The Way Up

What does it really take to climb the corporate mountain when the terrain itself seems uneven? In The Way Up: Climbing the Corporate Mountain as a Professional of Color, Errol L. Pierre offers a direct, profoundly personal guidebook for professionals of color seeking not only to ascend in corporate America but also to survive and thrive within it. Drawing on his own experience—from his Haitian roots and struggles with identity to his rise as a healthcare executive—Pierre contends that success for people of color requires not just ambition and skill, but strategy, self-awareness, and community. The climb, he writes, isn’t up a straight ladder with evenly spaced rungs; it’s a mountain full of winding paths, setbacks, and summits that require stamina and guidance to reach.

Pierre’s metaphor of the mountain frames the book. For White professionals, corporate advancement often looks like climbing a steady ladder. For professionals of color and immigrants, that climb is steeper and more unpredictable—filled with detours and storms that demand preparation, persistence, and emotional fortitude. To help readers navigate this ascent, Pierre structures his book as a series of lessons and reflections: find your purpose, embrace defining moments, reclaim your seat, harness your distinctions, and make the most of your mentors and champions. Each chapter draws from his life story and interviews with influential executives of color who share candid wisdom about navigating racism, code-switching, imposter syndrome, and systemic inequities in the workplace.

Success Beyond Meritocracy

Throughout the book, Pierre dismantles the myth of meritocracy—the comforting yet false idea that hard work alone guarantees success. For people of color, that equation rarely adds up. He argues that many corporate cultures remain structures of systemic exclusion, sustained by old networks and biases. Hard work must be combined with education, networks, mentors, champions, and therapy. He also emphasizes the emotional toll of constantly needing to prove one’s competence in environments where diversity is applauded in principle but not always embraced in practice. The mountain is not just professional; it’s psychological and cultural.

The Purpose Behind the Climb

Pierre reveals that even after reaching the C-suite, he felt unfulfilled. The prestige of being Chief Operating Officer could not compensate for misalignment with his purpose. His resignation letter became a turning point—a reminder that advancement without purpose leads to exhaustion and emptiness. For readers, he transforms that moment into advice: define your purpose before pursuing any promotion. Purpose becomes both compass and anchor, guiding decisions and preventing you from losing your soul to ambition. This theme echoes the wisdom of thinkers like Viktor Frankl and Simon Sinek, who argue that meaning keeps us grounded amid success.

Navigating Systemic Racism and Self-Doubt

Pierre situates his narrative in post–George Floyd corporate America, where diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts surged yet often stalled. He pairs statistics with stories, showing how corporate boards remain overwhelmingly White and male. He asserts that these imbalances demand not resignation but readiness—professionals of color must be prepared to seize opportunities when they arise. His frank recollections of racial profiling, imposter syndrome, and biased bosses expose how discrimination in the boardroom mirrors discrimination on the streets. But he also reframes trauma as power: identity-defining moments can become fuel for ambition when harnessed consciously.

Building Support Systems for the Ascent

Climbing the corporate mountain requires community. Pierre urges readers to assemble what he calls a “personal board of directors”—a team of mentors, coaches, therapists, and champions who provide expertise, encouragement, and accountability. He describes therapy as preventive medicine and champions as gate openers who advocate for you behind closed doors. Equally vital are allies—people who don’t look like you but believe in your potential. (Note: This concept of multiprong support echoes Adam Grant’s work on “networked help” and Brené Brown’s emphasis on vulnerability and courage.)

Why This Matters Now

For Pierre, the mountain metaphor is not just rhetorical—it’s moral. He challenges both professionals of color and corporate institutions to recognize that equity is not charity but smart leadership. Companies that embrace diversity outperform those that don’t. Individuals who combine purpose, perseverance, and preparation can break ceilings and reshape cultures. The Way Up thus becomes both a survival manual and a manifesto: a call for professionals of color to navigate, rise, and lead while building legacies that pave the way for others. The climb is personal, but the summit is collective—for when one climber reaches the top, they clear the path for many more.

Pierre opens his first chapter with vulnerability: typing his third resignation letter as a successful Black COO who should have felt triumphant but instead felt hollow. This paradox sets the stage for his central question—what happens when the climb fulfills ambition but empties the soul? His answer: prioritize purpose over position. Without purpose, every goal becomes a treadmill of external validation.

