The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table

by Minda Harts

Manage your behavior. Emotions run rampant in the office, and the key to navigating office politics is to manage your impulses. When you are interacting with colleagues with different backgrounds and personalities, from various departments, it’s easy to want to take on a fight-or-flight mentality. American psychologist Walter Cannon coined the term “fight or flight.” Essentially, an action triggers the release of hormones in your body that make you want to stay and fight over the situation or run away. And if you are a person of color at work, you have to learn very quickly to manage your impulses, or you would cuss somebody out seven out of the eight hours of the workday. I am not saying let people run over you, but what I am saying is, think first and then choose the best way to respond. There are so many battles that don’t require you to react. You are a big girl. Learn how to regulate your emotions, or you’re going to be reacting to every little thing, and if people see you as combative, that’s no bueno for your career.