationships) in her career.

For the first challenge, being herself, she realized early in her work life at a behemoth financial services company that the corporate codes of ethics and conformity were stifling her spirit. This led her to change jobs and face challenge number two: being heard. "I would raise a point at meetings, but no one was listening," Johnson observed. At the same time, she realized that she could not "wear race and gender on my sleeve." Her strategy in meetings became one of seizing the quiet moments in order to express her professional views. Quiet moments occur in every meeting. That tactic has been very successful, she told the audience with evident satisfaction.

As for challenge number three, finding mentors, Johnson said that she has been frustrated by the notion that there are always "certain people" young professionals need to get to know. Formal mentor programs don't work, she said, because they don't account for the important intangible factors that draw people toward each other. "Reach out to people you respect, regardless of race or gender," she advised younger women in the audience. "Build real mentors."

Competence is another area that is critically important for many minority professionals to develop so that it will never be questioned, said Crystal Dewberry, president and founder of Beyond Ambition, a consultancy focused on training in diversity of ideas and people. "Your work style should be like a swan, like a dove—on the surface you're smooth, you're graceful, [even if] underneath the surface of the water you're pedaling like crazy getting work done."

It is also important to be aware of one's own sense of racial politics, she advised. "I always tell people, if you think everything is about race, you're going to be in a perpetual state of rage. If you think nothing that happens in life is about race, you are in a state of vapor. It is a matter of balancing this business of race and what role it plays."

"Take your rightful place and take advantage of the resources you have in your company and outside your company," she continued, suggesting that young women seek out extracurricular networks that allow access to more senior executives. "I learned very early on that just because someone looks like you or has the same experiences as you, don't dismiss them—or don't look to them as your sole source of support. A lot of people who have been instrumental in my career have looked nothing like me. And I welcome that because they have different experiences and can provide me with different insights."

Minority women need to take care to more actively solicit feedback about their work performance, panelists told the audience. "The guys all ask," Dufresne said. "Your peers are asking. Take the initiative and be proactive about getting to the next level." Organizations are made up of people, added Dewberry. If women can't get adequate feedback from their superiors, they should ask their colleagues and allies, and demand honest answers.

Referring to the hit reality TV show "The Apprentice," which pits a female team against a male team for the prize of landing a job with real estate magnate Donald Trump, Dewberry concluded with a smile, "I kind of like the idea of men and women being against each other on the show. But then again, the marketer in me and the champion of diversity in me thinks, Wow, they are missing out on a lot. ...There's truly beauty in diversity, in all forms of diversity."