BUSINESS

Jews Are Still Stalled
In Corporate America

A new book charges there's been a return
to the gentlemen's agreement.

ELAINE DEROSA

Special to The Jewish News

f you're Jewish and
want to achieve success
in a given field, go into
law, medicine or the
arts; become a consul-
tant, or start your own
business — but don't expect
to climb too high in the cor-
porate world.
Such is the message of The
Outsiders: Jews and Cor-
porate America, by Abraham
Korman. His book explores
the premise that very few
Jews have positions of power
in large American corpora-
tions.
In a recent telephone inter-
view, Korman, the Wollman
Distinguished Professor of
Management at Baruch Col-
lege, City University of New
York, discussed The Out-
siders, published in 1988 by

I

52

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1989

Lexington Books.
"I've been a (corporate) con-
sultant for about 25 years,
and a professor, and over the
years, certain patterns
became obvious," he said.
"One was the presence of
Jewish consultants —
another was the lack of Jews
in positions of power."
These observations
prompted him to write the
book, he said, and "the sec-
ond spur was that I became
convinced that . . . there is a
lack of knowledge about the
true nature of American cor-
porate life; a naivete."
Korman believes that "the
American Jewish community
is facing a crisis," with
"careers going down the
tubes."
"For instance, many dental

schools are closing and the
fields of law and medicine are
overcrowded."
Therefore, he said, oppor-
tunities in the professions,
where Jews traditionally have
flocked, are narrowing
significantly. The effect is
that more Jews will be seek-
ing livelihoods in large cor-
porations — where, if at-
titudes remain as they are,
their chances of really "mak-
ing it" beyond middle
management are unlikely.
"When I started my book,
I wasn't quite sure what I
would find," Korman said.
"It's an area nobody talked
about." Most of the informa-
tion he found on the problem,
he said, was written by
non-Jews.
Korman researched the

topic for three years, using a
number of courses, including
lists from corporations of ma-
jor senior executives (he
checked for last names that
were recognizably Jewish),
and lists of companies that
recruited at universities. (He
found that only one Fortune
100 company recruited at
Brandeis, and 45 went to
Notre Dame. He also con-
ducted numerous personal in-
terviews with consultants
and managers, Jewish and
non-Jewish.
Through his own consult-
ing work, Korman says, he
previously had come in con-
tact with a number of those
he interviewed and feels that
their responses were candid
and knowledgeable.
Korman says he found that

corporate heads "choose ex-
ecutives the way George
Bush chose Dan Quayle —
it's a social club. They want
someone they can feel com-
fortable with."
And they apparently do not
feel comfortable with Jews,
especially those who are
noticeably Jewish through
their religious observances,
community affiliations and
activities; those who do not
belong to the same social
clubs or observe the same
holidays, Korman concluded.
In this respect, Korman's
findings match those of the
American Jewish Committee,
which last year released
the results of its own study,
titled, "Succeeding in Cor-
porate America: The Ex-
perience of Jewish MBAs."