The Little Black Book of Success Laws of Leadership for Black Women

by Brown, Elaine Meryl; Haygood, Marsha; McLean, Rhonda Joy; Burt-Murray, Angela

• ISBN13: 9780345518484
• ISBN10: 0345518489
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-03-02
• Publisher: One World

Summary

In this engaging and invaluable "mentor in your pocket," three dynamic and successful black female executives share their strategies to help all black women, at any level of their careers, play the power game-and win. Rich with wisdom, this practical gem focuses on the building blocks of true leadership-self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration, and courage-while dealing specifically with stereotypes (avoid the Mammy Trap, and don't become the Angry Black Woman) and the perils of self-victimization (don't assume that every challenge occurs because you are black or female). Some leaders are born, but most leaders are made-and The Little Black Book of Success will show you how to make it to the top, one step at a time.

Author Biography

Elaine Meryl Brown is vice president, special markets and Cinemax Group, at HBO. Prior to joining HBO, she was a creative director at Showtime Networks. An Emmy Award–winning writer and the author of the novels Lemon City and Playing by the Rules, she is currently writing a young adult fiction series. She lives in New Jersey.
 
Marsha Haygood is the president and founder of StepWise Associates, LLC, a career and personal development consultancy. She was formerly the executive vice president of human resources and administration at New Line Cinema and Orion Pictures. She lives in New York and Florida.
 
Rhonda Joy McLean is deputy general counsel of Time Inc. and the former assistant regional director of the Northeast Region of the Federal Trade Commission. She has worked as a corporate litigator in a major New York law firm and taught administrative law at the City University of New York. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xvii
Always Consider Yourself a VIP	p. 3
To Attain Victory, Stay Positive	p. 8
Racism Is No Excuse, but It Can Be a Motivator	p. 12
Don't Be the Office Mammy	p. 15
Use Your Duality to Build Strength	p. 17
Acknowledge That There Is a Game and Accept That You Must Play	p. 19
What You Have to Say Is Just as Important as What Others Have to Say, So Speak Up	p. 22
Aretha Was Right: R-E-S-P-E-C-T	p. 26
Listen Up! Understanding What's Said v. What's Meant	p. 28
Always Have a Plan of Action and Follow Through	p. 32
Don't Let Your Emotions Get the Best of You	p. 35
Developing Good Relationships with Co-Workers Has More Benefits Than You Think	p. 39
Communicate Clearly in Person and on Paper	p. 41
Know Your Value	p. 45
To Measure Your Performance, Get Feedback	p. 48
Perception: It's Not Only about How You See Yourself	p. 51
Seek Guidance and Support	p. 54
Surround Yourself with the Right People: You Cannot Survive in Isolation	p. 57
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone	p. 59
Regardless of Your Position, Learn about Your Department, Your Company, and Your Industry	p. 62
Entitlement: Nobody Owes You Anything	p. 64
The Values You Were Raised with in Church Aren't Always Valued in Business	p. 69
Not Everyone Has to Be Your BFF	p. 73
Motivate Others by Playing Up Their Strengths	p. 76
Do Not Let Distractions (or a Difficult Boss) Throw You Off Course	p. 80
Always Try to Maintain Balance	p. 85
The N-Word: Networking	p. 88
Change Is Inevitable, So Be Prepared	p. 91
Bring Your Brand to the Table: Blend into the Crowd While Still Being Yourself	p. 94
You Don't Need to Have All the Answers to Take Advantage of the Opportunities	p. 98
What You See Is What You Create	p. 100
Use Conflict as an Opportunity to Solve Problems	p. 104
Don't Be Defeated by the Madness: Keep Your Sanity	p. 107
Know How to Create and Use Power	p. 111
No One Leadership Style Fits All: Know When to Mix It Up	p. 116
Coaches Are Not Just for Athletes	p. 120
Celebrate Your Arrival at the C-Suite	p. 123
Maintain Your Seat at the Table: Here's What It Takes	p. 126
Seeing the Writing on the Wall	p. 130
Reach Back and Bring Others Along	p. 133
Acknowledgments	p. 137
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Chapter One


Always Consider Yourself a VIP

Many of you are already active in the workplace or will soon be entering workforces all over the world—in privately held corporations, large foundations, small not-for-profit organizations, advocacy groups, government positions, or other jobs right in your neighborhood— and yet, you may not know a very important secret: There is a leader inside each of you just waiting to come out! All you need to do is develop and hone the skills that will help the leader in you to surface and shine.

Leaders are not only born, they can also be created. Even if you have never held a leadership position and were told that you did not have “leadership potential” as you were growing up, you can learn what it takes to be a leader right now. Like math, science, and languages, leadership can be learned because it requires skill sets that can be taught. And since you are clearly capable of learning, the path to leadership is one you can always pursue.

However, along the path to leadership success, you will have to refuse to give in to negative thinking that can hold you back. Too often brilliant and beautiful young women of color sabotage themselves, sometimes without even knowing that they are doing it, so that they never become the leaders they are capable of becoming or achieve the level of leadership success they deserve. The most critical aspect of leadership is self-esteem, which must flow from the core of your being.

In order to become a leader and remain an effective one, you must always consider yourself a Very Important Person (VIP). This doesn’t mean that you should be arrogant or cocky and walk into your job believing that you already know everything you need to know. Instead, it means that you need to feel confident that you are bringing much value to any workplace and that your cultural strengths, values, and work ethic will stand you in good stead as you go about learning how to do your job, and that you will be successful despite any challenges you may face, whether they are small or large.

How you feel about yourself is imperative to moving forward and sustaining your efforts to meet your leadership goals. Feeling that you’re a VIP, reminding yourself that you’re a VIP, dressing like you’re a VIP, and acting like you’re a VIP (within reason, of course) will help to give you the confidence you need to conquer real and imagined obstacles in your workplace. Rest assured that you can overcome any hurdles you may encounter on your way to becoming a leader —just be prepared and hang on to your hat. External—and maybe even internal—forces will surely test you.

Because we live in a society where people of color and women are not always valued, some of us consciously or subconsciously transfer the notion that we are not valuable to beliefs of inferiority or inadequacy about ourselves.* A recent Harvard University study identified two kinds of prejudice: individual and systemic. The first kind of prejudice is held by individuals about members of groups other than their own. The second is a set of institutionalized assumptions, attitudes, and practices that have a kind of invisible effect in systematically giving members of more powerful groups certain advantages over members of less dominant groups. So you are not crazy, and you are not alone in feeling that some things are not right or fair in our society. Despite all of the progress women and people of color have made, there are still obstacles in many workplaces. Therefore, you must be ready.

The first step to handling any sense of unfairness in the business environment is to accept that prejudices of all kinds exist. Indeed, many of us are prejudiced, and instead of letting these feelings get in your way, you must find creative ways to move around them. You may feel frustrated at times, not knowing how to get a

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Excerpted from The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women by Marsha Haygood, Rhonda Joy McLean, Elaine Brown
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.