Corporate executive shares advice to minorities on climbing corporate ladder

Posted by Elena del Valle on August 8, 2008

Good is Not Enough book cover

Photo: Portolio

Corporate executive Keith Wyche shares experience gleaned over 25 years working in some of America’s top-earning companies in Good is Not Enough: And Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals (Portfolio, $24.95), his newly published title. In the 236-page hardcover book, Wyche sets out to advise minority readers who who want to climb the managerial ladder in corporate America.

His goal in writing the 12-chapter book was to address the power of perception, double standards, and the realities about corporate thinking and culture. He also shares suggestions for minorities to overcome the obstacles to success. The first time author emphasizes that today’s corporate America is much closer to political incorrectness than to the way things should be.

Keith Wyche, author, Good is Not Enough

“Yet in certain ways, today’s minority professionals, all of them, still have to reconcile their corporate advancement strategies with ‘the way it is’ in their corporate cultures, while still holding strong to their cultural integrity and core values,” said Wyche. “My goal is to provide insights from the inside of the executive suite and to help minority professionals see themselves through the same lens from which executive decision makers view them. From that lens, and based on my own experience, I can frankly tell them ‘good is still not enough’.”

According to Wyche, minority professionals who thrive in the corporate environment follow the unwritten rules instead of relying on their credentials or university degree. He also suggests aspiring ladder climbers should: learn how others see them because their perception can become reality; be informed; and be prepared with an exit strategy even when it doesn’t seem necessary.

Wyche emphasizes the importance of managing performance, exposure, and perception. In the book, he shares personal experiences to illustrate why he believes minorities must work harder than expected to advance their careers.

Wyche, a resident of Scarsdale, New York, is president of United States operations for Pitney Bowes Management Services, a division of Pitney Bowes Inc. Prior to that, he worked for Ameritech, AT&T, and IBM.