How to Break Barriers Strategically
Amal Masri, the visionary force behind Fix the Broken Rung, shares the systemic barriers women of color face in climbing the corporate ladder and some actionable strategies for thriving despite these barriers. She explains the mental calculus that women of color need to do to merely exist across any and all intersections. If leaders were more aware of this and engaged with women of color beyond just the singular lens of gender, our workplaces would be so much more productive and profitable.
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Amal has over 15 years of experience in financial services and a deep commitment to diversity and inclusion. She launched Fix the Broken Rung to address the barriers women of color and immigrants face in advancing to leadership roles. Her initiative is empowering women to break through these obstacles. She's trained over 750 leaders across 10 industries and her expertise is widely published and sought after.
In this blog post, we’re covering the following:
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1) The Broken Rung
Amal’s mission is to fix the broken rung on the career ladder by helping one million women of color get promoted. It's such a powerful mission statement and a commitment to action.
Amal shares what sparked the clarity of this mission for her.
“I noticed that there were very few, if any women of color in leadership roles in marketing. And when I began researching it, I was surprised to see that the problem wasn't the glass ceiling as most of us think. It is actually the broken rung, which is that very first step on the career ladder in that promotion from entry-level to manager.“ - Amal Masri
2) The Challenges Women of Color Face as They Gain More Power in the Workplace
Amal mentioned recently that there is a price to pay for being the first, however, there is hope.
“Over half of the graduates from our leadership accelerator receive a promotion within three months. So there are solutions with the right support, with the right resources.” - Amal Masri
She gives the example of VP Kamala Harris in her presidential campaign.
“She is [...] one of the most qualified candidates ever to run for president. But you still see the spin out there that it's only because she's a woman of color that she's getting this. And when she gets elected, that rhetoric is going to be out there.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that as women gain more power and rise on the career ladder, they face more scrutiny and microaggressions.
“As a woman, especially as a woman of color, you're not really supposed to have that power in this white patriarchal mindset. You're going against type. People don't expect you to be in those roles. And so there is this covert hostility that emerges.” - Amal Masri
On top of this, Amal adds that there is also a very subtle social exclusion that happens.
“I was actually talking to someone today, [...] and she was telling me that her son and her daughter are in their early twenties and she's seeing a notable difference in how her son is able to network with men who are two, three decades older than him because they have sports in common. They both play poker. There's all those reference points that help build relationships and the kind of trust that would make them more inclined to recommend him or hook him up with an opportunity. Whereas her daughter doesn't have those same reference points and it's just an entirely different dynamic.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that multiple barriers exist for women of color in the workplace. However, they are able to succeed and build fruitful relationships once they have the support, training, and contacts they need.
“There are people out there who really want to help, who want to be allies, who want to bridge the gap, but they don't know how.” - Amal Masri
Amal shares that when she trains executives on how to be more inclusive, a lot of times they have absolutely no idea that women of color are having an entirely different experience than white women.
“Once that light bulb goes off, they want to help. They want to build relationships with young women of color and mentor them. They want to sponsor them, but that awareness is critical.” - Amal Masri
3) Stepping Into Your Power
Amal talks a lot about stepping into your power and finding your agency.
“You always have some degree of agency. And we're at a time now in 2024 where there's never been so many options and opportunities. There's never been so many resources for women of color.” - Amal Masri
Amal shares an example of one of her graduates who initially felt disempowered in her workplace. She felt she didn’t have any options. After going through the program, she was able to go back to her manager and her senior leadership team and start building better relationships to position herself for success.
“She realized that she actually had so many options and there's so many things that she could do. And she was the first person of that cohort to receive a promotion after graduating.” - Amal Masri
There is ALWAYS something you can do.
4) The Cost of Breaking Barriers
When you break barriers, things are going to get broken, you will get cut and bleed. So you have to be strategic in the cuts that you are going to take.
Is breaking that barrier going to get you something that you really want? Is it really aligned with your purpose?
