The Way Up

CHAPTER 12Leave Without Burning the Bridge: Your Last 100 Days at a Company Are as Important as Your First 100

If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.

—Maya Angelou

There is an old story from an unknown author about an elephant and a rope that has always resonated with me. One day, a man passing through an open field in South Africa witnessed a few elephants standing next to one another. They each appeared to be held in place by a small rope, with one end pegged to the ground and the other tied to their front leg. As he walked past them, the man was perplexed about how a colossal, majestic animal could be held by such a small rope. He approached the trainer to ask why these elephants just stood there and never attempted to escape. The trainer explained that years before, when they were babies, he tied them down with a similarly sized rope. Back then, the rope was strong enough to hold their young bodies in place. As they grew up, these elephants came to believe that the rope was still strong enough to hold them in place. Even as adults, despite their size, they never try to break free.

Many of us employees of color in corporate America act like these elephants in our respective work positions. We stay in our positions far too long, with limited or no growth opportunities, minimal annual pay raises, and systemically suffer from stagnant careers. The data show convincingly that we plateau earlier than our White peers. Just like the ...