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Excerpts from Cracking the Corporate Code

Paula Banks was subtly cast in the "teacher" role when she began the Sears management training program. The coordinator of the training program, an ex-military man, confessed to her he did not understand race and gender, and asked her to help him. She readily complied. She responded to this special attention and was certainly interested in the subject. "There were three women and three blacks in my training group of 33, more than they'd ever had.

The coordinator said to me, 'I don't have much experience working with women and no experience with blacks, so I need you to help me.' Without missing a beat, I told him, 'I'm going to bring some books in for you tomorrow, and I need you to read those. After you've read those books, then we'll talk about the issues.' And we still communicate to this day." In a corporate setting, for a woman to break out of the female roles, in this case, teacher, can be difficult.

Why did he choose to approach her on this topic? There were other blacks in her group. Right away she had a hint of how hard it was to be considered a real business partner. She easily slid into the pigeonhole of teacher, on a side topic, and in essence gave away some of her ability to compete fully.

"I was a good trouper, a good team player for twenty years, handling some of the most sensitive labor and public relations problems Sears faces. Then I was pushed aside for five years in a job I didn't want. Suddenly I recognized I had allowed others to guide my path. I always said Sears had broken promises to me, but maybe there never were any real promises. Maybe I was operating from a place that said they were going to take care of me. Then it hits you: God takes care of those who take care of themselves. I had been so thrilled every time I got promoted. I never asked myself, 'Is this what I should do?' That never crossed my mind. It was just, 'They recognized me, somebody thinks I'm worthy, so I'll take this assignment.' It's only been in the last four to five years that I stepped back and said, 'What do I want? What am I going to do to get it? And what is the least I will take?' Because I had so much HR background, I knew how to leverage what I had. I knew what was possible, because I knew what they had done for others. So I got ready.

"Everyone sensed the change in me. During the last restructuring, my boss at Sears actually allowed me to develop my own job. And six months later I was gone. I wasn't planning on moving, but I was psychologically ready. When I got the third call from Amoco, I said yes. And from there it was just a fait accompli. At lunch that first meeting, I was asked, 'What would it take to get you?' I gave my list. Two days later, I spent eight hours talking to almost every senior officer in the company. Three weeks later, I was sitting in my new office. My new boss said, 'You entered like an Olympic diver, with very little splash.'