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Hardball for Women: Winning at the Game of Business – Pat Heim and Susan Golant – 1992. Los Angeles: Lowell House
Shocking book that suggests that you cheat in order to compete with your male peers. I shudder to think what it would be like to work with women who take the advice in this book seriously. One sympathizes with the frustration that drove the authors to take this aggressive stance, but I suggest other methods to rise in an organization.
Inside Every Woman – Vickie L. Milazzo – 2006. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
I don’t have a single nice thing to say about this book, so I’m going to say almost nothing.
Secrets of Six-Figure Women – Barbara Stanny – 2002. New York: Harper Collins Publishers
Insulting book that proposes a pie-in-the-sky attitude that if you just have the right attitude, you’ll get rich. I don’t find that kind of advice appropriate for the corporate world, but if you’re into ouji boards and crystals, it might be just the thing you’re looking for.
They Don’t Get It, Do They? – Kathleen Reardon – 1995. Boston: Little, Brown and Company
Kathleen’s beautifully written and intelligent book is wrecked by her combative stance toward men. From the title, which initially sounds as though it could “cut both ways,” but then is revealed to apply exclusively to men [the idiots], to the final conclusion where she advises women not to “play along,” she promotes an ‘us vs them’ attitude that just plain doesn’t work at the office. Some of her specific suggestions for “come-backs” have an artificial ring, and some are downright offensive. For example, she suggests that you respond to a man who says “I’m just kidding,” by saying “Maybe you should take a course in what’s funny.” Ouch. If I were the male receiver of that line, I’d secretly hope I’d never have to speak to her again. A lot of men already don’t like working with women—it’s supposed to help that we bite their heads off?
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