“Is it going to help me grow my power and my influence so I can do what I want to do in my career and also help other people? Sometimes the answer is yes. And sometimes the answer is no.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that it is brave to leave a situation if you've assessed that you’re not going to win here or that the reward will not be worth the effort.
“We only have a limited amount of energy and time. So it's really understanding, is it worth it or is it not?” - Amal Masri
For example, if a workplace is really toxic, you will be better off moving to another workplace that is more aligned with who you are rather than fighting to break barriers at your current workplace.
“I see this with women and especially with women of color is sometimes we feel we have to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that if you are early in your career and not in a position of power, it may not be the time to try breaking barriers. She shares an example from her own career.
“As I climbed that ladder to an executive role, I wasn't particularly involved in DEI or gender equity work because there were so many barriers in just my role [...] that I needed to dedicate all my energy there.” - Amal Masri
Amal also explains that if you are the squeaky wheel on those issues, it can actually lead to you being alienated even more.
“Strategically, my plan was to get in a position of power, grow my influence and network, and then start doing that work.” - Amal Masri
5) Making Strategic Career Advancements
Amal explains that if you don't have much influence in your organization or much support, you are unlikely to be successful in creating large-scale systemic change.
“If anything, that might take you out of the running for being promoted, for growing in your career, for getting the kind of opportunities that will lead you to someday have the power, the influence, the social capital to make those changes.” - Amal Masri
Amal shares that this past year has been particularly difficult for her as a Palestinian. She has had a lot of young Palestinian and Muslim women reach out to her to ask whether or not they should speak up about what is happening at their organizations.
“Look at the culture of your organization. Look at what other senior leaders are doing. Maybe people more senior than you. How are they acting? Ask yourself why or why not they're making certain choices because they have a better pulse on how things work in that organization and how certain choices, certain stances, will impact them.” - Amal Masri
6) Identity Politics
Amal shares that she knows just by saying she is Palestinian, she is going to be excluded in some spaces.
“Some people won't want to work with me [...] just by virtue of my existing as Palestinian.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that while it is obviously very critical to advocate against genocide and for human rights, Palestinians are more likely to be discriminated against when they do this than a white person is.
“We are more likely to be penalized and punished as a result of that, taking ourselves out of positions of power and influence.” - Amal Masri
Amal does not have the answer for what the large-scale impact of that would be.
“Sometimes you have to do work to keep your seat at that table until you're in a position to build your own table.” - Amal Masri
Olivia explained that while she agrees that we have to put our “identity politics” away sometimes, there is the question of if we even want to sit at that table to begin with.
“If I can't show up in all my Jamaican glory, and I can't be passionate when I'm happy and passionate when I'm mad, if I can't do all the things that make me special when I'm sitting at that table, I kick over the table and I make one for myself.” - Olivia Grant-Cream
Amal explains that it comes down to strategy.
“I always think through my decisions in terms of what I want to model for the young women we work with.” - Amal Masri
Amal shares that one of the things she wrestles with is getting organizations to commit to a development program for women of color.
“A lot of companies are very comfortable with programs that are just gender first. So a woman's program. When race comes into the equation, that tends to feel more uncomfortable. I'm going in there saying, actually, I think you should invest in women of color specifically. And it actually does make a difference to have programming that is targeted towards them.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that it is a constant series of trade-offs and decisions, and it's not easy.
“My gosh, the emotional and intellectual labor we have to do to just exist in this world that people who don't face the same barriers don’t have to do.” - Amal Masri
Amal imagines how much more productive organizations would be if none of their employees had to do this calculus in their heads to just exist as a black woman across any and all intersections.
“How much more profitable would it be if people didn't have to do this extra work just to show up in their workplace?” - Amal Masri
That awareness as a leader is so critical in how we engage with women beyond just the singular lens of gender.
7) Understanding Your Value
Amal’s advice when women ask her how they can be more confident is to aim higher than confidence and aim for audacity.
“You have to aim for audacity because you're constantly getting the programming and messaging every single day in a racist and sexist society that you are less than.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that women, especially women of color, are getting scrutinized more than their peers, are being held to a higher standard, and their qualifications are being questioned more.
