I rummaged around the books on my desk recently and discovered I had a week of posts sitting here about books written by women. I want to begin today with Pamela J. Smith, Nine Ways Women Sabotage Their Careers.
I’m not a business person, but when I read this book I thought of parallels in the academic community. And the book is laced up and tied ever gently with story after story from the business world by a woman who has learned a ton and knows how to package this in a way that makes her major points clear. So, I’ll give them … but first my question:
How do women sabotage their careers (because they are women)? And, what advice would you give to young women entering into a career?
And I’ll admit this: whenever we males enter into this conversation we run the risk of saying something sexist. I’ve done my best to avoid this… but this is a book about the distinction of women in the work world.
#1: Viewing her uniqueness as a woman as weakness.
#2: Neglecting to treat male colleagues as customers.
#3: Failing to find a good mentor.
#4: Underestimating (because you are a woman) your influence on others.
#5: Vandalizing your image by doing stupid things.
#6: Whining instead of shining.
#7: Living an unbalanced life.
#8: Running from risk.
#9: Staying too long.
Each of these — and I mean each of them — is defined well, is illustrated with sharp and well-written stories, and provides some biblical passages to consider for each topic.
I’ll say this: I thought this was a good book but, until I got into it, I didn’t realize how good it was. Every young woman entering into the work world would benefit from this book — so I think.