Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life)

This is the book to read if your a woman looking to climb up the ladder at work or your goal is bigger than that. This is Cathie Blacks story and it is a book that I have many times loaned out to my girlfriends who in turn went and bought the book after they read it. Cathie Black talks about the do's and don't and struggles as well as ... dont forget to have fun!... IF your goal or dream is to be the big cheese ... or own your own business... YOU need to add this book right now to your MUST HAVE and READ list this month! Don't delay this book has already changes many of my friends career to success paths.... it will help you in yours!

Those are the words of Cathie Black, and they're something special to keep in mind as you read her autobiographical guide to career/life success. Black mentors readers by fearlessly revealing HER path to success. Will you agree with everything she did? Will you follow step-by-step on HER path? Let's hope not! Because the point of this book (for this reader) was to reinforce what you already know. (C'mon, you DO know this stuff, and you know you do!) By opening up her own life to examination, Black subtly encourages you to find your own abilities and to follow your gut instincts on your own unique path to success.

I became aware of this book while reading an article in the Oprah Magazine a few months ago which covered excerpts from the book. As I read the article I was so inspired and impressed that I decided to get a copy. I have not been disappointed with my purchase. From the first few pages I knew this was going to be a good read. If you are now starting your career or looking for a jump start or fresh ideas this is your best source. Cathie Black is real - you feel as if you and her are sitting on a patio having a chat between old fiends. She has a way of making it real and to the point and is able to back up her advice with real appropriate examples. It's not stuffy and boring like some of the other management headliners out there about attitude, strategy, 10 tips to.. etc etc etc. Most importantly she has revitalised me in my current role. She has inspired me not to be so hard on myself when I make mistakes thinking that my career is over or I can't acheive my "ideal role/job". She encourages you to get up, dust off the dirt, learn from the experience and keep moving on both personally and professionally.

Cathie Black's name is well known in business and publishing circles as she is currently the CEO of Hearst Magazines (19 in all), as well as the go-getter who convinced Oprah to do a magazine, and to do it with Hearst. She's also the one most credited for the wildly successful USA Today, and greatly admired for shattering any glass ceilings that hampered her career. Black's dossier is an enviable one but more to the point here is her book, Basic Black, a combination of sound practical advice, self-help, mentoring, and snapshots of media greats. Whether you're young and starting out or in the middle of a career, you'll undoubtedly find much good advice as well as many smiles in this savvy tome. Further, even if you're not on a career path much of what she has to say is applicable and helpful in everyday living, such as getting rid of the grudges that harm only you. Black, is an advocate of risk taking, but wise risk taking - calculate what you may gain and what you may lose by undertaking a specific action. She reminds us: ". As ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." Along with risk taking she urges us not to focus on something that failed but rather to examine what we may have learned from that experience and use this knowledge to our advantage. As an example of this she describes the decision she once made to leave New York and take a job with a new magazine in San Francisco - a publication that quickly folded. Quite obviously, Black does not describe her success to date as a skip down the yellow brick road but rather a path of trying, learning, and giving it all she's got. Black reads as she leads, confidently, firmly, clearly, yet with a smile in her voice. Highly recommended. - Gail Cooke

Many people who are unhappy with their jobs or just eager to move up have used company time to work on their résumés. And they've probably gone on to photocopy those résumés on the office machine. And some of them have almost certainly left the original at the copier, where, as luck would have it, it gets found by a senior executive who knows exactly what it means. Cathie Black did all that. The difference between her and the yutz who regales his friends with his stupidity over brewskis at the corner tap is that Cathie Black is the CEO of Hearst Magazines --- and that she tells this story on herself at the start of her book. Right away you know: This is not a woman who has airbrushed her career. I can personally testify to that. Over the years, I have spoken at Hearst conferences and flirted with employment at Hearst, and my conversations with Cathie Black have been models of clear communication. She states her position or asks her question, listens attentively, and follows up --- she's the walking example of a "New York minute." But she's not a chilly corporate nun. She gets the joke: Magazines may help you better your life, they may divert you from your cares, they may even help you figure out how to dispose of your disposable income, but they do not cure cancer. And so, when I picture Cathie Black, I think equally of her blunt-as-a-bullet approach to business and her quick, warm laugh. Those qualities come through in this book, which is, above all, a virtual mentoring campaign. That benevolent sharing is crucial, for Black believes every woman who hopes for a successful, rewarding career needs a mentor. If you happen to lack a powerful woman with a generous heart, look no further --- Cathie Black is not one of those people who got to the top and promptly set about making sure no one else could follow her route. Nor is Cathie Black some sort of doctrinaire feminist --- though she was at Ms. Magazine in the early years when it was assumed that its employees were rabid. Great CEOs have no politics, they'll vote for whatever works. And Cathie Black is a great CEO; in her decade at Hearst, she's presided over 10% growth, scored the most successful magazine launch in history (the Oprah magazine, O) and power-wedged a once-glacial company onto the Web. So her advice is practical in the extreme. Think of your boss as "a small woodland animal" --- you don't want to surprise him/her with any sudden moves. Better that you should anticipate his/her needs. Better that you make him/her look good. Does that grate on you? Always remember: "The end game is the only game in town." Translation: Don't play for small stakes. This simple advice is worth the price of admission. If you spend your days in the kind of offices I've had the misfortune to work in, you are surrounded by politicians who think the election is tomorrow. They're catty and petty; they think small. Join them, and you'll never get beyond middle management. Happily for those of us who