{On April 5, 2013, we will celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the First Friday Book Synopsis, and begin our 16th year. During March, I will post a blog post per day remembering key insights from some of the books I have presented over the 15 years of the First Friday Book Synopsis. We have met every first Friday of every month since April, 1998 (except for a couple of weather –related cancellations). These posts will focus only on books I have presented. My colleague, Karl Krayer, also presented his synopses of business books at each of these gatherings. I am going in chronological order, from April, 1998, forward. The fastest way to check on these posts will be at Randy’s blog entries — though there will be some additional blog posts interspersed among these 30.}
Post #24 of 30
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Synopsis presented January, 2009
Womenomics: 1. Write Your Own Rules for Success {2. How to Stop Juggling and Struggling and Finally Start Living and Working the Way You Really Want} by Claire Shipman (Good Morning America) and Katty Kay (BBC News). (HarperBusiness/HarperCollins. 2009).As journalists, when we start to read successive reports that come up with similar conclusions, we call it a story. When the results are this conclusive and this notable we may even call it a headline.
The headline has arrived. As I write this, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is #1 on the New York Times nonfiction best sellers list (I’m presenting my synopsis at our April 5 First Friday Book Synopsis), and the conversation is swirling all around us about the place, the role, the approach, the challenges of women in the workplace. (In a moment of “reinforcement” of this theme, our blogging colleague Bob Morris posted this just this morning on our blog: Women on the home front: Debate over work-life balance continues).
Last night, I met a retired couple who just moved in to a local retirement community. He spent a lifetime as an accountant, retiring as a partner from his firm. She spent a lifetime keeping the home front for the family. She never worked outside the home. She said to me, “the world is different today than it was when we were starting out.” Yes, it is…
I have tried to select as many books as possible about this “story, that is now a headline.” As has my colleague Karl Krayer. But there are weeks/months when there is not a single book on the business best sellers list written by a woman. Women are underrepresented in far too many circles.
It is time for the rise of Womenomics.
• Womenomics n. 1. Power. 2. A movement that will get you the work life you really want. 3. The powerful collision of two simple realities: a majority of women are demanding new rules of engagement at the very moment we’ve become the hot commodity in today’s workplace.
That is the message of this well-written book by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, two women journalists, both married, with children, who thus juggle that career and home challenge. Ms. Shipman works for ABC, and Katty Kay for the BBC (I have heard her frequently as she serves as a guest host for the Diane Rehm show).
The book acknowledges the challenge of the era.
The First Lady wants to put a national spotlight on the frustrating balancing act that so many face, and which she herself had to master… “No matter what decision you make at any point in time, you feel like you should be doing more on the other end.” (Michelle Obama, to Claire Shipman).
And the book makes a strong point. If women are going to “force” change – the change of acceptance that leads to more women in the roles that are still far too often preserved for men only — then women are going to have to show/prove their value.
We have to be valuable to the bottom line in order to force change.
And, women really are valuable in the workplace…
Our right-brain multitasking and problem-solving skills help us make good corporate decisions… Throw in the fact that we’ve got more degrees than men do and that there is an approaching talent shortage, especially of college-educated workers, and anyone can do the math. We have never been hotter.
A study in France found that companies with more women in management positions did better during 2008 – had higher profits – that those with fewer women. “Feminization of management seems to protect against financial crisis… In conditions of high uncertainty, financial markets value companies that take fewer risks and are more stable.” (Michel Ferrary, Professor of management at the CERAM Business School in France).
Women deliver profits, often in big numbers, and we are worth hanging on to… By every measure of profitability – equity, revenue, and assets – Pepperdine’s study found that companies with the best records for promoting women outperform the competition.
So, what do modern women want?
We’re not looking for a better company cafeteria, a free dinner after working late, or a fancy gym – all glittering handcuffs to keep us on the job. We want freedom – to make our own decisions, to control our own work lives. (emphasis added). Our talent, experience, diligence, and commitment, they are coming to see, are more than a fair trade.
