The Girls' Guide to Power and Success [Hardcover]

Susan Wilson Solovic (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2001

Like it or not, men still dominate corporate America. This passionate, straight-talking guide shows women how to achieve personal power and career success by playing a man's game without sacrificing their femininity. This book advocates a positive, practical approach that integrates feminine, right-brain savvy with traditional masculine characteristics of assertiveness and directness - to help women mould themselves into formidable competitors. It helps women break past the barriers imposed from both "outside" (stereotypes, societal pressures) and "inside" (family messages, self-preception), and should have wide appeal, balancing hard-hitting advice with humour, warmth and fascinating stories from a cross-section of women across the country. "The Girls' Guide to Power and Success" bridges the career/self-help genre with its powerful guidance for getting ahead and penetating insights into self-defeating behaviours.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you've ever wished you had a mentor in the business world, a seasoned, insightful female colleague who could dole out good advice as well as battle stories, you'll find a friend in Susan Wilson Solovic's The Girls' Guide to Power and Success, a snappy, dead-on look at the ways in which working women devalue themselves and get taken less seriously than men.

Drawing on quotes from successful executives and entrepreneurs, the author addresses issues from leadership style to personal charisma to financial planning. Some of the topics are standard women's magazine fare, such as how to handle sexual harassment, or how to learn to trust your feminine intuition, but some are far less predictable, including how to recognize a glass ceiling, even if your title includes the term vice president.

By far the best material here is on gender differences in communication and body language; Solovic offers concrete advice on avoiding the not-so-subtle signals of weakness that women unintentionally give to their male colleagues and bosses. One executive, Barbara Wilson, for instance, explains how she learned to cut extraneous, chatty detail when she spoke and wrote for men: "You don't want your audience to feel like they're drinking from a fire hose." Solovic's arguments will ring true for women in business, college women, and especially would-be entrepreneurs, who would do well to brace themselves with the savvy Girls' Guide. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

Attorney and consultant Solovic thinks that many women employees still receive second-class treatment, and that it's up to individual women to change this situation by rising up the corporate ladder and getting paid what they're worth. Offering sound advice, she counsels her readers on learning how to, for example, negotiate effectively, dress appropriately and find mentors, essentially echoing women's success books of the past 20 years.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1st edition (May 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814405894
• ISBN-13: 978-0814405895
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,204,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Wilson Solovic is an award-winning small business advocate, journalist, author and entrepreneur. Solovic is CEO and co-founder of ItsYourBiz.com (formerly SBTV.com). She is a best-selling author who has completed her fifth book, Its Your Biz, launching October 2011. Solovic is also a sought-after keynote speaker, as well as a small-business contributor for ABC News, Fox Business and many more. It's Your Biz with Susan Solovic is a nationally syndicated radio program which she invites leading entrepreneurial experts from across the country to share their unique perspectives on the world of small business. In addition to television and radio appearances, Solovic is a featured blogger on numerous sites, including Huffington Post, WSJ.com, and Fast Company. She has written three additional bestselling books including: The Girls' Guide to Power and Success, Reinvent Your Career and The Girls' Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business. Solovic received the Institute for Women's Entrepreneurship Leader of Distinction Award, and was the first recipient of AT&T's Innovator of the Year Award for being a pioneer in a new industry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reading -Especially for Young Professionals, April 21, 2003

By 

J. Pickett "chronic_reader" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Girls' Guide to Power & Success (Hardcover)

(The word "girls'" in the title is misleading, since this book is for women.) I found this book enlightening and helpful, especially for younger women just beginning their careers. Each chapter was inspirational, and encouraged me to be an informed, powerful, and successful woman.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Telling It Like It Really Is, June 14, 2001

By 

Kathryn Wood (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girls' Guide to Power and Success (Hardcover)

After years of suffering from subtle discrimination (and feeling guilty because my instincts told me it was happening, but my socialized conscience said, "Shame on you for even thinking it!"), how refreshing it is to find a young author willing to not only admit gender discrimination occurs, but gives concrete suggestions for combatting the disease.

The writing is easy to read, gives specific examples (which I compared to my own experiences with eye-opening results)and is thought-provoking, to say the least. I recommend this book for any woman who has experienced gender discrimination -- it will help you cope more effectively, with positive results both career-wise and personally.

More importantly, I recommend this book to any woman who thinks she has not been discriminated against because of her gender. Chances are, she is inadvertently championing the discrimination cause. As Ms. Solovic points out, in many ways, women are their own worst enemies. It's time we recognized it, and work together to stop it.

I added this book to my company library, and made it recommended reading for every manager (male and female) in my organization.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read for Women Striving to Reach Their Personal Best, June 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Girls' Guide to Power and Success (Hardcover)

If you are a women interested in maximizing your career success and increasing your personal power and self esteem, this is the book for you! Susan Solovic does an amazing job of combining real world examples of women who have done just that - from overcoming obstacles and trials to making a name for themselves because of their tenacity and passion for power and success. Women of all ages, you too can enjoy this career success and this book is a great starting point! Enjoy it - I sure did!