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

[JT-Money]

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

Exactly. And I would rather get a job based on my abilities rather than kissing someone's ass. Most people who kiss up to management at a company are basically stuck there. What are they gonna do if force to switch jobs and their only skills are kissing up to their old Superiors? They never developed any worthwhile skills and instead relied on a few personal relationships to get ahead.

I had a Supervisor that everyone under him hated his guts. But he was in good with every Manager in IT and even personal friends with the CEO. Dude would constantly get away with murder and not pulling his own weight. Well the company went through a huge financial decline and the CEO was fired while the rest of upper management retired. Once new Management got brought in all that ass kissing he did over the years was worthless. And since he made his subordinates lives hell over the years. We couldn't wait to tell the new management how much of a jackass this guy was. And that nobody working under him liked his ass. So the new management demoted him from Supervisor.

People who kiss up to everyone in order to get ahead get that wake-up call more often than anyone else. Because they don't have anything else to fall back on besides their relationship with a few people in high places.

 

[Nigerianwonder]

This is borderline c00n babble. Always know your worth and value and never compromise your dignity. Corporate America is all about leverage. You have to conform until you have it. If you are young and inexperienced then by all means play the game to your experience and skills up until you can dictate more favorable working conditions. Never be afraid to move on to a better job. You owe them nothing. Job hopping is the best way to get ahead and increase your income.

 

[invalid]

You can say its a matter of class, but class back then was a function of race.

Well, you wouldn’t be the first to believe this. I think most of the guys here would agree with you.

I see more nuance there and think it’s more complicated than that.

I would caution you and others on this line of thinking because if you let it run it’s course, this is where you get the “he talks white” instead of “he speaks with correct diction.” You’ll always be conflating attributes of higher placement in black people for whiteness.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

And you won’t advance past where you are with locs and a piercing.

That was something he pointed out....and he was right.

i was thinking about getting dreads again and my homegirl told me not to do it.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

I forgot you dudes know of each other off the site

oh I just thought Ab just knew what Stringer looked like.

 

[TRY GOD]

We knew the time would come, the question was when....

 

[NeilCartwright]

I played it about 4 year ago. Until I had a racial discrimination case against my employer. And we all know how those go

So now I don’t. I started my own business and haven’t looked back. I got my disability money and moved on

However I don’t recommend brehs to do that straight out the gate. It took 5 years to get that cushion to start my own

 

[Barnett114]

Listening to more of his videos

 

[Cynic]

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?

If you go corporate - plan your exit from day one.

If you don't like suits then pick a trade.

If none of these make sense - start or buy an existing business.
.

 

[Consigliere]

If you go corporate - plan your exit from day one.

If you don't like suits then pick a trade.

If none of these make sense - start or buy an existing business.
.

Yep.

Corporate is great if you’re writing a book or working on starting a business, planning on branching off and doing your own thing, whatever. Don’t get complacent have an exit plan from day one.

 

[feelosofer]

I did for around 15 years then I realized enough is enough and I went out on my own.

 

[Cynic]

Yep.

Corporate is great if you’re writing a book or working on starting a business, planning on branching off and doing your own thing, whatever. Don’t get complacent have an exit plan from day one.

I'd add avoid serious relationships in there as well so your finances and focus are streamlined towards your goals.

 

[invalid]

It’s funny, I’ve said almost all of what buddy has said in the video on this forum.

In what bizarre world do you equate “tapdancing” to having social skills? This has nothing to do with white people and doesn’t just apply to a job. My point to the OP was to fully develop his social capabilities because they can be leveraged in a way that can make up for any technical deficiencies that he may have and still get him ahead. That’s why it’s considered a skill. And skills help you win.

I really do not understand how many brehs can spend innumerable hours developing strategies to win video games but won’t dedicate any modicum of time to develop strategies to get you ahead in real life. Hustle backwards brehs....

As humans, relationships are vital to our physical and mental well-being. But as adults, many of us are making less and less friends. And as men, in general, we tend to have a hard time connecting emotionally with others and are finding ourselves increasingly lonely which has been the cause of major health setbacks for many of us. And technology has compounded these issues.

The traditional ways in which people make friends in adulthood are at work, church, and through hobbies.

Majority of y’all brehs have no real hobbies, and don’t attend church anymore. And so the last place that you have any face-to-face interaction with people, you’re telling us to avoid any type of organic meaningful relationships that may arise? This is actually really horrible advice.

I'd add avoid serious relationships in there as well so your finances and focus are streamlined towards your goals.

 

[Cynic]

It’s funny, I’ve said almost all of what buddy has said in the video on this forum.



As humans, relationships are vital to our physical and mental well-being. But as adults, many of us are making less and less friends. And as men, in general, we tend to have a hard time connecting emotionally with others and are finding ourselves increasingly lonely which has been the cause of major health setbacks for many of us. And technology has compounded these issues.

The traditional ways in which people make friends in adulthood are at work, church, and through hobbies.

Majority of y’all brehs have no real hobbies, and don’t attend church anymore. And so the last place that you have any face-to-face interaction with people, you’re telling us to avoid any type of organic meaningful relationships that may arise? This is actually really horrible advice.

The essence of this topic is financial autonomy and independence as a black man.
This requires :

• 100% focus
• Delayed gratification
• Military discipline.

Introducing serious relationships - will impact your :

• financial health
• emotional health
• career/business goals

This is counterintuitive when you are building - because relationships are time-hogs and
expose you to uncontrollable variables. It's not to say you can't have flings though.

What you choose to do after you've achieved financial success is your business.

There is no "traditional" anything anymore - jobs aren't secure and no fault divorce is prevalent.

You can pine for a nostalgic past long gone or adapt to modern reality for your own gain.

 

[EBK String]

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?[/QUOTE]

nikka what?