To Lead or Not to Lead

By Shanika Carter

“Sometimes it takes challenges to help one discover how strong they can be. This recess situation, for me, was the challenge that I needed. Facing those who had certain expectations of me, and then admitting to my failure pushed and uplifted me; this was whether certain people supported me and encouraged me or insulted me and tried to kick me more while I was already feeling down. It led me to believe in second chances and timing...Once I got my second chance and was presented with more tests and challenges...I had found a strength within myself to keep moving forward and prove to myself, more than anyone else, that I could do what I set my mind to do; you can do the same.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adelaide Books Publishers
• Release date: Feb 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781951896669

Shanika Carter

Shanika P. Carter is an author, freelance writer and editor, and adjunct communications instructor. After 15 years of freelancing, Shanika recently established a writing and editing business, The Write Flow & Vibe, LLC (www.writeflowandvibe.com). Her business attracts a variety of clientele, including fellow authors and businesses. She also provides career consulting, holding a consistent track record of successfully assisting clients in creating and revising their resumes to attract potential employers. As an adjunct instructor, Shanika previously worked at ITT Technical Institute and Jackson College’s Prison Education Initiative program. She currently works in the writing center at Muskegon Community College and teaches interpersonal communications and speech at Montcalm Community College in Sidney, MI. After graduating from Muskegon Heights High School (Muskegon Heights, MI), she went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts degree in advertising from Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, MI and her Master of Science degree in communications from Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Allendale, MI. With this year’s release of To Lead or Not to Lead, her first book, Shanika aspires to continue writing more books, teaching, speaking, and growing her business. She has participated in panel discussions and workshops, speaking on her experiences as a professional writer, most recently taking part in Kent District Library’s annual writing conference in Grand Rapids, MI. Through the West Michigan Pen Society, a group Shanika started almost two years ago, she encourages fellow writers in an outlet where they share resources and their writing goals. Finally, Shanika proudly professes her affiliations with her fellow Heights Tigers, MSU Spartans, GVSU Lakers, and Sorors of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated!

Book preview

TO LEAD OR NOT TO LEAD?

TO LEAD OR NOT TO LEAD?

Breaking the Glass Ceiling Using Lessons from Past Experiences

A novel

by

Shanika P. Carter

Adelaide Books

New York/Lisbon

2019

TO LEAD OR NOT TO LEAD?

By Shanika P. Carter

Copyright © by Shanika P. Carter

Cover design © 2019 Adelaide Books

Published by Adelaide Books, New York / Lisbon

adelaidebooks.org

Editor-in-Chief

Stevan V. Nikolic

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For any information, please address Adelaide Books

at [e-mail]

or write to:

Adelaide Books

244 Fifth Ave. Suite D27

New York, NY, 10001

ISBN-13: 978-1-951896-66-9

This book is dedicated to the strong, hardworking,

and awesome women in my family who

took part in raising and helping me to become

the woman I am today:

Mama

Grandma

Bip (R.I.P.)

CONTENTS

Introduction

A Second Chance to Make Things Right

A Change in Plans May Be the Reality Check You Need

Determine Your Place Versus Being Put in Your Place

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back –

But Still Keep Moving

The One Lesson That Changed Things Forever

Confessions of Being a Job Hopper

Higher Education Can’t Hurt, Can It?

Society Needs to Change, Not Our Names

Know Your Worth, Regardless of How You

Are Perceived

Overcoming Barriers in Your Career as a Minority

Follow My Lead – Is There a Leader Within?

Epilogue

Endnotes

Acknowledgments

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

"If you don’t get a kick out of the job you are doing, you better kick it and look for another one."

– Ravi V. Melwani

Those who know me probably believe that this is a quote that I live by, due to the many jobs I have held over the 27+ years I have been working and earning an income. As a freelance writer who finally became solely self-employed in 2015, I spent many years shifting from one job to the next, some only lasting for short periods of time. After losing my last full-time job in 2014 with the State of Michigan, I was working additional part-time jobs just to make ends meet until I figured out what was next for me. We have all been there at some point in our lives, and possibly have found ourselves in this position more than once.

