Mornin’ Joe: Is Your Perception as a Minority Woman at Work Keeping You From Career Success?

by Solange Lopes | Jun 26, 2014 | Career | 3 comments

Startyoungfinancial.com

Happy happy Thursday!

As corporate sisters, and professional women in general, we strive for success in our careers. Yes, we are far and few in between when it comes to corporate success, and do we painfully realize it! Yet, according to recent data, half of all Black women between the ages of 18 and 24 are pursuing higher degrees. 9.7% of Black women are enrolled in college, which is more than any other race or gender-based group. Striving, we are, yet it’s painfully obvious that we still have some ways to go…

As much as political, societal, and economic pressures do add up to the difficult career equation for minority women at work (and we are working on changing these), there also are pressures internal to our communities, and ourselves, that we ought to consider. Being leaders in our own lives and careers requires us to be willing to put ourselves, and our environments under scrutiny, in order to identify those thought and behavior patterns that may just be keeping us from achieving success!

Things like our own, and communities’ perception of career success. Are we actively supportive of other minority women who achieve career success, or do we look at them more like the exception that confirms the rule that after all, there isn’t room for all of us (or any of us for that matter) at the top? Do we subscribe to the perception that career success makes us sell-outs, that in order to make it in the corporate world, we would have had to sell some or part of our identity? Really, are our own perceptions of success as minorities and minority women standing in the way of our making it to the top?

These are not easy questions to confront. As a minority woman at work, I’ve had to face my own fears of inadequacy within my own community and family, the offensive “innocent” jokes about thinking that I’m better than everyone else, the guilt-inducing looks…Did that suit make me overly ambitious? Was I being insulting to those in my community who could not even make ends meet, let alone afford a suit? Did I not deserve to be successful because so many, before and after me, would not be? Why me, and not others like myself?

Perceptions, especially our own, are powerful. They are very often the lens through which we see ourselves, the mold we shape our vision and aspirations in. And when we know how crucial vision and purpose are in the achievement of our goals, we can then only start to understand how negative perceptions can hurt our chances of realizing our true potential.

It’s up to us to first acknowledge the limitations in our own own thinking and perceptions, and re-wire our brain to un-learn these. Instead, let’s start accepting our own vision and purpose, and holding ourselves accountable for changing the status quo. Only when we change ourselves, can we start instilling change, positive change in others. And as we tread on our own personal journeys of success, let’s not forget to reach back, inspire, support and tell our stories…

Is your perception of success as a minority keeping you from success?

The Corporate Sister.