Comments

Naked in the Boardroom sounds well worth reading

I do, though , get a bit sick of all the easy stereotyping going on around gender and work, which serves neither men or women particularly well.

So Robin Wolaner tells us that for women to succeed "Let's face it: The message is that to succeed, you should be more like men." That's become an easy cliche.

Well, some men I have worked with/for are more caring, or more nurturing, or better listeners, or less aggressive, or more intuitive, than some women I have worked with. And some women I have worked with are better at analysis, more emotionally tough, more naturally authoritative than some men I have worked with. Not because they are trying to "be like men" but because they are being true to themselves. Margaret Thatcher (love her or hate her) didn't get to be her country's first Head of State by trying to be anything other than Margaret Thatcher! If she's perceived as being more 'male' than most of the men who worked for her, that's probably because we fall into the trap of narrowly defining how you should operate if you are a man or a woman in the workplace.

Vive le difference indeed, but in my experience differences within gender can be as big as differences between gender. And a good thing too.

Posted by tomjam at June 8, 2006 4:06 AM

I'll trust my gut before I trust sitting down to crunch and analyze...which wastes a bunch of time and 9.5 times out of 10 brings our team to the same freakin' conclusion.

Re: It's different being a woman...first off, I wouldn't know. :)
But on the issue - I'll trust a man or a woman equally, though I will likely connect better with another guy being that I am one. I've always been more concerned with whether or not someone knows what the heck they're talking about. Education is nice, and very worthwhile, but a solid graduate of UHK (University of Hard Knocks) is someone I'm maybe a bit more inclined to trust. Unfortunately, like the politics issue, not everyone else in business feels the same way. I've had great men and women take lead positions at my company. Advantage goes to neither in my opinion.

Thanks for another great book recommendation, Tom.

Posted by tango5 at June 9, 2006 8:37 AM

Tomjam, given your bias against gender stereotyping you must read this book. I've read this book and love this book (and was privileged to be an early reader), and the thing that I love about it is that Robin transcends gender generalizations. Most books about how women do business differently over-generalize and trivialize important matters; this is one topic that's almost impossible to explore directly (it's like looking at the sun--you're better off exploring the things that its reflected off.) The gems in this book emerge from Robin's wisdom, her reflections about what she learned as a person who had an extremely successful career. She's a person, and she's a woman, and I think her book succeeds by not ignoring specific traits she has as a person and certain received assumptions that others have about her as a woman. And the fact that men and woman are different--but rather than get abstract about this she provides vivid examples where gender dynamics seem to play a role.

And she writes about sexual tension in the workplace, but in a proportionate manner that I just haven't seen elsewhere. Let's face it, it exists--just as many elements of human nature emerge in the workplace.

Okay, pardon the sloppy writing. Just give the book a try--it's wonderful.

Posted by Tom Ehrenfeld at June 9, 2006 12:22 PM

Thanks Tom E. Not sloopy writing at all! You have convinced me even more to seek this book out (and maybe not to be too hasty drawing conclusions from a quote out of context.) Best Wishes

Posted by tomjam at June 11, 2006 5:32 PM