Cracking the Corporate Code

In exclusive, eye-opening interviews, this book dives into the lives and careers of 32 notable professionals who recount their impressive and differing career trajectories, revealing what motivated and discouraged them, their sources of support and conflict, and the strategies they developed to excel in organizations and major corporations.

Over the last few decades, advances by African-Americans in the business world have been both impressive and well-documented. However, even a cursory glance at the statistics -- not to mention a look around most corporations -- reveals that, despite much progress, minority executives are still relatively few and far between. Whether in the form of insensitivity, change-averse corporate cultures, socio-economic factors, or outright racism, African-Americans still face very real obstacles along the path to professional success.

Rather than offer these inspiring stories as individual biographies, Cracking the Corporate Code have identified their common threads, analyzing what they reveal to you about:

• Reconciling the ambiguities inherent for black professionals in corporate culture
• Trusting your own abilities and potential while managing the ever-present issue of race
• Overcoming isolation to establish not only your place in the organization but also a voice that will be heard and respected
• Reading the unwritten rules and developing the "sixth sense" necessary to play the game
• Cultivating and managing the relationships that will be crucial to securing more meaningful and influential positions
• Understanding what true power is, how to compete for and acquire it, and how to translate it into substantial leadership Opportunities for success abound for African-Americans

For the last 40 years, the best of the best have been stepping up to seize -- and often create -- those opportunities. The next generation of black professionals will travel the paths blazed by the pioneers profiled in this landmark book, and will be poised to achieve even greater results?while continuing the legacy of diversity for the generations yet to come.

Price M. Cobbs (San Francisco, CA) is a psychiatrist and management consultant, and the author of "Black Rage" and "The Jesus Bag" . Judith L. Turnock (New York, NY) is an attorney, executive coach, and lifelong civil rights advocate.