Mastering the Game summary

There are many roads to success. Unfortunately, none of them are smooth – and for diverse professionals, it’s even more difficult. There’s no well-trodden path to the top, so they need to develop the mental toughness to surmount anything that comes their way.

That includes gender and racial stereotypes, which are unfair, of course, but also a fact of life. All too frequently, diverse people internalize these negative stereotypes. This hinders their performance and, ultimately, success.

In order to succeed at your job and move up the ranks, you need to consistently hit your numbers. But you can’t do this without understanding which metrics are most important to your employer. These aren’t always in line with how you personally measure success.

The author has experienced this firsthand. After a few successful years at a law firm, she left to join the US Attorney’s Office. Her goal was to gain experience as a trial lawyer. But the government’s priority, she learned at a dismal first-year performance review, was clearing as many cases from the docket as possible – which doesn’t always involve taking a case to trial. Once she understood this, she was able to improve her performance.

Networking has a bad reputation. For a lot of professionals, the whole exercise feels boring and insincere. But the right kind of networking can both cushion your career in case of a misstep and propel you to ever-greater heights of success.

Take getting a job through a friend – something many people have done. 56 percent of respondents to a 1974 study by sociologist Mark Granovetter reported leveraging personal acquaintance relationships to get their jobs. Imagine how much more likely you are to get a job through an acquaintance if you have many of them!

In the past, personal branding was simple: be a white man, wear a suit, have a pretty wife and 2.5 kids. These days, branding is more individual; it’s a balancing act between standing out from the crowd and looking the part. To be successful, your physical appearance and personal brand outside the office have to be just right.

This is especially true for people from diverse backgrounds, whose appearance is more subject to scrutiny because they deviate from the white male norm. While the ideal professional look varies from job to job, you can get a feel for what’s appropriate by emulating how people two levels above you dress. When in doubt, opt for more formal – especially in ambiguous business casual situations. You want to be remembered for your work, not your outfit.

Burnout is a real risk when you work hard – and not only because it impacts your performance. A 1999 study in the journal Ergonomics showed that overwork can even damage your health, which the author experienced firsthand.

Because of her bad habit of working weekends and skipping vacations – along with the stress of moving to a new city – she ended up with extremely low cortisol levels, which can cause a raft of health problems. These days, she’s learned to build recovery time into her schedule. Not only does she take vacations, but as soon as she gets back from one, she books the next! This gives her something to look forward to and provides her teams with plenty of advance notice.

As you rise through the ranks of an organization, you’ll have more opportunities to make a positive impact. Lending a hand to other diverse professionals is the most effective way to level the playing field, and it’s never too early in your career to start.

Sometimes, time and attention can best be repaid by paying it forward. Perhaps you want to thank your mentor for a great piece of advice but can’t afford to take her to lunch or send a gift. Instead, let her know you’ll be sharing her advice with your networks, thus amplifying her impact. Later, when you’re in the position to share advice and contacts, let your mentees know you expect them to pay your kindness forward.