It’s hard to find someone who says something new about networking, but I found a new resource from which everyone can benefit. I just finished reading an excellent book by Pitney Bowes executive Keith R. Wyche called “Good Is Not Enough: and Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals.”
Intended for women as well as people of color (but useful for everyone), I found its suggestions unusually practical and useful, especially for Enterprising personalities interested in the corporate world. If you’re thinking about a career in business, you should read this book. It provides a lot of detail about how to succeed in that environment so you can decide whether that career option sounds right to you.
The book is not solely about networking, but includes tips on creating a career blueprint, goal setting, and specific suggestions for excelling in your current job. Mr. Wyche also discusses personality traits and how important it is for your career to match them. He gives an example of someone who switched jobs in a sales career from a supervisory to a non-supervisory position because he didn’t like and wasn’t good supervising people – and as a result ended up happier (and made more money). This person had the good fortune to have Mr. Wyche as a mentor, but also the smarts to sit down and think about his personality traits and what types of jobs matched them. In our words, “Know Yourself.”
I would also recommend this book to Caucasian men for a minority’s perspective on the corporate world in addition to the practical advice. If you haven't worked for, worked with or supervised someone of color - you will. Being able to work well with different types of people is one of the Foundation Skills (People Skills) described in our article Identify Your Skills. And knowing something about how people approach the world is part of learning that skill. I'm still learning...
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