During that timeframe of figuring things out, I was fortunate to be able to quit the part-time, minimum-wage job I had picked up at Kmart, something that I considered a serious step back in my professional life. The unemployment check I was receiving after losing my full-time position with the State of Michigan had run its course. I needed a steady income, regardless of how little the income was, so I applied for a retail stocking position. I remember walking into that interview dressed in my business suit as if I was trying to get a job related to my degree, and I found myself dressed more professionally than the hiring person interviewing me. I was hired right on the spot. Afterward, I wondered why could I not experience this hired on the spot moment in all of the many interviews I had that were related to my degree and higher on the pay scale. When I got back to my car, I thanked God for what I kept trying to convince myself was a blessing, but I cried out of frustration. I knew I was meant for better than this, and I could not understand why I had to take this step backward in my journey.

I had not worked in retail for years, so the adjustment of standing and moving on my feet for hours at a time was rough; physically, for sure, but even more so mentally. I struggled with the fact that I had spent so much time in school thinking that my attaining higher education would open up doors for me to move beyond the retail and minimum-wage work I once held when I was working toward my degrees. Then there was the weight of having been dismissed from my last full-time job due to someone’s personal issues with me, and that person, at that time, was still in a comfortable position not having to worry about where she would get her next paycheck to make rent for the month. I felt as if the undeserving were the ones prospering, while the ones who worked hard and demonstrated decency were the ones struggling.

After that first day on the floor stocking shelves, I told myself that I would be out of that position by Black Friday, that day after Thanksgiving when stores offer the biggest promotions and sales that usually kick off the Christmas shopping season. K-Mart required everyone to work that day, but I was not having that! I was on a mission to have another job and build my freelance clientele and projects. Thankfully, I felt blessed to land something else and leave Kmart after only two months, beating my November goal by a month-and-a-half. Like the quotation reads, I kicked that job and found another, which was better in some ways, but just as demanding and frustrating.

What was supposed to be a part-time job in customer service in road assistance for a staffing company ended up putting me on a full-time schedule most weeks. It was a pain going to work in the evenings expecting to work my scheduled hours, to find out upon arrival that mandatory hours had been added without any notification beforehand, meaning that I had to stay beyond my usual leave time of 1:00 a.m. I was at a point where I was sick of working for companies that did not value hard work and their employees’ time, which they showed that by the lack of concern evident in their communication methods and inconsiderate scheduling demands. Here I was, with a Master’s degree under my belt and well into my doctorate program, frustrated with the fact that I had to take jobs for which I was overqualified in order to have an income. I was certainly frustrated, but I have learned that in life that we sometimes have to make uncomfortable choices and take action to prepare ourselves for something greater. I felt that I was at that point for a breakthrough. As it turns out, I was.

Due to my professional experiences, I always feel that as a black woman I will always be faced with the struggle to gain respect and what is due to me by having to work harder than my peers. And even in some cases where I work harder, I am still left feeling as if my efforts aren’t enough. This has seemed to be the pattern I have experienced constantly while working for other people. This pattern has followed me, even decades later since I began my first job at the age of 16. It was then that I excitedly started my first job for Hot N’ Now Hamburgers, where I worked for over six years, even during breaks from college. Even as one of their best and most trustworthy employees, I had to prove myself. One day the owner, who happened to make one of his occasional visits during one of my shifts, had the nerve to question me about my proximity from the cash register when I was just grabbing ice from the nearby ice machine. I just brushed the incident off back then. I’m surprised now that I even remember it, but that just shows that although I ignored the incident at the time, it obviously left a long-lasting impression on me. My work and dedication at this, my very first job, never once indicated that I was a dishonest individual on their payroll, but I still was questioned. Years later in jobs to come, I continued to experience situations where my actions were questioned or certain implications came up. I could not help but question if race had anything to do with it. Why shouldn’t I question it when my white female counterpart continues to move up the ladder in these same companies I have worked for when I put in just as much effort as she? I’ve always been faced with some obstacle or excuse about why I needed to remain in the same place on the ladder, or be moved back down to the bottom of it.

It has not been much of a surprise to find mostly white females in leadership or supervisory roles. To be fair, I have seen all women, regardless of race, have to deal with similar incidents with white men advancing in their fields. In corporate and nonprofit industries alike, there is a lack of diversity amongst individuals who hold administrative