Creating Women's Networks: A How-To Guide for Women and Companies (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) [Paperback]

Catalyst (Author), Sheila W. Wellington (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 11, 1998 | Series: Jossey-Bass Business & Management

Discover a dynamic new force in leadership development. This remarkable guide shows companies exactly how they can better retain and increase leadership talent through the establishment of women's networks--networks that link specific female employee concerns and larger organizational goals in ways that bolster the bottom line. Based on the cutting-edge research of Catalyst--America's foremost nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of women in business--this guide explains why women's networks are valuable. It shows how companies large and small have leveraged women's networks to their advantage. And it provides a detailed framework readers can follow to create a network within their organization. Charged with first-person success stories, it will prove invaluable to executives and managers concerned with decreasing turnover, increasing employee satisfaction, and optimizing the leadership potential of their entire work force.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Creating Women's Networks is a comprehensive manual for female employees who truly want to accomplish as much as possible in corporate America, and employers of either gender who honestly want their entire workforce to be the best that it can be. Based on a variety of extensive studies conducted over the past 15 years by Catalyst--a respected non-profit research and advisory group "dedicated to helping women achieve their full professional potential and showing businesses how to capitalize on those talents"--it examines successful women's groups that are operating today in companies such as Kimberly-Clark, Texas Instruments, Kodak, and Dow Chemical, and offers detailed instructions for both creating new ones and increasing the effectiveness of those already in existence. Filled with checklists, charts, breakout points, and first-person suggestions that turn the advice into a hands-on program, the book follows the life cycle of the very organizations it helps to define. The first section, for example, lays out all critical initial steps like understanding the company environment, building support, and actually getting underway. The second deals with ongoing maintenance, focusing on ways to keep the coalition on track and tackle challenges that inevitably develop. --Howard Rothman

Review

"Many successful networks learn the hard way. This book contains the secrets for growing a network and creating and managing a powerful advisory relationship with your company. And you'll avoid the pitfalls along the way. I wish I'd had this book when we started our network!" (Sue Burke,, president, Women's Forum of Kodak Employees)

"Starting a networking group can be relatively easy; however, sustaining the positive momentum that such a group generates is a very complex and difficult problem. Catalyst has provided us with a wonderful resource for starting a group and meeting its longer-term challenges as well." (Mona Lau, managing director, globalization and diversity, Banker's Trust)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (December 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787940143
• ISBN-13: 978-0787940140
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book tells you everything you need to know., May 24, 1999

By 

[e-mail] or Marianne Pardoe (Peterborough, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Women's Networks: A How-To Guide for Women and Companies (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Paperback)

I wish I had this book last May (98') when we started our Women's Mentoring Network at work. The good thing is after we read it we realized we had done alot of the right things. If you haven't started your network yet or want to compare how you're doing with other companies this is the book you need to read.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to...and Why, January 4, 2001

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Creating Women's Networks: A How-To Guide for Women and Companies (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Paperback)

In the Introduction, we are told that "Women's networks are a phenomenon that grew out of the overlapping need of companies to reach out to the women in their organization and the critical need of women to reach out to each other." Enlightened employers recognize that both needs are immensely important. Here is a book which does indeed provide a "How-To Guide to Women and Companies." Part One explains how to design and implement a women's network. Part Two explains how to extend and strengthen that network. Then the reader is provided with a wealth of Resources which include "Catalyst's Summary Findings from The Women's Workplace Network Survey" and examples of successful women's networks (Dow Chemical, Bausch & Lomb, Kodak, and Kimberly- Clark). Of special value to the reader is a series of charts (eg Chart 4.2, "Support Continuum: Middle Management") and Checklists (one per each of the seven chapters) which, together, provide just about all anyone would need to design, implement, strengthen, and (yes) defend a successful women's network.