Purpose as Compass

Your purpose, Pierre explains, is not just your ‘why’ but your internal compass through professional storms. It tells you which opportunities fit and which distract. It’s what keeps your decisions aligned with your values even when promotions tempt you toward compromise. His own revelation came when he realized that cutting budgets for higher bonuses meant hurting families and communities—his success had begun to contradict his values. Aligning purpose and profession heals that dissonance.

Passion as Fuel

Once you define your purpose, link it to passion. Pierre’s passion for mentoring stemmed from personal pain—the absence of an older brother led him to mentor others. He encourages readers to mine their life experiences for cues to purpose: often pain, exclusion, or longing reveals where you’re meant to serve. Oprah Winfrey interviewed her dolls as a child before hosting a global network; Daymond John sold hats as a teenager before founding a fashion empire. Passion transforms wounds into work.

Thinking Beyond Yourself

Pierre’s challenge is to expand purpose beyond personal gain. The moment you look outside yourself—to your community, your peers, your industry—you multiply your impact. True purpose radiates outward. If you struggled academically, volunteer as a tutor; if you battled bias, create mentorship circles. The wider your vision, the stronger your climb. (In Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, similar logic appears: begin with the end—your legacy—in mind.) Pierre’s purpose crystallized when he realized his calling was not to accumulate titles but to elevate others. Working in health equity became his way to transform empathy into action and service.

Key Insight

Before you pursue a promotion, pursue clarity on why you want it. If you can articulate how your advancement serves others, not just yourself, the fulfillment will match the success.

Pierre’s second major insight is that identity-defining experiences—especially painful ones—can become professional catalysts if you confront and learn from them. He names these experiences IDMs: Identity-Defining Moments. For him, they began with his Haitian heritage and the realization that America saw his father’s accent and skin color as liabilities instead of honors. His shame turned to pride only after discovering that Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, was Haitian too. That knowledge reframed his roots as power, not burden.

Roots and Representation

Finding your roots gives you resilience. Pierre urges professionals of color to learn and teach their history, because historical awareness inoculates against internalized prejudice. Once he understood Haiti’s legacy of rebellion against Napoleon—its victory as the first Black republic—he saw himself differently at work. Pride in ancestry equips you to navigate bias without shrinking.

Harnessing Trauma Through Triple A

Pierre details the Triple A method: Acknowledge, Accept, Ascend. Acknowledge trauma so it does not silently dictate your choices. Accept that the world is imperfect—trying to save everyone from racism destroys you. Then ascend: use your story as fuel instead of weight. His arrest at gunpoint in college—a wrongful stop-and-frisk—could have crushed his ambitions. Instead, it taught empathy and the need for health equity and mentorship. “The kid arrested in the Bronx became a COO,” he writes, reminding readers that ascent means transforming pain into purpose.

Guarding Against Cynicism

After years navigating systemic obstacles, skepticism can harden into cynicism. Pierre warns against it. While recognizing corporate inequities, he argues that you must stay constructive—advancing diversity in any way you can: mentoring, hiring inclusively, or giving positive feedback to employees of color. Skepticism can motivate; cynicism immobilizes. His call mirrors James Baldwin’s teaching: awareness should ignite change, not despair.

Core Lesson

Your history is not a weight—it’s armor. When you understand where you come from, you can stand taller in rooms that weren’t built for you.

Achieving a leadership title is only half the battle; keeping it with integrity is harder. Pierre describes the anxiety of sitting in a corner office at 35, earning four times his parents’ income but feeling he might be a token. That fear, shared by many first-generation professionals, feeds imposter syndrome. To survive, he built what he calls his personal board of directors—a Formula 1 pit crew of mentors, therapists, and coaches who keep your engine running.

Imposter, Perfection, and Pressure

Pierre shows how imposter syndrome disproportionately afflicts professionals of color who internalize the “Jackie Robinson rule”: they must be perfect to be accepted. His solution is neither arrogance nor withdrawal but support. Therapy provides preventive medicine for the stress of representation. Coaching provides strategy. Together, they stabilize confidence in an environment that demands twice the proof with half the grace.

The Formula 1 Pit Crew Model

Imagine yourself as a race car driver: you cannot complete the course alone. Your pit crew—mentors, coaches, therapists, and wise peers—equip you for the next lap. Pierre insists this team helps you plan, recover, and make data-driven decisions. They remind you that success at executive levels means continuous calibration, not solo endurance. (This model echoes Carol Dweck’s concept of growth through feedback loops.)

