Executive Coaching for Leaders of Color

The Unique Experiences of Leaders of Color

My research and coaching experience suggests several dynamics that Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other leaders of color are more likely to experience. 

First-generation professionals. 

Because of historical inequities, many leaders of color did not grow up with parents who had managerial careers in corporate environments. As  one of my colleagues points out, “Most of us have jobs our parents didn’t even know existed.” As such, many leaders of color are learning how to navigate corporate environments as they go. Interestingly, Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling describes a similar dynamic among Asian leaders who are first-generation or recent immigrants.

Internalized limiting messages. 

Being “first generation” may also affect one’s career choices. Those climbing the bottom rungs of the economic ladder may have been told to focus on safe careers—something “they can’t take away from you.” Because of this, some leaders of color I’ve worked with haven’t actually considered what they authentically want to do professionally, or they know what they want but are risk-averse. Our coaching conversations often focus on understanding and addressing those mindsets.

Another example is this line that the majority of Black professionals I’ve worked with grew up hearing: “You have to work twice as hard to get half as far.” For those who adopt the “work twice as hard” part of that message, it may be helpful to their professional success.

But messages like this might also lead someone to push forward with the belief that effort alone drives professional success. This belief can be limiting as one rises and relationships become more significant. And those professionals who internalize “half as far” may set their sights too low. 

A bad mix of positive and negative messages. 

Leaders of color, on average, are more likely to experience negative messages about their place in the organization—e.g., questions about their competence or undermining behaviors. This is also true of women.

At the same time, leaders of color are less likely to have sponsors, which means they also receive fewer positive messages to counteract the negative. This can affect what leaders of color believe is possible for their achievement in the organization.

Of course, this is in addition to the bias that leaders of color are more likely to experience in organizations. Because of these dynamics, relative to their white peers, leaders of color need to remix common success strategies and add some novel ones to get ahead.

Coaching Experience

Thrive Street serves clients from diverse industries, which means you’ll gain access to leadership and management approaches that are outside your current context.

Example Client Organizations

Thrive Street clients work for some of the world’s leading organizations, including:

Executive Coaching Services

1. Focused Leadership Skill Development

We offer six-month focused coaching engagements to help leaders tackle specific performance challenges or skill development and become more effective strategic leaders. It includes a 360° assessment and debrief using the Leadership Circle Profile (or another feedback instrument, as appropriate), goal alignment meetings with your manager, and two post-engagement follow-up coaching sessions.

2. Trusted Advisor Support

For leaders who value having a trusted advisor in their corner, we offer flexible coaching engagements that incorporate both skill development and ongoing thought partnership.

3. Executive Balance

Assisting leaders in achieving a sustainable work-life balance while maintaining high performance. When you have the right energy, you can achieve the best results.

4. New Role Launch

Supporting executives transitioning into new roles to ensure a successful start and integration. We’ll first do a deep dive to develop a success plan and then support you with accountability, feedback, and coaching over three to six months.

RESOURCES

Blog Posts on Identity and Leadership

RESOURCES

Must-Read Leadership Books for Leaders of Color

This list includes great books by leaders of color and books that touch on critical aspects of the journey—finding your unique path, building relationships, and navigating organizational culture. Click on the title to find a synthesis of the key concepts and interesting quotes. Clients may request the full notes for any book.

Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling

“Keep in mind that professional upward mobility requires action on your part. It’s unrealistic to expect that your managers and colleagues will automatically want and know how to unearth the true you and understand all you are capable of offering.”

Breaking Through

“Confidence, or self-confidence, may be the most important of the required personal resources, yet is perhaps the most intangible.”

Connect

“This book is about a special type of relationship we call exceptional.”

Designing Your Life

“A well-designed life is a life that is generative—it is constantly creative, productive, changing, evolving, and there is always the possibility of surprise.”

Expect to Win

“Instead of blaming “they,” which is a passive approach, ask, “What did I do to contribute to the situation?” To focus on “they” and what “they” did makes you the victim. When you live as a victim, you give away your power. To live in your power, you have to understand that you are participating in the situation in some way for it to happen in the first place.”

Lead from the Outside

“There’s a colloquialism I’ve embraced: let your haters be your motivators. If we attempt to be more than prescribed by our demographics, we will face opposition, not just the nasty trolls of the Internet, who nitpick at superficial differences or double-down on rhetoric to undermine confidence.”

The Likeability Trap

“For us, the success penalty isn’t merely a professional impediment; it’s a mindfuck.”

Presence

“When you are not present, people can tell. When you are, people respond.”

A Promised Land

“Getting things done meant subjecting yourself to criticism, and the alternative—playing it safe, avoiding controversy, following the polls—was not only a recipe for mediocrity but a betrayal of the hopes of those citizens who’d put you in office.”

The Purpose Path

“Will you still do something with your life that’s worthy of applause, even if no applause is given?”