Black Men: Do You Agree “Play The Corporate Game” Or No?

[truth2you]

What is it about black people that they swear they have all the answers to bring black people up from racism, yet it has never been done besides when we forced thengovernment to change?

That guy in the video knows everything about cologne, but he is living in dreamland when it comes to race. He's a Republican so that tells me why he thinks like that, most black republicans think they are different then other black people, and somehow know how to fight racism, if they believe it exists


You really think since the 70's, no one thought about what he's saying. No one in this country started wearing dreads until the 90's, and those people weren't corporate, so how come it has always been only a few of us in corporate america? Its because it's designed that way, now they just have more excuses why they wont advance you in your position, while giving their friends or family who don't know shyt that same position.

 

[karim]

He made a lot of good points


A lot of brehs do shoot themselves in the foot over trivial issues (long hair, excessive facial hair, clothing etc)

But I cant be the only one who feels it’s exhausting and draining to be around cacs all day & have to play “their game”. Dont get me started on the happy hours, “networking” (aka pretending to like & talk about winter sports, golf and shyt like that), and “power lunches”.

On the other hand if u play their game long enough, u can be in a position to help and put on other black people in positions in power to fortify ur position.

What are ur thoughts on playing the game? Is it worth it?

That shyt is too draining for me Plus, if you understand how the corporate game works, you understand that individual black people moving up the ladder isn't going to change shyt. Maintaining your position is all about fulfilling your superiors expectations and that superior is still going to be white. In the end, playing the corporate game is all about status and your ego, there is no other way to bring up enough energy to play it. Anybody who tells you they do it for reasons other then their own advancememt is either lying to you or themselves.

 

[JLova]

Corporate culture is conformity. You are naive if you think white people don't have to conform as well. Everyone has to. Some people, however, can conform a bit easier than others.

The problem is black people undervalue many important skills that would otherwise allow them to thrive in corporate environments. Skills like small talk. Small talk will take you farther than your own technical skills. It’s probably the most important skill to have.

If you are having problems in that regard, get this book.



I’m definitely for playing the corporate game. The long run is gaining the professional skills to be able to go off and do your own thing successfully when the time comes.

This.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

If you making him more money best believe he gone put you on game. It's not hard to act like a decent human being I'm not about ass kissing, but bringing actual value to the company so they can put me on.

Again that's if you have a boss that understands his purpose (and is valued for that purpose). Plus a lot of jobs aren't just about making the company money.

Perfect post.

This goes beyond the workplace. Any aspect of life where you have to demonstrate value and make connections with people to succeed is the same damn thing. You hear a lot of the same complaints about dating

you love putting all the onus at the feet of black folk and presume we dont know all this basic shyt. You are not going to small talk, network or conform yourself out of white supremacy.

I get that you are bitter about your law school experience. But projecting your setbacks as some kind of systematic conspiracy is doo doo. How do you explain all the other black people who have succeeded at the corporate game? Let me guess... they are all c00ns who made blood sacrifices to the Illuminati I know plenty of black people who have moved ahead through small talk/networking/conforming. WS or not the game is the game.

If you're right what do you suggest black people do instead? Or should we just give up and make angry posts on TheColi.com???

 

[Roid Jones]

Corporate culture is conformity. You are naive if you think white people don't have to conform as well. Everyone has to. Some people, however, can conform a bit easier than others.

The problem is black people undervalue many important skills that would otherwise allow them to thrive in corporate environments. Skills like small talk. Small talk will take you farther than your own technical skills. It’s probably the most important skill to have.

If you are having problems in that regard, get this book.



I’m definitely for playing the corporate game. The long run is gaining the professional skills to be able to go off and do your own thing successfully when the time comes.

I don't know why people take pride in going to work and being all day, is it really that hard to talk to people even for a few minutes?

 

[At30wecashout]

Playing the game now to an extent. My success went up when I started entertaining small talk. Keeping it short doesnt make people want ti work with you and there are less positions that pay well that prefer you keep to yourself.

Ill do me when im off the corporate tit. Till then, those dollars keep me eating well.

