We've been hearing quite a bit about the glass ceiling for the past decade. Loosely defined, it is the barrier to senior positions confronting women and minorities (although it is women who have been the most vocal). My dealings with corporate America over the past 25 years have primarily been with smaller companies. In those firms, with fewer than 100 employees, I have yet to deal with any wherein women and minorities are more than adequately represented in senior ranks.
I don't know whether a glass ceiling exists or not, but it seems to me that, if it does, it has been there in a more or less nondiscriminatory way for a very long time. Actually, it is not so much a glass ceiling as a brick wall. When I was with a very large companies, even as the National HR Director, the "hallowed halls" of the uppermost echelons were pretty much off-limits, unless one received THE CALL.
THE CALL was tantamount to getting called into the principal's office, and invariably, when one of the Executive VP's did call, I had screwed up. Only then did I get to see the paintings and sculptures by Frederick Remington, sink knee-deep into the carpeting, and wade through to the executive secretary's desk. Thereupon, I was made to cool my non-visible heels until my presence was commanded.
Waiting in that overstuffed chair for the overstuffed EVP was awe-inspiring, but not once in the several trips that I made did I ever have any desire to be part of that group. It was as quiet as a library up there; more so, in fact. You couldn't scratch in private, either. And, the worst thing was that you had to have the appearance of not only being important, but of doing important things. (That was why it always amazed me that my trifling errors could be the concern of the so lofty.)
So, why all the fuss about the glass ceiling? First of all, just because it's not my cup of tea doesn't mean that others are of my persuasion. Second, perhaps it's not so much that women and minorities want to be part of the club as it is that they just want the opportunity to be part of the club. That I can conceptualize, if not understand.
Few things in life are as frustrating as not being given a chance to succeed -- or fail. On the other hand, does one have the absolute right to such an opportunity or does that, too, have to be earned? Up to a given hierarchical point, everyone is deserving of the training necessary to gain access into senior management. But, at some point, the right to enter into that part of the corporate ladder has got to be earned.
Man or woman, minority or not, the individual has got to prove that he or she can "play the game," politick, and back-stab as well as the next person.
Yeah, I say, "Who needs it?" But, others are salivating at the very thought of becoming a head honcho or honchoette. Earn the right, and it you don't get killed in the process, congratulations! Now, as you look down through the other side of the ceiling, don't you wish you were back down there with the real people?
All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2002. E. A. Winning Associates, Inc.