PLAYING THE GAME WHILE BLACK WOMANING IN CORPORATE AMERICA

Business strategist and public speaker Palmer offers Black women a guidebook to climbing the corporate ladder.

The author notes that she quickly learned, while working in a corporate setting, that the “workplace wasn’t a meritocracy; it was a chessboard” on which many Black women were never taught all the moves. This book opens with Palmer’s own story, from when she received a full-tuition scholarship at an elite private college at age 16 to when she experienced early success in health care administration. Although a corporate leadership position gave her a confidence boost, she came to believe that the cutthroat world of American business was a “rigged” game, designed to marginalize Black women like herself. Addressing her book to “the sisterhood of Black women in corporate America,” Palmer shares her advice for navigating unwritten rules of the workplace: “The few times I tried to question the structure and why certain people were always in the room,” she recalls, “I quickly saw the costs.” The book notes the difficult terrain that Black women must navigate (“You might find yourself working twice as hard yet told you’re barely meeting expectations”) and offers practical advice on how to maintain one’s professional reputation, increase one’s visibility without risking overexposure, and identify and protect oneself from workplace adversaries. The book’s self-empowerment message is careful to emphasize that Black women may succeed in their careers “not by changing who [they] are,” but by leveraging their skills in the context of business politics. Palmer, whose work has been featured in Writer’s Digest and Black Enterprise, among other national publications, has a writing style that blends realistic assessment of race relations with an optimistic, confidence-building message. Her emphasis on reader engagement is aided by accessible organization, with each chapter featuring easy-to-understand lists, concluding summaries, and questions for reflection.

A detailed and relatable career manual.