Black In Business

It is noted being blackinbusiness can be a lonley place. You can sit in meetings with many and sometimes be the only black in the room. You can wonder, when you see a group of whites joking and chuckling, are they making fun of you. You can have self doubt because of the  negative feedback you recieve from management, without much positive reinforcement. You are an island, you are alone. You can fit in by making yourself the butt of jokes and being a clown. Thankfully for many, being an Uncle Tom is not an option. I have been luckly to have a group of black professionals that make up part of my inner circle. Over the years we have been their for each other in ways that white friends could not relate to. Our networking has helpped us all become successful and benefitted our organizations with higher sales and profits. Networking for black professional is a win win, the black professional gains confidence and skills, the company gains a more productive employee.

I have long been a member of the national sales network. NSN is a group of black sales professionals with chapters through out the United States. They have a visionary leader, David Richardson, and an excellent board of directors. I highly recommend this group for all sales people of color and even professionals not in sales.

NSN has excellent developmental programs and growth leadership opportunties. Due to the dynamics of race in the United States, you have to wonder when a white manager provides feedback, are they saying this because of my race. NSN has a talented group of managers and other professional to offer career counsul.

Other  networking options include, National Black Master of Business Adminstration Association. MBMBAA is national in scope as well and like the NSN, their year is highlighted by a National Convention There are networking groups for almost every profession. I urge you to make these groups an important part of your personal growth strategy.

Recently I came accross a site discussing black women’s issues. There are a number of abstracts and papers discussing compelling topics, such as; balance career and family, surviving tenure track, women health and much more.

It is exciting to see so many ways to be part of professional networks. In the future, I will discuss a company networking group for black professionals.

http://www.salesnetwork.org/

http://ora.howard.edu/centers/aawi/abstracts/t.htm