海角大神

How often are you the only person of your gender or race in a professional setting? Do you even notice? Have you ever asked yourself this question?

In this season of recognizing social and racial injustices, the question is relevant.聽And there鈥檚 lots of data on the subject.

Truth be told, in my careers in journalism and business, in my decades of experience in nonprofit work and education, I have often been the 鈥渙nly.鈥澛燱hen I was a copy kid at 海角大神 almost a half-century ago, I was an 鈥渙nly.鈥澛燗nd I barely noticed.聽

It is only now, as I call up a sepia-toned mental image of my Monitor posse and bosses, that I notice they were all white and male, among them the publisher and his son. They were my friends. Many of them continued working at the Monitor. But I had other ambitions and was able to fulfill them.

I became an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist with CBS News. I traveled the world, reporting on Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. When I moved to New York City, I described my CBS beat as 鈥渕ayhem and the arts.鈥� I covered major criminal trials and business news for 鈥淐BS Evening News with Dan Rather鈥� as well as a series of French Impressionism and 20th-century African American art exhibits for 鈥淐BS Sunday Morning.鈥�

I lost touch with my friends who built their careers at the Monitor. Relentlessly, perhaps blindly, I pursued my own goals of success and achievement.聽聽

And now, I have come home to the Monitor to begin a new role as a columnist, somewhat more observant than I was as a copy kid.聽聽

A toxic standard

My first conscious memory is of my father saying, 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e Black in America, to be equal, you have to be superior.鈥澛燳es, that standard is impossibly, needlessly high.聽But I didn鈥檛 resent my father鈥檚 insistent message.聽I said to myself, 鈥淚s that all it takes?鈥澛燭he world鈥檚 standard is, and was, just a passing grade.聽When you鈥檙e a child, school is your job.聽What else was more important than working a little harder to get superior grades?

And my grades were superior!聽That empirical data gave me confidence.聽And that confidence propelled me, sustained me, in all of the rooms in which I was 鈥� and even today, at times, remain 鈥� an 鈥渙nly.鈥�

Why does the standard have to be so high?聽It doesn鈥檛.聽But that standard 鈥� and the racial bias implicit in it 鈥� can be toxic. Both demand a response.

Securing a seat at the table

For our newly published book, 鈥淎 Blessing: Women of Color Teaming Up to Lead, Empower and Thrive,鈥� my co-author, Bonita C. Stewart, and I conducted a survey of 4,005 female American 鈥渄esk workers.鈥� As far as we know, our Women of Color in Business: Cross Generational Survey聽is the first to look at four races (Black, Latina, Asian, and white) and four generations (boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z).聽聽

We found that 47% of Black women 颅鈥� almost half 鈥� said they are frequently or always the only person of their race in professional situations. By contrast, 73% of white women said they are rarely the only person of their race in such a setting.聽聽

We also found that 31% of Black women said their job applications are viewed more skeptically.聽The number is almost twice that reported by white women (17%). A recent McKinsey & Co. survey of racial equity in financial services confirmed the finding, even beyond the financial industry: 鈥淏lack job applicants with degrees from elite universities experience the same as white applicants with degrees from state colleges.鈥�

鈥淲e are the miraculous鈥�

Once Black women cross the application hurdle and are hired, their 鈥渙nly-ness鈥� comes with built-in stressors. We found that twice as many Black women as white said their work is viewed skeptically (35% of Black women, 23% Latina, 17% Asian, 16% white). And a number of surveys have found that women of color face more microaggressions than white women.聽Their judgment is questioned in the workplace, and even senior women are mistaken for support staff.

And yet, Black women are indomitable 鈥� even in the face of scrutiny, stress, and aggressions, both micro and macro. Harvard Business Review research has quantified our unbridled ambition with the finding that women of color are more likely to aspire to a position of power with a prestigious title than white women. Ironically, white women are about twice as likely to attain that position of power.

What鈥檚 the answer?聽Women of color can and are 鈥渢eaming up.鈥澛燗nd you can join us.聽As an example, Black, Latina, and Asian American alumnae at Harvard Business School have held their first joint 鈥渟isterhood circles,鈥� providing inspiration, psychological support, and concrete advice for individuals facing specific challenges.聽As poet Maya Angelou wrote, 鈥淲e are the miraculous.鈥�

This #TeamUp column is the first in a series devoted to issues of racial equity, social justice, foreign policy, and the arts. Stay tuned.聽

Jacqueline Adams is co-author of 鈥淎 Blessing: Women of Color Teaming Up to Lead, Empower and Thrive."