 

[FLATOP]

Id rather increase my salary by job hopping and enhancing my skills as an individual contributor than sucking up to the boss and rising at a single company

 

[Roid Jones]

You have to in order to get ahead. Your work isn't good enough. I'm arguably the most reliable person on my team and people throughout the firm feel comfortable with me handling their projects for timeliness and getting it done right the first time. However it isn't a meritocracy. Promotion list went out the other day and all I could do was laugh at some of the names on the list.

I'm not getting a promotion anytime soon because of the structure. Have to network. I'm checked out because of it. I'm waiting to be fired tbh.

True I learned that a long time ago, I always used to think my work alone was good enough, I had to develop other aspects

 

[BaggerofTea]

If you are good at your job, this is irrelevant

 

[chineebai]

It's not just black people but everyone, black people just have to work way harder at it. Not black but I've been in corporate all my career and you have to play games, hold back yourself in being yourself, and make sure you know how to manage across the organization.

 

[Ghost Utmost]

Either you have a decent job - where all this shyt is necessary

Or you do something illegal

Or you're a dusty ass bum

I guess some percent of people make music, play sports, or have their own business but

"I don't play the white man's game" comes out of a lot of bum ass niqqas' mouths

 

[invalid]

white ppl may conform, but they are by default conforming less because they and their culture permeate through corporate settings. They may conform by shaving their beard, wearing a suit etc...but it gets deeper the darker you are. We by default wont have the same hobbies they do. We wont talk the same way they do. We simply wont be able to relate to them. That to me is what makes the conformity difficult, just not being able to relate.

I dont have a cottage
I have not yet picked up golf
I dont watch hockey anymore
etc. etc.

You didn’t grow up going to a cottage but I did. You haven’t picked up golf but I have. I also ski and play tennis and go overseas to do both activities. So I don’t have a problem talking to my coworkers about my experiences at Wimbledon during my short-residence in London a few years back. Or about how they should forgo an air-bnb, if they ever got a chance to ski Gstaad, to stay in the Alpina Gstaad because it’s such a wonderful hotel.

Furthermore, I grew up doing all of these activities within an all-black setting around a cornucopia of other black families. I have posted many times on this forum all the ways posters can get involved with all-black ski, golf, and tennis clubs, some of which have been around for the past century.

College in America is the greatest catalyst for class mobility. The type of school and the type of education you receive both have the ability to propel you higher on the totem pole then from where you started out.

So I can tell you that it’s not “white” culture that you’re bumping up against in a corporate setting. It’s middle/upper-middle class culture that you’re bumping up against so I really don’t understand your frustrations. Most black people come from lower middle to working class families. You get an education to better yourself and your station in life. Be surprised that when you do better yourself and reach that station, that the rules, values, norms, aspirations, and currency are different from whence you came and that your new-found status requires conformity with the in-group. Why are you all whining, isn’t this what you wanted?

Many of you obviously don’t notice it but conformity is required everywhere even among working-class environments. I can tell you, I have to switch up my speech and project a tougher demeanor (code switch) when I go to the hood because that’s what the hood requires otherwise there is a high-chance I could be food. It’s a reason why the currency is basketball or maybe in your case soccer, and not tennis or rugby.

You can either accept it, fight against it, or flee. In the end, the broader largesse doesn’t care about the expression of your individuality, it only concerns itself with your ability to conform to it’s norms. You all just paid upwards of $100k to better yourselves, why are you surprised that the norms are different when you are around better people?

 

[Ohene]

You didn’t grow up going to a cottage but I did. You haven’t picked up golf but I have. I also ski and play tennis and go overseas to do both activities. So I don’t have a problem talking to my coworkers about my experiences at Wimbledon during my short-residence in London a few years back. Or about how they should forgo an air-bnb, if they ever got a chance to ski Gstaad, to stay in the Alpina Gstaad because it’s such a wonderful hotel.

Furthermore, I grew up doing all of these activities within an all-black setting around a cornucopia of other black families. I have posted many times on this forum all the ways posters can get involved with all-black ski, golf, and tennis clubs, some of which have been around for the past century.

College in America is the greatest catalyst for class mobility. The type of school and the type of education you receive both have the ability to propel you higher on the totem pole then from where you started out.

