Minority Rules: Turn Your Ethnicity Into a Competitive Edge
Before explaining how to use ethnicity to one's professional advantage, Roldan spends almost two-thirds of this book arguing that minorities need to lose any illusions they may harbor about succeeding without learning to understand and play by corporate and majority rules. From his position as CEO of a top minority recruiting firm and former employment discrimination attorney, Roldan matter-of-factly details the obstacles to the advancement of Hispanic, Asian, African-American and female employees, and the self-defeating behavior that can keep promising managers from rising. His emphasis is on creating a personalized plan of action based on stellar performance and on building relationships, choosing mentors, networking and mastering corporate politics while outperforming competitors at every rung of the ladder. Intended for ambitious people, these are well constructed and tested lessons, supported by examples from the career paths of prominent executives like Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal. Roldan also highlights myths and mistakes that are commonly and easily made along the way, such as failing to leverage one's ethnic background into an area of expertise or resisting assimilation into the corporate culture. While he targets a specific segment of readers, Roldan's clear-eyed advice on what it takes to succeed in corporate America would benefit a reader of any background.(Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.