Playing The Corporate Game as an African-American Woman…
Written by Dominique Harris
Playing the corporate game
My story starts as a young girl with a passion for helping others and a deep belief in the fact that “knowledge is power.” Being African American, I’ve witnessed and been subject to many of the institutional and systemic issues that burdened (or repressed) our race. At an early age, I wanted to change that for myself, my family, and pay it forward for generations to come. The best way I could make an impact within my control, was through education. At the same time, I had a passion for business and learned early how to make products and the art of selling. This is important to understand because my passions came together to form my aspiration of wanting to be a teacher… a high school business teacher. I enrolled in the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University to pursue this dream.
My sophomore year, I decided to pursue an internship in business to further my understanding and to have real life experiences to bring to the classroom. Through a diversity recruiting organization for underrepresented minorities wanting to enter corporate careers, I submitted my resume. This led to an opportunity to interview with Kearney, a global management consulting firm, for a business analyst intern role. But I’d never heard of consulting…. I grew up in mid-to-low socioeconomic class, in the suburbs of Chicago and attended public schools (which were not considered the top in the state). In fact, if we were to go by stats for African Americans going to college, I was not supposed to make it to Vanderbilt. But here I was! I leveraged the school resources to prepare for the interview in three weeks. I got the internship and allowed myself to lean into the opportunities ahead of me. I was embarking in a world where very few looked like me or came from my socioeconomic status or even had a liberal arts degree.
I decided to not look back…15 years later I can say I’m a successful partner at Kearney, leading projects with Fortune 500 companies focused on organization design, capability building, and culture.
As I sit on my 735+ domestic flight, in reflection of my career, there is a playbook on how to navigate the corporate career—really that is the case for any career. Given the joy I find in watching sports, I am going to use the analogy of a game playbook on how to win. I have been a consultant for more than 15 years and have learned that 1) a playbook exists; and 2) that it’s ever evolving (meaning just when you think you have mastered the play, there is something new learn). This is the key to my resilience and success.
There are three plays that have been critical to every role I have had as I have climbed the corporate ladder to partner:
Learn the plays of your current position and the next position
Seek to understand what is expected of your role and the next level. Understand the competencies that are your strengths and where you have opportunity for development. How can you expect to progress if you don’t know what is required?
Every manager has a different style. Learn the expectations of your manager. Understanding the competencies on paper is great, but how that is interpreted by your manager is just as important to your progression.
Have a growth mindset so you can constantly learn, from your peers, feedback from clients and managers, or just new topics on general. A growth mindset allows you stay open to new opportunities that can stretch you for growth.
Build your team
Relationships are key. You will need formal and informal relationships. This includes a formal mentor assigned by the company and an informal mentor you picked up from a past project or experience. Note: informal mentors are invested in those they want to see successful and that comes from building a genuine connection. I like to seek out informal mentors that have character attributes and skills I admire. Make sure to set up regular time with your mentors to discuss your career and different plays.
Find your people…these are people in your smallest circle, with whom you have built a professional and / or personal relationship. You are each other cheer leaders and truth sayers. Your squad may be peers, from the same undergraduate school, same start class at work, etc. —there are many ways to forge that connection. Networks can help you learn the game and navigate to multiple wins.
Pass the ball
Understand the resources at your disposal. You don’t have to have the answer to everything, but should know how to get the answer, whether it be from a person on your network or around the company or outside the company or do the research yourself. You should diversify your network as you grow at the company so that you have multiple resource options.
Great leaders understand how to leverage their team and know they don’t have to “do everything.” It is simple, learn how to delegate. This helps to empower future leaders and gives you leverage to perform at your best.
An underlying theme from my playbook is seeking to first understand then to act. Playing the game can be complex and there is not always a clear path to a win but by having a playbook, that you have curated based on experiences, you can sketch out the winning play.