Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America. - Review - book reviews

HR Magazine, Oct, 1999 by Patrick Mirza

By David A. Thomas and John J. Gabarro Harvard Business School Press, 1999, 347 pages, ISBN: 0-87584-866-4.

People of color make up less than 1 percent of all senior executives in corporate America, and there has been little research on the few minorities who do crack the glass ceiling. Rather than showing how minorities are at a disadvantage when it comes to career advancement, this book focuses on several minorities who broke through the color barrier. Breaking Through is a six-year study conducted by two Harvard Business School professors that compared and contrasted the experiences of white and minority middle managers and executives in three Fortune 500 companies.

The book is divided into four sections. The first section sets the stage. Chapters discuss obstacles to advancement and ways to overcome them, 30 years of equal opportunity as seen through the eyes of three companies, and the "career tournament," or the promotion patterns of whites and minorities.

The second section describes the experience of breaking through. Chapters cover executives' backgrounds including family, education and racial experiences, and pathways to the executive suite.

The third section is comprised of two chapters that discuss enabling minority advancement and creating and sustaining change. Finally, the last section addresses challenges and lessons learned.

Chapter 3 examines the career tournament and its rules. In the tournament model, managerial careers advance through a series of competitive rounds. Co-workers of the same rank and tenure compete for promotions, and the winner advances to the next round. However, losing a round takes managers out of the competition to reach the organization's highest levels. Furthermore, losers are given consolation prizes and are not seriously considered for higher positions.

The authors' study showed how two tournaments actually exist - one for minorities and one for whites. Whites who performed well were promoted while minorities who performed well were sometimes promoted. Some minorities were promoted in the same manner as whites. Others were promoted after they dealt with extra challenges, or after they played the same round one or more times.

In most cases, the key to "breaking through" for minorities is to cultivate relationships with their supervisors and with peers who can serve as mentors and help them advance.

Compiled by Stacy VanDerWall, editorial assistant for HR Magazine.