Technology and power and plain common sense are freeing us from that antiquated morning-to-evening prison in ways we could not have imagined a decade ago.
Our core fantasies revolve around having emotionally richer and saner lives.
The knowledge that as professional women we are high performing allows us to become more high maintenance. (high maintenance = able to be more demanding re. flexibility issues – RM).
One problem for women is that they seem to feel like they should just be “seen and acknowledged” as doing a good job, and thus be automatically rewarded for that good job. They do not “brag and boast” (my words) as easily, as naturally as men. So, they need to learn how to self-promote. And then, they need to actually practice self-promotion.
Self-promotion is a basic part of business life. Informing others of a success is just as much about keeping them in the loop as is informing them about a failure.
The book, like others from the last fifteen years, hits us with the numbers:
• women “at the top” produce more profits and success in all economic categories
• women “at the top” produce more profits and success in all economic categories
• women have more college degrees (undergraduate: 57% cited in book — now 60%; graduate – 58%)
And, women do bring a different style to the workplace:
• women have “a more open and more inclusive style of management;” more likely to encourage participation in meetings; more nurturing of subordinates; prefer consensus to confrontation; prefer empathy to ego… — and women superstars take their abilities to other companies better than men superstars do (because women are better at building new relationships)
Because time is the currency of Womenomics, women should aim to:
• say “no,” without guilt…
• Set meetings, deadlines, schedules early – and on your own terms.
• at times (maybe frequently), aim at “good enough”
• Learn to, and actually do, delegate – hand things off
The book gives guidance on how to self-promote:
• Try for an informative, casual, but straightforward tone; don’t simply rattle off a list of accomplishments; be self-deprecating; see yourself as others might see you; tell a story.
And here is some ultimate news you can use:
• We’ve got the power. Companies want us and can’t afford to lose us.
• We’re not alone. Four out of five of us want more flexibility at work.
• Know what you really want from life and you can write your own rules for success.
• Work smarter not harder and ask for what you want.
And here are some “rules” for women as they negotiate
• Nine Rules to Negotiate Nirvana (How to Change Your Deal)
Rule One: Negotiate From A Position Of Fact-Based Strength
Rule Two: Perform Well And Know It
Rule Three: Never Negotiate In Anger
Rule Four: Know What You’re Asking For
Rule Five: Be Prepared To Reassure Your Boss, On Every Level
Rule Six: Remember – You’re Dealing With A Jittery Child. There Will Be Worries You Haven’t Even Thought Of.
Rule Seven: Use Economics To Your Advantage
Rule Eight: Now That You’ve Got Your Deal, Don’t Take It For Granted, Or, “It’s The Communication, Stupid”
Rule Nine: Know When To Quit
Here’s what I think. Women are still struggling to find effective ways to get into top levels of the workplace. And men are still trying to figure out how to work with women. (In one sense, men are still deciding whether to let women “in.” Augusta National, the home of the Masters Golf Tournament, just accepted their first women members: “In August 2012, the Augusta National board of directors extended membership to two women.” It does not take a genius to figure out that more than a little “business” is conducted on a golf course, and when women are excluded from the golf course, they are excluded from business).
Until women are embraced, by men, by other women, by society, as full participants and partners in the modern business environment, there will be need for more and more books like Womenonics and Lean In. And women will have to fight for every inch of progress. This is one of the books to add to your reading list as you decide what you can do to bring about these needed changes.
You can purchase many of our synopses, with our comprehensive handouts, and audio recordings of our presentations, at our companion site 15minutebusinessbooks.com. The recordings may not be studio quality, but they are understandable, usable recordings, to help you learn.
(And though the handouts are simple Word documents, in the last couple of years we have “upgraded” the look of our handouts to a graphically designed format).We have clients who play these recordings for small groups. They distribute the handouts, listen to the recordings together, and then have a discussion that is always some form of a “what do we have to learn, what can we do with this?” conversation. Give it a try.
First Friday Book Synopsis 