Talk Your Way to the Top

Talk Your Way to the Top provides an easily accessible source for every sort of business etiquette and strategy--from which fork to use, to how to quell your pre-speaking jitters. Its language is similar to that found in women's magazines like Glamour and Marie Claire, so it's not only fun to read, it's easily absorbed. This is the sort of thing every CEO hopeful girl should carry in her pocket at all times--and I'm not talking girls who want to date the CEO, I'm talking girls who want to BE the CEO. Extremely useful--and narrow enough to carry around with you discretely all the time--the perfect criteria for a self help book is, after all, for no one to realize you need it.

This book is as useful for men as it is for women. I picked up good tips on, "How to work a room" and "How to get a New Job". With my MBA graduation coming up, this book has given me a better perspective of what the business world is about. I would strongly recommend that other graduate and undergraduate students read it.

Please substitute the following review for the one I submitted February 17, 1999 Talk Your Way To The Top By Tina Santi Flaherty, Perigee, Reviewed by Marilyn Murray Willison There's no doubt that Tina Flaherty is one of the most impressive businesswomen in America today. One of the first women elected as vice president at three of America's largest companies (Colgate-Palmolive, GTE, and Grey Advertising) she has been described by Business Week as one of America's top corporate women. Her first book, The Savvy Women's Success Bible, offered women advice on finding just the right job, lifestyle, and partner. Her new book Talk Your Way to the Top is designed to illustrate the make-or-break career benefits of effective communication. Divided into ten concise chapters, Flaherty offers personal asides as well as common sense suggestions. After pointing out that the image you project when speaking in public can determine who will become your friend, lover, business associate, employer, or employee, Flaherty confides "I learned early on that the ability to talk and think on your feet is an invaluable asset that sets you apart from the crowd. I also learned that the way I dressed, schmoozed with my colleagues, entertained clients, wrote a memo, behaved in public, and dealt with my boss and staff, all painted a picture of my abilities as an executive." Here are a few of the topics that Flaherty addresses in this thorough, concise paperback: · Packaging yourself · Max-ing your meetings · Working a room · Talk like a man, think like a woman · Socializing for success · Getting your act together · Showtime! Giving a speech · Phone finesse · How to make a fool of yourself in public · The last round-up This book would make an excellent gift for anyone who has an unfulfilled professional goal regardless of her age. From reviewing the right and wrong way to handle the telephone to practicing good "private plane protocol" Flaherty offers solid advice that is nicer to learn through the pages of a book than through trial-and-error experience. As she reminds us at the end of Talk Your Way To The Top, "While looking foolish is something we all want to avoid, sometimes it can't be helped. When you do goof up, don't beat yourself up unmercifully. It's not the end of the world. Chalk it up to experience and learn from it . . . Making a fool of yourself every now and then is understandable. But if you don't learn from your mistakes, you'll be a fool forever.

If only I would have known, when I was a young woman in business, what Tina told me in her book that I finished reading today, I know my life would have been different...or at least my struggle in the corporate world wouldn't have been such a tangle.Tina outlines the message behind the colors you wear. Who would have imagined THAT made a difference? She says to lose the purse and tells you why. Tina also explains her concept of how to communicate like a man, yet still maintain the ability to be a woman.I already knew how to "work a room," but did I have my business cards ready? I would have taken more pains to behave myself at the company Christmas party and I would have had more courage and confidence when presenting my ideas to my boss if I knew then what I know now...Even if you are a volunteer, a coach or community leader, Tina's advice will work for you. Her book is easy to read and has a friendly style. This book is a must read for my three daughters.Pamela Hamilton

Tina Santi Flaherty seems to have a handle on knowing exactly the right things to say (and not to say) for anyone trying to be tops in their field. It's a must read, and a must give for a gift. Especially loved the part of how to make a fool of yourself in public, etiquette for private jets, and how to talk like a man and think like a women!