Black and White on Wall Street: The Unwritten Code on Race

Here are 13 unwritten rules about being Black on Wall Street, according to people who’ve lived it:

1. Never forget: Despite all those promises about diversity, only about 1% of senior management is Black.

• 2. Be careful about pointing that out to the mostly White, mostly male trading desks.

• 3. Get used to hearing about the supposed lack of “qualified” Black applicants.

• 4. A 4.0 from Harvard isn’t enough. Assume some White Wall Streeters think Black colleagues are “diversity hires.”

• 5. Adopt a “White voice.”

• 6. Expect to hear complaints about bias training.

• 7. Put in long hours to combat stereotypes ...