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Vote on Desiree Davidson's Story
Were they afraid we were planning a coup d'etat?
I spent my first summer during Columbia Law School at a firm in Philadelphia described as one of the best places in the city for black lawyers. I believed that if there was any place where I would have an equal chance at opportunities, be treated fairly and succeed, this would be it. There were three black female summer associates out of sixty that year but any time all three of us were in an office talking, one of the partners would knock on the door to see how we were doing. It happened too often to be a coincidence that sometimes we would purposely agree to meet in so-and-so's office to test our theory that we were being monitored. Like clock work, ten minutes after we would get together a partner would stop by.
Your performance is great, but your perceptions need work
- Workplace Unfairness
- Male
- African-American
- Banking - Investment
- Left & is now a Small Business Entrepreneur
- Double Standards
- Meritocracy
- Office Politics
- Unbelievable
- Unspoken Rule
I had a great relationship with my boss. He came to me and said, "You've done a lot of great things here. You have worked on a lot of major transactions. I'm not having any problem at all with your performance, but I'm getting some feedback from my boss that you need to better manage your perceptions." I asked, "What do you mean by better manage perceptions?" He had a hard time explaining what that meant, but I guess it meant that I was suppose to kiss up more and do a little more brown-nosing. I think at some level it probably has to do with race. People want to feel comfortable with the people they work with, so people of color are asked to conform. You have to conform to move up the ladder. There is a disconnect because people will tell you that performance is all that matters, but when your performance is good, then all of a sudden you have to deal with all of the political things in the organization.