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.
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There are a lot of people that are gay at my office and they are wide open about it. Most of them are guys so I thought I would fit in but I realized that most of these guys end up self-segregating themselves because the corporate air in my industry puts a whole set of stereotypes if you are gay, which is unspoken, of course.
The top and even mid-level performers worked all the time. Their primary social network was composed of people from work.
The other thing I noticed was the male manager would go around to the other men's offices to visit and chat and to build the informal relationships. I said, "What am I? Chopped liver? Why don't you stop at my office like you do you so-and-so's and so-and-so's?" He said, "Oh, I do that." I brought it to his attention, but it didn't change anything.
Everybody-white, black, Asian, Indian, male, female-we all have obstacles to overcome. I think everybody has some obstacles to get beyond. I think as an African-American, I've experienced positive support and barriers as well.
It could be a numbers game. African-Americans have a significant percentage of the workforce and Hispanics are the same way. But there aren't that many Middle-Eastern people in the first place. I joined the marketing committee of a professional organization for Hispanic MBAs because there wasn't one for Arab-Americans.
I was speaking to a few people at work and telling them that I had not felt discriminated in my workplace. They said my experience may be very different than others because I was referred by someone they trusted.
White people always play the race card. We are always accused of playing the race card. There is a double standard that is constantly applied. If I talk to an executive who has an opening, I'll say, "This is a great opportunity for a diverse candidate." He'll say, "I'm happy to consider a diverse qualified candidate." With the same breath they will take a white candidate with seven months of experience and promote them straight up the ranks regardless of background or experience.
It's all about who you know. In one of our engineering groups, a lot of the managers came from one school.
I joined the technology company in the mid-80s. They wanted to be become a market-driven company, rather than an engineering-driven company. They recruited me because I had been at a large competitor and had been quite successful.
Part of my responsibility was to hire people to manage some of our assets, so I would get bids from various companies. However, the division manager wanted to get involved in the process and to give business to some of his associates and friends.
