3 “A”s of Ambition

Last week we sat on a panel at Pace University discussing “diversity in the workplace.”  Panelists talked about corporate and non-profit initiatives that exist to promote more integrated places of work, and how students can prepare themselves to talk about issues of identity and organizational dynamics during interviews.

It was an even-keeled evening for a theme that many folks have been socialized to avoid:  essentially how race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, ethnicity and age relate to the American social structure. Panelists focused on how students can excel within this reality.

The final discussion prompt was “what career advice do you have for students?” This is what we had to say, in essence:

The upper echelons of organizations still largely lack diversity. While companies write policies about recruiting a fully representative workforce, and many have “diversity offices,” this sometimes allows the top brass to feel they’re working enough to create an integrated environment.  And yet, the pool of Fortune 500 CEOs is comprised mostly of straight White males. How can a young upstart work her way up?

Here’s where the 3 “A”s of Ambition come in. If you have the ambition to hold an executive leadership role in an organization, pay *attention* to your *authority* and *access* as you advance in your career.

This means maintain awareness of how much decision-making *authority* you have. In what areas do you have the final word? How does your voice influence the bottom line of the organization? Do you feel free to speak up in meetings, knowing your input will be integrated, truly?

Second, how much *access* do you have to budgets? to people? to information? to other resources?

In order to ascend a firm’s hierarchy substantially — versus in title only — as time goes on, you should be procuring more authority and more access. Pay *attention* to this, and speak up when you feel less than satisfied.

At the end of the night, while we were talking to a student about how to talk about his gayness in upcoming interviews, we were called to accept an award for being on the panel (see above).  We blushed, and then felt how nice it was to have our work recognized publicly.

Shout out to Pace Career Services for making it possible for students to learn about the realities of diversity in the workplace, and thanks to Lisa S. for use of the photo above.