Alleyne Sonia - Good is not enough: and other unwritten rules for minority professionals

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Table of Contents

Wyches insight is not only valuable for professionals who want a transparent view of the challenging pathway through the glass ceiling, but it is a MUST READ for every HR department or CEO who seeks to understand how to recruit or retain minnorities.

Kelly Chapman, director of diversity recruiting, Microsoft Corporation

Keith Wyche is a leading-edge corporate executive who has developed a clear formula for how to advance your career exponentially in spite of the obstacles. His book is an absolute must-read for all minority professionals who want to succeed in Corporate America.

David Richardson, founder/executive director, National Sales Network

Keith Wyche addresses critical issues that reach below the civilized surface of our day. If you are a minority professional at any level, this book is an absolute necessity on the road to principled and professional business success. My advice is to read his book, heed his advice, and prepare yourself for success.

Martita Mesty, SVP, Strategic Partnerships, iHispano.com

In this book Wyche provides insightful, practical, down-to-earth advice that we all can learn from.

Anr Williams, president, Global Commercial Card, American Express

This book is dedicated to my parents,

Leroy (deceased) and Velvet Wyche,
for their unconditional love and unwavering support.
And for never allowing me to settle for just being good
when better was obtainable,
and great was within reach!

FOREWORD

I believe that minorities are at a pivotal point in history. The world is not waiting for us to wake up to our power. It is time for us to take a seat at the table, not only in America but also in the global economy.

As I teach and preach the importance of networking and the building of effective relationships in the African American community, my lifes work, I know that each and every day is an opportunity to create a new and powerful story in my culture... and unless we find a way to write this new story, to claim our power, there will be devastating implications for our community and for the world. In other words, there is no one to save usbut us! Our excellence is tantamount to our success. This is also true for women, Latinos, and other minority groups striving for excellence in order to get ahead in white America.

More important, I want to point out that there is a distinction between excellence and high personal achievement. Our capacity for achievement varies according to how well we identify and expand upon our God-given gifts. It is human nature to concentrate on personal achievement as a building block of self-esteem. However, there is a distinction between personal achievement and excellence, not only for blacks but also for women, Latinos, and other minority groups.

As a black man who spent nearly twenty years in corporate America, I have learned that to overcome our failure and to leverage our collective resources for the elevation of all, we must establish excellence as the overriding perception of minorities and the reality for minorities; in my station, of course, African Americans. But let me make it clear: I believe true excellence comes only when you use your talents and gifts to benefit others to a greater extent than you employ those talents for your own personal benefit.

While personal achievement among minorities has helped people of color gain individual independence and confidence, so far it has not significantly contributed to the development of interdependency in the African American culture. Blacks must fix that, through excellence! This same must applies to other minority groups, through culturally uplifting conduct.

Excellence, by my definition, is the reinvestment of ones unique gifts or personal achievements back into the community in order to improve the human condition within the community. It is my belief also that our generation of minorities must redefine excellence while maintaining high standards of personal achievement. This is our role and contribution. It is also the next step in our respective cultural development. For example: Magic Johnson winning the Most Valuable Player trophy is high personal achievement, but it is not excellence, not at least by my measure. The charitable work of the Magic Johnson Foundation, however, is up to my standard of excellence in the African American community.

The distinction between personal achievement and excellence is important, because it helps us to think of our excellence in communal terms rather than in personal terms, and this leads to another standard for defining our success. It also encourages minorities to create network linkages and to work for the common good of our people.

I believe that we must have networks of:

Professionals helping professionals

Businesses helping professionals

Professionals helping businesses

Middle-class and upper-class minorities helping the underclass

Furthermore, you cant have excellence without leadership. And to be a leader is to understand that you must transcend being good at just functional and analytical (or problem-solving) tasks. You must be able to build relationships that enable you to create a fabric of personal contacts that will provide support, feedback, insight, resources, and information. Thats called networking!

Leaders understand that the alternative to effective networking is to fail. You simply will not reach a leadership position, or you will not succeed at leadership, without effective networking skills. Leaders are great networkers and can work effectively with a diverse array of people.

Ive seen others who avoided networking, or failed at it because they let interpersonal chemistry, instead of strategic needs, determine which relationships they cultivated. It is a challenge to make the leap from a lifetime of functional contributions and hands-on control to the ambiguous process of building and working through networks.

That said, those individual minorities of means who do not reach down and lift up their own, and are not philanthropic at some level, are socially isolated and ostracized. My point is: in the future, your caring must have more status than your car. We are a long way from that, but I think we are moving toward that idea.

Minorities must be prepared; must create ways to excel in corporate America, other than the status quo. This book, in offering the insights and strategies from those who have made it in corporate America, shares how they have moved from personal achievement to excellence.

Good Is Not Enough: And Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals is a must-read for blacks and other minorities facing the reality that in the world of corporate America, the bar is higher, the race is longer, and the prize is harder to hold on to unless you learn how the game is played. Being able to communicate this to the up-and-coming minority corporate executive, or to these who feel stuck in the trenches, is in fact excellence redefined. I commend Keith for his willingness to highlight those who are excelling, and their willingness to share their precious insights for the good of all!

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