HispanicBusiness

In "Minority Rules: Turn Your Ethnicity into a Competitive Edge," Ken Roldan and I profiled 24 minorities who were CEO, CFO, senior vice presidents and top executives. These corporate executives had advanced at leading companies such as JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Hitachi, and Scholastic. Of the 24 profiled, only one, Al Zollar, a senior vice president at IBM, had remained with one company for a prolonged period (in his case 30 years).

The other 23 rising executives operated like free agents in baseball. They moved from one company to another, trying to move up the corporate ladder, expand their skills, identify new challenges and enhance their marketability at each stop along the way. Their goal is often the same: become a C-level executive (chief financial officer, chief marketing officer, etc) or senior vice president.

But many Hispanics, Mr. Roldan says, choose the status quo. Instead of looking to move up by changing companies, they stay at the same job year after year, afraid to take a risk.

As a managing partner who runs the diversity practice at Battalia Winston, a leading search firm, Mr. Roldan offers selected high-level minorities a chance to interview and compete for a new position. Many Hispanics reject the offer, saying, "I don't want to leave Miami or Los Angeles and move away from my family. Why relocate to an area where there are few Latinos, where I won't fit in and can't find arroz con pollo?"

Choosing location over advancement is a personal choice and someone's prerogative. But many Hispanics and other minorities wonder why their career has stalled while their majority counterparts change jobs and keep advancing one rung up the ladder at every turn.

In most cases, if you want to advance, you have to consider opportunities in other companies. And in some cases you can seek out advancement within the company. Here are some tips:

1. Learn from others who have succeeded

When Mary Winston, an African American woman, started her career 20 years ago as an auditor at Arthur Anderson, she had one goal in mind: to become a CFO of a major company. Though she had a husband (he's a consultant, so moving for him was relatively easy) and two children, she relocated from Milwaukee to Detroit, Toronto and New York to move up.

She advanced to become a manager at SBC Ameritech, a director of business development at Baxter International, a vice president at Pfizer and then treasurer and controller at Visteon Corporation. "Every step prepares you for the next challenge," she says. Finally, in 2004, she attained her goal when she was named CFO of Scholastic Inc., the publisher of the Harry Potter books.

2. Adapt to each corporate culture

In the last 12 years, Anthony W. Gilliard, who is based in Los Angeles, has been an HR executive at NBC, Disney and Mattel. Mr. Gilliard's key to success is learning to identify the corporate culture and adapting to it. At Disney, for example, establishing strong relationships is key because that's what the entertainment business is based on. At Mattel, taking risks was frowned on, so Mr. Gilliard learned to play it safe and adapted to that corporate culture.

3. Start looking for the next job as soon as you're hired

Moving around too much can be detrimental, but staying at the same job year after year leads to stagnation. Keep your ears open for new opportunities as soon as you're hired. Keep in touch with executive recruiters, former colleagues, and attend conferences aiming to network. After two years on the job, tap these contacts to see which challenging jobs are out there that fit your skills.

4. Seek advancement from within

Mr. Zollar, a general manager at Tivoli Software – a $2 billion subsidiary of IBM Software Group – has been with IBM for 30 years, but he has changed jobs and locales numerous times. He has been a manager of the IBM Software Developmental Labs, lab director of the IBM Software Group, and general manager of IBM's Networking Computer Software Division. He says IBM is such a complex company that he "would have had to work at five or six different companies to gain this experience."

5. Consider taking a risk

Consider, at least, going for an interview and seeing what the new company has to offer. Ask to speak to other Hispanics at the company who have transferred in recently. Don't cut off opportunities and only choose the status quo.