Book Review: Black Faces In White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies To Achieve Success And Find Greatness
by Randal Pinkett, Jeffrey Robinson, and Philana Patterson
Publication Date: Oct 27, 2010
List Price: $24.95
Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780814416808
Imprint: AMACOM
Publisher: AMACOM
Parent Company: AMACOM
Read a Description of Black Faces In White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies To Achieve Success And Find Greatness
Book Reviewed by Kam Williams
"What do we mean by Black Faces in White Places? It is
more than just a numbers game and being the only person of color in a
predominantly white environment. It is more than being subjected to racism
and discrimination based on the color of your skin.
It is even more than being a ‘Black first.’ It is, in fact, about pursuing
greatness in ways that leverage your culture and ethnicity as assets, not as
liabilities."
— Excerpted from the Introduction (pg. 9)
In his groundbreaking book, "The Rage of a Privileged Class," published in
1993, Newsweek Contributing Editor
Ellis Cose eloquently illustrated how the American Dream has remained a
dream deferred for many black college grads, even those with advanced
degrees. The problem is that academic achievement is no guarantee of career
success when it comes to one’s chosen profession, given the existence of the
"Old Boy Network" which continues to frustrate the aspirations of so many
endeavoring to climb the corporate ladder.
As a journalist privileged to have access to many celebrities, a question I
often like to ask in interviews with African-American captains of industry
is how they managed to flourish in a predominantly white environment where
so many other talented blacks have simultaneously failed to do so. Now, we
finally have a satisfactory answer to that query thanks to Dr. Randal
Pinkett, winner of Donald Trump’s reality show The Apprentice.
For in conjunction with his longtime business partner, Dr. Jeffrey Robinson,
Randal has written a viable blueprint for blacks trying to make it in
corporate America. The book opens with a discussion of what the authors call
the four dimensions, by which they mean the critical workplace issues
African-Americans are apt to find themselves grappling with, namely, matters
having to do with identity, meritocracy, society and opportunity.
Next, it goes on to delineate the "10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve
Success and Find Greatness." Here, Randal and J.R. serve up sage advice
culled from a combination of their own experiences and those of dozens of
equally-accomplished black contemporaries they interviewed for the project.
In a nutshell, their sacred 10 Commandments range from a stress on
excellence to seeking out the wisdom of mentors to maximizing synergy and
scale.
A helpful handbook designed for the average African-American armed with
credentials yet in a quandary about how to flourish in the midst of a
corporate culture tainted by intolerance in terms of skin color.