So I can tell you that it’s not “white” culture that you’re bumping up against in a corporate setting. It’s middle/upper-middle class culture that you’re bumping up against so I really don’t understand your frustrations. Most black people come from lower middle to working class families. You get an education to better yourself and your station in life. Be surprised that when you do better yourself and reach that station, that the rules, values, norms, aspirations, and currency are different from whence you came and that your new-found status requires conformity with the in-group. Why are you all whining, isn’t this what you wanted?

Many of you obviously don’t notice it but conformity is required everywhere even among working-class environments. I can tell you, I have to switch up my speech and project a tougher demeanor (code switch) when I go to the hood because that’s what the hood requires otherwise there is a high-chance I could be food. It’s a reason why the currency is basketball or maybe in your case soccer, and not tennis or rugby.

You can either accept it, fight against it, or flee. In the end, the broader largesse doesn’t care about the expression of your individuality, it only concerns itself with your ability to conform to it’s norms. You all just paid upwards of $100k to better yourselves, why are you surprised that the norms are different when you are around better people?

I grew up middle class...granted my parents didnt do shyt with us as kids
Maybe its diff for africans vs african americans. ...canadians vs americans (yall have more blk ppl)
And lol at 100K'
LMFAO at better people. youre delusional man


nobody is saying theres an excuse not to succumb...im just telling you its easier for white ppl by default. theres no argument there
in toronto you will be hard pressed to see more than 1 black person on any floor in a lot of finance groups. asians, indians and whites everywhere. no way is conforming as easy when youre literally the lone wolf.

 

[invalid]

I grew up middle class...granted my parents didnt do shyt with us as kids
Maybe its diff for africans vs african americans. ...canadians vs americans (yall have more blk ppl)
And lol at 100K'
LMFAO at better people. youre delusional man


nobody is saying theres an excuse not to succumb...im just telling you its easier for white ppl by default. theres no argument there
in toronto you will be hard pressed to see more than 1 black person on any floor in a lot of finance groups. asians, indians and whites everywhere. no way is conforming as easy when youre literally the lone wolf.

I didn’t say that it wouldn’t be hard on black people. I’m saying why complain about it?

Of course white people are going to have an easier time conforming because lots of them already grew up in the environment. There isn’t any major transition. Likewise, there wasn’t any major transition for me or many of the folks with whom I grew up.

High finance was traditionally an upper class domain with a high barrier to entry. Unfortunately, that weeds out a lot of black people. It also weeds out a lot of white people, but you don’t see or talk about that. I can tell you, as someone that works in the field, that a substantial number of white people who work in the industry, come from families with ties to the industry and were put on high-finance tracts from an early age.

I don’t think there is a difference with AA and Continentals. I know Continentals that grew up skiing and playing polo and after attending the Sorbonne are thriving in their corporate professions.

 

[Ohene]

I didn’t say that it wouldn’t be hard on black people. I’m saying why complain about it?

Of course white people are going to have an easier time conforming because lots of them already grew up in the environment. There isn’t any major transition. Likewise, there wasn’t any major transition for me or many of the folks with whom I grew up.

High finance was traditionally an upper class domain with a high barrier to entry. Unfortunately, that weeds out a lot of black people. It also weeds out a lot of white people, but you don’t see or talk about that. I can tell you, as someone that works in the field, that a substantial number of white people who work in the industry, come from families with ties to the industry and were put on high-finance tracts from an early age.

I don’t think there is a difference with AA and Continentals. I know Continentals that grew up skiing and playing polo and after attending the Sorbonne are thriving in their corporate professions.

Fair enough. Your experience is very different from mine Not to be insultive but you do seem a bit out of touch with what middle class is...or maybe it just has so much range. I work in high finance too. You can say its a matter of class, but class back then was a function of race. As a result, gatekeepers are predominantly white and will naturally, psychologically favour hiring white people over black people. So again you can talk about the effects these matters also have on white ppl, but it will remain pale (no pun intended) in comparison to the effect it has on blacks. I'm not even complaining about this cause i too see the game for what it is.