Mental Health as Leadership Asset

For Pierre, therapy is not weakness; it’s wisdom. Many professionals of color hide stress out of fear it implies incompetence. Pierre normalizes therapy and offers directories for Black and Latinx mental-health providers, reframing wellness as strategic advantage. Work-life balance isn’t indulgence—it’s sustainability. Leaders unable to care for themselves cannot care for others.

You may know mentors who advise you, but do you know champions who fight for you? Pierre defines champions as influential advocates who mention your name in rooms you haven’t entered yet. His story of Don Ashkenase—a Jewish healthcare executive who saw potential in him and pushed his career forward—illustrates how champions can transform destinies.

Mentors vs. Champions

Mentors guide; champions act. Pierre’s champion didn’t counsel him weekly—he wielded authority to open doors. In Pierre’s telling, Don attended the March on Washington and connected that moment to his responsibility as a White leader to uplift emerging Black executives. His advocacy mirrored sponsorship principles discussed by Harvard’s Cindy Gallop and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic: champions are those who “go out on a limb for you.”

Embracing Help with Humility

Professionals of color often feel ambivalent about assistance, fearing it undermines legitimacy. Pierre admits he hesitated to accept Don’s support, worried colleagues would think he was favored. He later realized that equitable progress requires intervention. Champions level playing fields distorted by bias. The task is not to reject help—it’s to honor it through performance and gratitude. Make those who invest in you proud by exceeding expectations.

Diversity of Champions

Pierre finds his champions came from different backgrounds—Irish, Jewish—proving that advocacy transcends race. He encourages readers to remain open: your champions may not look like you. What matters is integrity and influence. You will likely have no more than three in your life; cherish them. Champions are the bridge between potential and opportunity.

At the start of a career, ambition can collide with disillusionment. Pierre calls this phase the “entry-level blues”—that moment when new professionals realize talent alone doesn’t guarantee mobility. His advice: shift from passive participation to intentional learning. Build skills strategically, volunteer for projects, and recognize corporate culture’s hidden rules.

Strategic Volunteering

Pierre’s story of volunteering for a cross-state broker compensation project illustrates how going beyond your job description earns exposure. That project later led directly to his COO role—years after completion. Early initiative plants seeds whose fruits ripen later. Don’t wait for promotions; create visibility through contribution.

Code-Switching and Authenticity

Many professionals of color try to “fit in” by adjusting speech, dress, or mannerisms—code-switching. Pierre acknowledges doing this unconsciously but warns of its psychological toll: “Everyone at work who loves you doesn’t really know you.” Authenticity is riskier but healthier. He urges professionals to self-assess whether they withdraw from coworkers or if workplace norms exclude them. If exclusion persists, call on allies, document bias, and protect your mental health.

Allies, Documentation, and Exit Strategy

Allies can be confidants within power circles who advocate subtly on your behalf. When bias persists, documentation becomes your shield—record dates, incidents, and meetings. But Pierre’s ultimate counsel is practical: know when to leave. “Sometimes fighting to stay is worse for your mental health.” His mentee Nadia’s departure from a toxic job became her path to thriving elsewhere. Success may require strategic retreat.

At the summit of the mountain, Pierre’s message evolves from personal growth to collective contribution. Advancement means little if you don’t lift others with you. He argues that the best way to sustain leadership is through service—“Sometimes the best way to be selfish is to be selfless.” His volunteering with Eagle Academy, a school for young men of color, shows how mentorship transforms lives—and leadership matures into legacy.

The Power of Mentorship and Service

Pierre’s connection with his mentee, Ja’Paris, turned into a life-saving experience: when Ja’Paris was arrested after a fight, a business card listing Pierre as his mentor helped secure his release. This moment embodied Gandhi’s idea that self-discovery happens through service. For Pierre, mentoring wasn’t extracurricular—it was personal redemption from his own past encounters with injustice.

Leadership as Transferable Skill

Leadership learned through service extends beyond corporate settings. As a board member for the YMCA and 100 Black Men, Pierre gained experience in governance, strategy, and conflict resolution—competencies that later propelled his professional growth. He contends that compassion, vision, and execution are transferable across professions, echoing Donald McGannon’s activism merging broadcasting with racial justice. Leadership is not tied to position but to action.

Leaving a Legacy

In his final call, Pierre urges leaders to serve as windows, mirrors, and sliding doors—borrowing Rudine Sims Bishop’s metaphor from literature. Be a window for others to see possibility; a mirror for colleagues of color to recognize themselves in power; and a door that opens access. Legacy, he suggests, is measured not by titles but by the number of future leaders your presence inspires.