The Road to Someplace Better: From the Segregated South to Harvard Business School and Beyond - Hardcover

by Lillian Lincoln Lambert (Author)

The first black woman Harvard MBA tells the remarkable story of how she achieved the American dream

Lillian Lincoln Lambert rose from humble beginnings as a poor farm girl in the segregated South to become the first black woman to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School and, later, the founder of a $20 million maintenance company with 1,200 employees. In The Road to Someplace Better, she shares an inspiring personal journey that took her from dead-end jobs in New York City and Washington, D.C., to the ivory tower and the world of entrepreneurship. In addition to her own hard work and tenacity, she shows how her love of reading--instilled in her by her mother--spurred her to reach her goals. By sharing her inspiring life story, she helps others see that they, too, have the power to dream big, act bold, and achieve their goals.

• Charts Lillian Lincoln Lambert's inspiring rise from a poor, rural upbringing in the segregated South to success as a barrier-breaking CEO and entrepreneur
• Inspiring memoir of a groundbreaking business pioneer who broke down racial, gender, and social barriers to achieve unprecedented success
• Lillian Lincoln Lambert received Harvard Business School's Alumni Achievement Award in 2003 and has been featured on Good Morning America and in Time, the Washington Post, and Entrepreneur

Front Jacket

Eight-year-old Lillian Hobson, accustomed to doing chores by dawn's light and schoolwork by kerosene lamp, couldn't believe her eyes when electricity finally came to her family's small farm. She ran through every room, switching on lights. What she didn't realize that day was that something was growing inside her--a fierce determination that would propel her to become the first black woman to receive an MBA from Harvard, then found her own multimillion-dollar business. In The Road to Someplace Better, Lillian Lincoln Lambert shares an inspiring personal saga that took her from the farm to dead-end jobs in New York City and Washington, D.C., to the ivory tower and the world of entrepreneurship.

Charting her own uncertain course, she married three times, raised two daughters, fought her way through a thorny political and social landscape for blacks and women, did her best to reshape corporate America to fit the needs of real people, testified before Congress on behalf of women business owners, fell in love with--of all things--golf, and built her own pure golden network of family, friends, mentors, and business contacts. How did a young black woman from 1940s America make such a leap, and what is her advice to others?

Lambert drew wisdom and ideas from everywhere, starting with her inimitable mother, Arnetha B. Hobson, herself a trailblazer who received a college degree in the 1920s, taught school, and instilled a respect for education and reading in her daughter. She also looked to her father, who, although he had only a third-grade education, supported seven children and proudly bragged that his daughter was attending the "same school that President Kennedy went to." But it was her mentor at Howard University, Professor H. Naylor Fitzhugh, who convinced her that she was Harvard material and deserved to go to its business school.

Lambert shows you the chilly world of Harvard in 1967--all the colder if you were in the business school and black and female and, as she discovered one day, unprepared for class. It was colder still the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and his death was not even mentioned in her section at the business school. She also offers you a B-school-worthy look at the nuts and bolts of running her own business, from landing big contracts to hiring the best people to watching the books like a hawk and, finally, choosing to sell.

The Road to Someplace Better is infused with Lambert's hard-won wisdom and clear-eyed advice. Rule number one: There is no substitute for education and there are no shortcuts. Discover the rest of this amazing woman's story and secrets inside. It just may change your life.

Back Jacket

This moving memoir captures the journey of a woman who came of age as America struggled to deliver on its vision of racial and gender equality. It is a great American story that shows the struggle and triumph of the generation of educated African Americans who created the reality that with opportunity and preparation all things are possible. This book is must reading for men and women who seek inspiration and the enduring lessons of succeeding against the odds.
--David A. Thomas, H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; author of "Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America"

"Not only did Lillian become the first black woman to receive a Harvard MBA, but she also played an instrumental role while she was a student to help the business school change its recruitment practices to increase the black student population. Harvard Business School has never been the same since 1969, and neither has Lillian. Told in a frank, thoughtful voice, Lillian's story exemplifies the transformative power of the human spirit when it sets its sights high and refuses to give up."
--Dorothy I. Height, Chair and President Emerita, National Council of Negro Women, Inc.

"This coming-of-age story illustrates the fundamental principles of a classic education. Lillian discovered her purpose and moved forward, with distinction, into an ever-changing world. More than a role model, Lillian is a muse. Her story will inspire you, lift you up, and send you on your way into a world of possibilities."
--Julianne Malveaux, President of Bennett College for Women

"I frequently counsel young women to seize opportunities that don't exist. Discover paths no one can see. How exciting then to read this story of a woman who fought the odds, broke through barriers, envisioned a better life, and now serves to inspire others. Her story is simply remarkable!"
--Swanee Hunt, Chair, The Institute for Inclusive Security at Hunt Alternatives Fund; Eleanor Roosevelt Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government

""The Road to Someplace Better" is a well-told story of an African-American woman's personal and professional struggle to achieve goals in life that at the time seemed unattainable. It reveals with great insight how she reached her goals with her self-respect intact, as well as her view of what a better world should be. This book deserves to be added to the syllabus of an introductory business or women's studies course."
--Ronald T. Gault, former Head of J.P. Morgan South Africa

Author Biography

Lillian Lincoln Lambert was the first black female Harvard MBA (1969), who in 2003 received Harvard Business School's Alumni Achievement Award, the highest award the school bestows on its alumni. For twenty-five years, she was president and CEO of Centennial One, Inc., a building maintenance company she founded in 1976 in her garage with a few thousand dollars. She grew the company to $20 million in sales and hired more than 1,200 employees. Lambert is the recipient of numerous other awards, including Black MBA Association's Entrepreneur of the Year, and Small Business Person of the Year in the State of Maryland. She has been featured on Good "Morning America" and in "Time," the "Washington Post," and "Entrepreneur."

Rosemary Brutico is a freelance writer and principal of Quintessence Communication, a public relations firm. She is a former managing editor of MIT's Sloan Management Review.