“It is very hard to not internalize that and turn that against yourself. So that's why it's critical to change our barometer to aim way higher than we think we deserve because every day there's an invisible, silent marketing campaign happening, convincing you that you're worth less than you actually are.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that through her program, she has realized that women of color, and especially immigrant women, have higher degrees of education than women overall.
“They are consistently overqualified and have all the qualifications. So we're working with a very valuable employee demographic who has so much to offer.” - Amal Masri
This is why, according to Amal, it's critical to lean into that audacity and to ask for what you deserve.
Amal explains that when she was a full-time executive, she had a lot of young men reaching out to her, setting up coffee chats, and asking for mentorship. She noticed two distinct differences between how young men and young women did this:
Young men didn’t hesitate to reach out and reached out a lot more frequently.
Young men felt more comfortable receiving the help.
“Whereas with the young women, [...] you kind of get this sense of feeling like they didn't quite deserve that investment or that help in their energy, in their manner of being overly grateful.” - Amal Masri
This is why, whenever Amal talks to young women she tells them that she is so happy they reached out and that they deserve to be mentored, coached, and sponsored.
“In their entire upbringing, they're receiving not only different messages but different reinforcements for taking the risks, for stepping out, for asking for help than young men are. They are penalized in ways that men aren’t and at the same time they're not rewarded in the same way. So it's really critical to just change that feedback loop and just be audacious.” - Amal Masri
8) Writing Your Own Narrative
Some advice Amal has for young women is to hold the pen on your own narrative.
“If you don't write your own narrative, I promise you, someone else is going to write it for you and it is not going to be in your favor. It is not going to work for you.” - Amal Masri
Amal explains that so often she sees women given labels that do not position them for a more senior-level strategic role.
“It's critical for us to hold that pen, put words in people's mouths, and tell them who we are so we can position ourselves for success.” - Amal Masri
Amal shares that what happens often in women's leadership coaching is that women are given emotional solutions to structural problems.
“If you're in a system that discriminates against you, being more confident isn't going to help you and self-improvement is not the solution.” - Amal Masri
That’s why Amal helps her graduates understand organizational culture and the barriers they might face and gives them tools that will help them navigate and overcome those barriers.
“We are not giving women emotional solutions to structural problems. We are giving them structural solutions to structural problems.” - Amal Masri
If you enjoyed this conversation, here are a few more episodes you might like:
Episode 74: Mastering the Art of Selling Yourself
Episode 70: Disrupting the Status Quo
Episode 66: Mastering Workplace Negotiations
To hear the full conversation, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 76.
About The Hosts: Archita And Olivia
ARCHITA
Archita Sivakumar Fritz is the Host and Producer of the Embracing Only Podcast. Archita is a MedTech and Life Science Strategist. She is a LinkedIn Top Voice for her insights into product strategy and nonprofit management, and the creation of inclusive cultures that champion a 'speak up' philosophy.
Following a successful 19+ year corporate career she now helps C Suite across organizations as a Fractional Product Marketing Leader through her company Ready Set Bold.
She works with individuals with 10+ years of corporate experience to find new paths away from toxic or underappreciative environments, enabling both personal fulfillment and broader organizational impact.
→ Grab your FREE resource to build your career transition here: https://embracingonly.com/cubicle-escape-blueprint
→ If you want to work with Archita you can reach out to her here: www.readysetb.
→ Book her as a speaker, moderator, or coach for your next company event or workshop.
OLIVIA
Olivia Grant Cream is the host and producer of the Embracing Only podcast. Nothing makes her happier than providing a platform to women who are changing the world.
Olivia is a proud US Veteran and HR Leader who is passionate about changing the face of corporate America by helping underrepresented people reclaim their power and live the life of their dreams.
She is an advocate for transitioning military members seeking second careers in the corporate landscape.
Olivia is a proud Jamaican and enjoys mentoring, coaching, classic cars, and nature. The way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
→ You can work with Olivia here: www.oliviacre
→ Book her as a keynote speaker or moderator for your next ERG or company event.