At almost 550 pages long, this door-stopper of a leadership tome is a rich source of essays, reflections, and advice by and for female managers, entrepreneurs, and self-starters in a multitude of fields—not just business. Though the focus is women, most of the advice about tapping into one's personal power and considering the status quo in a different light easily crosses gender boundaries.
We appreciate the variety of voices in this edited volume. Few are household names; clothing designer Eileen Fisher is probably the most recognizable. Want to read about "Pushing Open the Door of Opportunity"? U. S. Navy Rear Admiral Deborah A. Loewer describes how. The challenges and satisfactions of teaching inner-city high school students? The necessity and potential pitfalls of self-promotion? Best practices for developing mentor relationships at work? There is an engaging diversity of viewpoints on display here on these topics and many others.
One enjoyable essay tackles a topic that is almost never mentioned in leadership books: failure. Barbara Corcoran, founder and chairman of one of New York City's most prominent real estate companies, the Corcoran Group, was hopeless at school. She grew up in a ground-floor apartment with nine siblings, a terrific father who nonetheless couldn't hold a steady job, and a no-nonsense mother. Corcoran's first business partner in their growing real estate business—he was also her boyfriend—left her for the secretary. As a parting shot he told her, "Barbara, you know you'll never succeed without me." It's all described in such a jaunty way that it seems clear how much energy and determination can be extracted from almost any problem. The Corcoran Group now sports forty-five offices and several billion dollars in closed sales volume. "I've been studying failure for some time," she concludes, "... [and] people who fail well, who bounce back quicker than others, are the ones who excel in my field. As my mother would insist, there's no room for whining or feeling sorry for yourself. And that message, for me, was the real gift of a lifetime."
The foreword, by David Gergen, adviser to four U.S. presidents, is sober in describing the gap between leadership opportunities available to women versus men, particularly in developing countries. The book overall uses a nice mix of learned and more private reflection to explore the potential of women in organizations and communities.—Martha Lagace