University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
I’m Not Yelling
Book

I’m Not Yelling

A Black Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Workplace

Elizabeth Leiba
Mango Publishing, 2023
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

If you’re a Black woman struggling to assert yourself in the workplace and achieve your full potential, you’re not alone. Gain insights from writer and college professor Elizabeth Leiba about the root causes of your so-called imposter syndrome and how to hold white people accountable for microaggressions. Leiba urges you to start writing your own life narrative to unlock opportunities and connect with a community of Black women who share your values. While you may feel tempted to conform to a predominantly white work culture, Leiba reminds you that there’s nothing “unprofessional” about your true identity.

Summary

Overcome self-limiting beliefs and step into your authenticity and power.

Much of your sense of identity was likely formed in childhood. Any self-limiting beliefs you internalized as a child will continue to shape your adulthood and your career path unless you take steps to change them. For example, if your parents urged you to “be seen and not heard,” you might feel self-conscious speaking out as an adult.

If you’re a Black woman, people may have treated you as a threat during your childhood, teaching you to shrink your true self and appear “as nondescript and unassuming as possible.” Such feedback may lead you to “code-switch” — that is, to adjust how you speak in order to conform — in the workplace to make white people more comfortable. Perhaps you minimize your body movements and gestures and modify your voice to appear less intimidating. W.E.B. DuBois, the author of The Souls of Black Folk, describes how code-switching leads to a “double consciousness”: You’re perpetually viewing your identity “through the eyes” of white society, with the entrenched racism that comes with it.&#...

About the Author

Elizabeth Leiba is a college professor, a writer, and the host of Black Power Moves, a podcast on the Ebony Covering Black America Podcast Network. She also launched Black Women Handle Business, a website for Black women professionals and entrepreneurs who want to collaborate, network, and share resources.

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