IncorporatingUS: Guest Post on Reimagining a Career by the Founder of Yellow Hibiscus Gallery

A self-identified professional risk avoider, the visionary and creator of Yellow Hibiscus Gallery shares his personal story of traditional corporate advancement and the necessity of an entrepreneurial spirit in today's cultural and economic climate. 

 

Excuse Me, But I am Sorry to Tell You that the American Dream Is Dead.

The American Dream is dead!  It died from complications due to a severe economic crisis that was worsened by corporate greed, political ineptitude, and societal excess.  Unfortunately for a generation that is accustomed to being told that we are the best and brightest that America has ever produced, we are the biggest losers of a bargain that cuts us out of the inheritance of the American Dream.

How did we get here? Society made a deal with us!  If we worked hard, sacrificed, and got an expensive degree, we would be richly rewarded with money, power and respect; at the very least, we could expect a decent home in the suburbs, two cars in the garage and a white picket fence.  The sky was the limit!  Then we graduated into the real world, and realized that for the first time in recent history, our collective generational lives would be worse off than the previous generations'.

STRESS!!!

The other day I was on a project that wasn't going well despite my best efforts and I was stressed. I was 10 hours into the workday and my entire body was living the stress. I had a headache, I was nauseated and I couldn't focus. *I might have cried a little bit.*

At some point, I laid my jacket on the floor, crawled under my desk, and called my mom. I was going to be there for a while, the work wasn't going anywhere and I was non-functional. We talked for only a few minutes, but it was long enough to remind me that there was a world outside of my office that doesn't change because I couldn't close a deal or finish a report.

When the project ended successfully, it was all high-fives, but I'm wondering what's going to happen the next time I get to that point. I know all the tips for dealing with stress, but when I'm in it, really in it, most of that goes out the window...The work gets done and that used to be enough for me. These days, I'm more concerned about my mental and physical health.

Do you have a handle on work stress?

IncorporatingUs: Tips Around the Web for Navigating Corporate America

Access is everything. The team searches for online communities, advice, and information that tackle some of the questions we want to explore. This post is a compilation of some of our favorite tips and insights from around the web on navigating Corporate America.

"Tips to Survive in Corporate America"

Blogger “Shady_Grady” of Urban Politico weighs in with tips for surviving Corporate America. Here are a few gems:

“Always strive for excellence: There's no reason you shouldn't be the best at your job. Ok, maybe there is a reason but you should certainly TRY to be the best. And if you fail try harder next time. This is especially important if you happen to be Black as likely there are more than a few people in your company who have negative stereotypes about your intelligence, your credentials, your work ethic and the quality of work that you produce. But Black or not, one of the best ways to keep your job and/or rise in the company is to have an unblemished reputation for quality work and for being able to pick up new assignments quickly. . .”

“Use Careful Communication: In terms of emails, instant messages, written documents, text messages, chances are that your company either views what you write or maintains an archive of what you wrote. Some companies use key-loggers. And I'm not even going to get started about inappropriate internet usage. There are different rules at various companies but a good rule of thumb is that if you wrote it over their network, it's theirs. They can look at it if they want to do so. . .”