One is NOT the Loneliest Number: How to Leverage Your Uniqueness At Work

by Solange Lopes | Jan 23, 2014 | Career

One is not the loneliest number – keurawa.com

In many of the conversations that I’ve had with corporate sisters like myself, one of the recurring line remains the same: ” I am the Only one”. From having no one else, or very few others, to relate to, to facing the constant pressure of stereotypes and preconceived ideas, being a minority at work, and at times being the only minority at work, can feel daunting. Yes, as contributors and change agents at work, we are there to perform.Yet over the years, I’ve learnt that along with the negative aspects of being unique at work, also come very positive aspects that we often tend to overlook:

• Leverage your unique perspective: As minority women, wives and mothers, we have unique perspectives to bring to work. Yet very often, we leave these at home or in the confines of our overcrowded purses, instead of offering them as part of our work. As an advertising executive, a dear friend of mine often failed to dig deeper into her own story growing in a one-parent household as a bi-racial child, to fuel her creative work. As soon as she started, she realized that her own unique perspective could, and actually did, fuel some of her best creative work, while educating the rest of the world. In her own words, “difference breeds creativity, and that is why each one of us is where we are, to bring our own unique perspective and input!”….Exactly!
• Speak up about the benefits of diversity: Often as minority women in the workplace, especially in more traditional corporate environments where conformism seems to be the norm, diversity and its many benefits are rarely alluded to. While trying to be diverse (at times mostly for better investor perception), many a company does not necessarily stop and consciously decide to put a focus on the many benefits that a diverse workforce can bring. And while we may tend to blame the big institutions, our own silence when it comes to diversity does not help either…A big corporate sister of mine in a managerial position at a big institution took it upon herself to reach out to Human Resources to discuss opportunities to create a diversity network within the company. By speaking about the benefits of such a diversity initiative, such as increasing mentoring opportunities for minority women and women in general in the company, to improving investor perception and employee performance, just to cite a few, she convinced HR to provide her with the initial means to carry out her project. The rest is just history…
• Change the culture!  While many of us may be change-adverse, change is good! And as an increasing number of minority women enter the corporate space, a cultural shift starts taking place in the workplace. Just as more emphasis is being put on women ascending to positions of influence in corporate spheres previously reserved to men, and as we celebrate women CEOs like GM’s Mary Barra or do our best to “lean in” with Sherry Sandberg, we also have to remember that minority women, especially Black women, are still at a greater disadvantage than the rest of the women in the workplace. So, as the culture is being shifted towards one that is more inclusive of women in general, it is up to us to shift it even more towards more inclusiveness for minority women. How? By getting up, dressing up, showing up, and speaking up on behalf of all those who stand with us in the corporate trenches, and those who are preparing to triumphantly cross those trenches some day….