Lisa Brown
Hanging By a Thread is a hard hitting survival guide designed to help blacks navigate the maze of career threatening politics in corporate America. Corporate blacks are one of the most suffering groups but get the least amount of sympathy. The lack of sympathy stems from society’s view that these individuals are privileged to have their jobs, houses, and status. Their plight is seldom highlighted in contemporary reading material. Short of turning to each other for emotional support, blacks are hard pressed to find a no-nonsense roadmap for surviving corporate America. Complex work relationships discussed include relationships between Black managers and White subordinates, tension between Black and White men, and the hidden advantages of having a White mentor. This book's short, easy-to-read style is perfect for today's busy African American.
Lisa Brown's 17-year career as a corporate executive and executive coach has given her direct exposure to the often-complex relationships and difficulties corporate employees discuss in Hanging By A Thread.
If you are looking for a phony, politically correct book, you had better put this one down. This guide is written as a voice for the person who often doesn’t have one or whose voice is rarely heard: the black corporate employee. What makes me an expert on this subject? I’m not a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D., but I do have a graduate degree and have worked for four Fortune 500 companies. I also have black professional associates in engineering, information technology, financial services, marketing, and the medical industry. No matter where we go, the same messed-up work scenarios continue to haunt us. Why do all these people seem to have the same problems? Racism knows no education or income level — and in the workplace, it is more subtle and harder to handle. By the time most of us learn to read the political roadmap at work, we have been demoted or laid off.
Today’s corporate workplace can be very dirty. Along with hard work and improved technology, frequent organizational changes and backstabbing are common. These roadblocks create a difficult environment for today’s black professional to navigate.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in March 2005, networking guru George Fraser said, “At least 60 percent of the black workforce — nine million people — is in executive, managerial, supervisory, professional specialty, vocational, technical, administrative, sales, and business ownership positions.” This data reveals that many blacks are employed in the professional and executive ranks. Quite often, however, blacks are not in the right “political circles” to gain access to information early enough. Consequently, they suffer career damage in corporate America.
