"I am sure that if mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars"- Oprah Winfrey recently shared this quote of the English writer E.M. Forster. But it is unfortunate that world politics is still largely mens play. We need more women in power to make an impact, no doubt.
Our private enterprises, even with it's pioneering policies, women career development programs, family friendly work conditions, women are still not playing on an equal field and there is a lot of work to be done.
The authors of this book, Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith, both leadership coaches explore another angle, a practical one in fact- drawn from their experience of coaching a lot of professionals, both men and women at the leadership level and backed by the psychology field, they identify 12 harmful habits that are prevalent more in women, that undermine their success by getting in their way of navigating to the top.
I had a few aha moments when I read and compared the real life situations described in this book with what I experienced at workplaces. I know there will be a lot of working women who identify with a few habits listed below:
Avoid taking credit for their achievements
Overvaluing expertise
Leveraging relationships
The Perfection trap
While I bat on the side of the team that voices towards the shift in the culture, upbringing (some blame on evolution too) and definitely unconscious biases, what I like in this approach is that this is something you have control on and I strongly believe any attributes of our character should be used based on the situations, to our advantage within the ethical and legal bounds.
Yes, it sucks being told don't be so nice all the time, building connections is the most important thing you can do with your time and you have to promote yourself but you also know that they matter, in fact to a larger extent that we admit.
Definitely a must-read for every woman out there to compete, influence and just kick more ass at your job!