The Promotable Woman: Advancing Through Leadership Skills

Norma Carr-Ruffino's The Promotable Woman: 10 Essential Skills for the New Millennium, is not only one of the best books out on the market for "early-career" managers whether male or female; it is also a very stimulating and readable guide for anyone who wishes to understand life within dynamic corporations today.Dr. Carr-Ruffino, a Professor of Management at San Francisco State University, gives very specific, step-by-step coaching on how to navigate difficult bosses, treacherous corporate cultures, male-female conflict, personal stress, life/work balance, and a host of other very real everyday work situations. Women will find the profiles of outstanding female CEOs like Carol Bartz of AutoDesk and Ann Iverson of Laura Ashley both informative and inspiring. For each of the ten essential skills, the author provides detailed strategies and techniques that are based on her (and our) vision of a networked, collective business environment. Best of all, there is no moralistic preaching here such as you would find in some of the leading personal success strategy books of the 1990's. Everything is direct, realistic and presented from a plain, no-nonsense business perspective. I have used this book with many of the "early career" executives I coach and to a person, they have thanked me for introducing them to Carr-Ruffino's book. Given the effects of this recessionary economy on all executives' prospects, her advice is more useful than ever. It is a useful tool, as well, for those who want to learn how to practice many of the skills required to create "executive community" in their organizations, instead of remaining as an isolated and turned-off manager.

The Promotable Woman is a must read for women who want to fast-forward their careers. It is full of great tips and ideas for both men and women who are on the fast tract to success. Norma Carr-Ruffino combine's organizational psychology and business savvy into this readable book that should be a handy reference to any woman wanting to get ahead. Carr-Ruffino points out the advantages that women bring to leadership and the skills that make them especially desirable in today's high tech world. Carr-Ruffino asserts that women understand the issues, needs, and wants of others and provide a leadership style that understands issues of diversity.The Promotable Woman is not solely for women but offers a great deal of insights for men as well. The book presents a detailed plan for developing solid leadership skills for both men and women. It provides strategies for improving leadership skills including networking tips, negotiation skills, managing stress and ways to handle difficult people. The skill building exercises and techniques are simple, concise, and easy to follow. It also gives guidance on how to overcome barriers that women often face in the business world. The book explores many stereotypes that women must overcome to be seen as solid leaders. One point Carr-Ruffino makes is how women's self-talk can be both a help and a hindrance in their ability to become more successful. Carr-Ruffino also looks at a wide range of management skills and personal issues. She addresses ways women need to speak and dress for success and ways to assert themselves to be more successful in business. Carr-Ruffino gives guidance in handling myths about women as leaders, sexual harassment issues, and techniques in handling difficult people. She encourages her readers to take a careful inventory of what their goals and vision are and to build a strong support network. This book is very comprehensive and provides a great deal of knowledge and expertise into the corporate world. The Promotable Woman is a must read for anyone, male or female, who is looking for promotion and success in today's corporate world.

The book gives an excellent analysis why talented women do not get promoted: internal misconceptions of appropriate goal settings and their communication (Cinderella syndrome, secretarial syndrome). It can be considered a guide for building the proper working relationships with managers and peers, a skill builder for identifying the sources of negative emotions and channeling them, for preventing and overcoming the stress. Compared to the excellent book by Kate White "Why Good Girls don't Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do", this book is more analytical and more constructive. It presents broader range of problems women face in the working place and gives valuable advice on how to handle them. Compared to "Hardball for women" by Pat Heim and Susan Golant, this book goes from the description of the 'hardball' type management style natural for men to the analysis of the strength and weaknesses of men and women as managers. It presents an analysis of the modern point of view on the strong versus the weak management style. This analysis witnesses the trends in the modern management style which add the 'women type' patterns of communication to the traditional 'hardball' types. A very interesting and useful reading.