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Excerpts from Cracking the Corporate Code

It took Marc Belton some time to conquer his demons. He describes a bumpy process at the beginning of his time at General Mills. "One of my early bosses was a white woman who thought she couldn't understand anything I said. Every time I had a meeting with her, she had another woman from my brand group explain what I was talking about, like an interpreter. Now I knew I was a sharp fellow with the right pedigree, yet we could not connect in her eyes. I don't think she had any real experience working with someone as different as I was. And to be honest, I was so young in the organization and young developmentally, I certainly had not figured out how to meet her needs. It was pretty much a struggle. On my performance evaluations, I was a 'two' performer, two on a scale of five. For a while there didn't seem to be much hope, but I knew I loved the work."

Even with the problems, Belton shows a high degree of self-knowledge. He knew he had much to learn about corporate life that he had not learned in school. He also knew that he was unable to get himself or anyone else past the race issue. What made him hang in there? First, he loved the work. Then a white man for New Jersey, who had grown up in a racially-mixed area, became Belton's boss and mentor over three assignments. "He pulled me out of the fire on at least two different occasions and got me assignment that had higher personal freedom and accountability, like Yoplait. I stayed there two years, and then people thought I had some promise. But I still was the last person in my class to be promoted to manager.

The pattern of proving himself on one small assignment after another, even despite winning awards, continued for a few more years, when there was an abrupt change. Belton's very successful strategy for dealing with corporate stress was his newfound religious faith. "I don't know why I stayed through all of that, but I know when everything changed. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. He took my gifts and added a level of grace and faith, so I could see beyond the obstacles, preserve and expect success.