And, yes, in too many ways, it is still a man’s world that we all function in.
How Women Rise is a solidly reliable resource for helping others, not just women, identify and then deal with the habits/default behaviors that might currently be holding them back. The book is interesting!! While I chose to read the book sequentially, another reader might choose to review the twelve habits that block effectiveness, and then investigate the few habit chapters that seem to be most like them.
The case study examples given in the book are specific, and concise, and illustrate how the individuals are initially and negatively impacted by their then-current blind spots. The individuals share how their less-than-effective performances impacted their relationships with their bosses and show how they eventually chose to respond more effectively to overcome those situations and significantly improve those relationships, gaining confidence and performance momentum in the process.
This book is broken down into three parts:
- Part 1: On Being Stuck
- Part II: The Habits That Keep Women from Reaching Their Goals
- Part III: Changing for The Better
Part I talks about the focus of the book and a bit about why women can get stuck. It talks about why women resist change and how if you don’t learn to embrace change you’ll remain stuck.
Part II is the largest section of the book and goes into great detail about the 12 habits that are supposedly holding women back. The 12 habits are
- Reluctance to claim your achievements
- Expecting others to spontaneously notice and reward your contributions
- Overvaluing expertise
- Just building rather than building and leveraging relationships
- Failure to enlist allies from day one
- Putting your job before your career
- Perfection trap
- The disease to please
- Minimizing
- Too much
- Ruminating
- Letting your radar distract you
Here are my takeaways:
#1 — Market Yourself. Go ahead; market yourself. It’s ok. Actually, it’s necessary!
#2 — Learn to leverage your relationships. (It’s okay – just be a giver yourself in the process).
#3 — Give up some things: perfectionism; resentment that you aren’t recognized for your good work; resentment toward the unfair workplace norms and expectations.
#4 — You will not rise without the help of others. Get a coach (even a peer coach); pay attention, all the time, to the steps you need to take to rise up the organization.
#5 — As you rise, remember the difference between doing (it all) vs. leading and managing (getting it done through others)