A corporate politics primer for minorities
Minority Rules: Turn Your Ethnicity Into a Competitive Edge
By Kenneth Arroyo Roldan and Gary M. Stern
Collins, 304 pages, $22.95
Don't play the race card; play corporate politics.
That admonition encapsulates the most important advice for ambitious minorities and women from Kenneth Arroyo Roldan in his new book, ``Minority Rules." Roldan is the chief executive of Wesley, Brown & Bartle, a leading executive search firm that specializes in recruiting and placing minorities.
Some skilled people who are members of minority groups mistakenly think that performance alone is enough, Roldan says.
``Ignoring corporate politics, they think that bravura and a strong personality will make them successful. Instead, they often antagonize superiors and alienate colleagues, and then get bitter and resentful when they get passed over. Or they will use racism and discrimination (which clearly exist) as excuses for why they're not being promoted! But what's really at work here is an inability to master corporate politics, not racism. Avoid the race card at all costs," Roldan writes.
Ambitious minorities, says Roldan, who is Puerto Rican, cannot afford to view all criticism as racist.
``As minorities, we tend to be oversensitive and often get bent out of shape when criticized or questioned, which hurts our chances of moving up. Learn to play the game. Don't take the criticism personally," he writes.
The chapter titled ``Mastering Corporate Politics" holds together and gives perspective to all other components of this guidebook for climbing corporate ladders from the lowest rungs to the highest executive levels.
Don't try to avoid corporate politics, he says, and don't try to change the rules.
``If you can't play the game by their rules, try a small nonprofit organization, where the politics isn't as thick," he writes.
He also cautions against antagonizing the wrong people, even those on your level or beneath, because you can't predict who your next boss will be.
``Minority Rules" also includes guidance for finding and utilizing mentors, effective networking, strengthening performance, developing a strategic career plan, vaulting into the executive suite, and using ethnicity to your advantage.
