Finally, every project like this one requires an anchor who brings it all together. Kathy Lenox was my right hand throughout this process. Kathy has been a longtime contributor to our company and a strong partner of mine on many projects over the years. Our mutual passion and commitment to this body of work is strong and very much aligned. Her support in helping me with the writing and editing, managing the process with all of its moving parts, and keeping me on schedule has made all the difference. I can't really express in words how much her partnership has meant to me, but I'm happy to say that we got this done and it's all good! Thank you, Kathy.
Introduction
I HAVE FOCUSED MY CAREER on supporting the talent development of a vibrant and diverse workforce. This work means that I have the opportunity to speak to large numbers of up‐and‐coming professionals who are eager to make their mark and navigate through a successful career. These individuals are hungry for practical advice about how to accomplish the goals that are important to them. Many think of themselves as—or are considered by others to be—“different” from the majority of employees in their organizations.
In talking with these rising professionals, who come from a wide variety of backgrounds and an array of industries, I encounter an interesting ambivalence about the relevance of differences in today's multicultural workforce. On one hand, there are countless people from different ethnic backgrounds, races, gender, cultures, sexual orientations, and religions, all of whom are living their dreams that they achieved through their own hard work, intentionality, and support from others. This is a true sign of progress.
On the other hand, these same differences are still causing debate and division. In spite of a changing population and expanding opportunities, I still hear concerns about the impact of being different when it comes to being recognized and rewarded in the workplace. Many professionals look around and don't see many individuals like themselves in senior management. They notice that their careers aren't progressing as they expected or as quickly as their colleagues'. They see others like themselves leaving the company for unclear reasons or “better” opportunities.
As these hard‐working professionals make these observations—and when they encounter the inevitable challenges or setbacks of a demanding career—questions begin to emerge: Do I have to work twice as hard as my counterparts to receive the same recognition and opportunities? Do I have to sacrifice who I am in order to fit in? These kinds of questions, sometimes raised overtly but more often unspoken, add another level of complexity—and distraction—to the challenge of managing a rewarding and satisfying career.
I've wrestled with these and other questions throughout my own career. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1960s. When I graduated from Michigan State University in the late 1970s, I began working as an entry‐level human resource professional for a large corporation based in Detroit. I was a driven young executive who was looking to move ahead fast. Yet even after two years of working hard, I felt senior executives either couldn't see or didn't value my potential. I became cynical about the company and my future with it.
In the spring of 1980, I was invited, along with twenty‐three other professionals of color, to participate in what was then called an Efficacy course. I suspected that this seminar would be remedial. What made me show up despite my reservations was that I had previously heard the speaker, Dr. Jeff Howard. Most Black leaders of the day spoke about people of color as victims—a largely white society was to blame for what we didn't achieve. Not Dr. Howard. His focus was squarely on taking personal responsibility for one's own development. He didn't talk about what was wrong with other people or what the company ought to be doing differently. He told us that our success depended upon ourselves and the choices we made about how to think and behave. I was riveted by this thinking. Was it really up to me?
During the training, Dr. Howard elaborated on the topic of personal responsibility, and the meaning of what he called Efficacy became clearer to me. The American Heritage Dictionary defines efficacy as the “power or capacity to produce a desired effect.” In the context of the program, efficacy also means “a set of thoughts and behaviors that give you the highest return on the investment of your time and effort.”
I was struck that the definition didn't say a good return or a high return, but the highest return. Efficacy was about leveraging my choices and my effort to maximize my development and not settling for less than I was capable of. It was about being strategic with that effort: defining what was important to me and developing a strategy that would produce the best outcomes with the least amount of wasted physical or emotional energy.
This experience had a profound impact on me. It helped me realize that I was concentrating much of my energy on what others weren't doing right: they weren't giving me a chance, they weren't appreciating what I had to offer, and they weren't treating me as someone with a brain. A key principle of the program is, It's not the stimulus, it's the response. This made it clear that I could choose how to respond to my environment and people I encounter every day. I did not have to let frustration, anger, or helplessness dictate my reaction. I could choose to respond to the unfortunate and unpleasant experiences of life, in a way that expanded my possibilities and moved me toward my desired outcomes. To this day, that core principle rings in my head whenever a situation isn't progressing the way I would like it to.
I also came to understand the importance of fostering relationships with others, even those I might not like or choose to have as friends. I spent more time cultivating a “brand of excellence” with senior executives. I became much more willing to make mistakes, admit what I didn't know, and learn from my errors. Perhaps most important, I began to seek out feedback constantly—even if I didn't always like what I heard. I stopped waiting for others to discover me, and I stopped assuming that other people's biases were holding me back. Instead, I started relying on my belief in my capacity to learn and improve and become increasingly more effective in accomplishing the goals that were important to the company and to me.
These strategies opened many doors for me. Through my efforts, and with the support of some wonderful mentors and coaches, I was rewarded with a satisfying and challenging career.
When I look back, I realize there were many starts and stops, many lessons I wish I had learned more quickly, and much advice I wish I'd received sooner. I'm grateful to the wonderful individuals who recognized my potential and helped me learn how to navigate my career. So this book is my effort to “pay it forward” and provide straightforward answers to the questions you might face as you immerse yourself in an often confusing and challenging workplace culture. It is about how to take informed personal responsibility for your career.
There are many books with good advice for attaining and managing a successful career. However, most of them do not address the challenges facing professionals who are underrepresented in the leadership of today's organizations. This book is intended as an open discussion about the deliberate choices that must be made about who you are and how to represent yourself in the organization you work for. It is about how to create options for yourself, consciously choose what's important to you, and decide how you will achieve your goals. Making these choices might require more work or numerous tradeoffs if your background and identity don't always square with your work culture. However, to ignore the challenge also means cutting yourself off from the possibility of reaching your full potential—and developing yourself to the fullest is the core message of this book.
The power of choice is not about becoming successful in spite of your differences or even because of your differences. It's about expanding your definition of who you are and who you can become.
It's about expanding your sense of possibilities for yourself.
In the first part of this book, we explore the foundational principles of the Power of Choice's approach to career development. In the second part, we discuss how to develop the skills—especially the relational and influence skills—that are required to shape the kind of career you want. We also examine the factors that sometimes undermine our efforts