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The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss (Without Being a Bitch): Valuable Lessons, Smart Suggestions, and True Stories for Succeeding as the Chick-in-Charge [Hardcover]

Caitlin Friedman , Kimberly Yorio
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)


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Book Description

April 18, 2006
So, you finally got that promotion. You’re the boss now. The supervisor. The manager. The captain. The taskmaster. Those days of taking orders, running errands, and clock-watching are over. As exciting as all this might seem, once the rush of the promotion is over, you might be scratching your head wondering exactly what to do. Being the boss is never easy, but it's twice as hard for a woman. It seems like there's no middle ground. Either you're the dragon lady who rules with an iron fist or the mousey girl who gets drowned out at every meeting. When a woman wields authority and dares to make tough decisions, how often is the "B-word" bandied about by her employees? How can she strike that balance between pushover and dictator?

Fear not. You can do the job. All you need is a little helpful advice to send you on your way. Whether you supervise two as a shift manager or lord over an entire corporate empire, Caitlin Friedman and Kim Yorio will show you how to step gracefully into your new position of power. They’ll teach you how to motivate your team without alienating them, how to delegate without feeling guilty, how to deal with office politics and how to handle evaluations, promotions, and even firings. And for those of you who are already running the show, they can help you become the mentor your employees deserve.

Inside, there are self-assessment questionnaires to help you find out where you land on the bitch or wimp scale; interviews with prominent female bosses, human-resources directors, and therapists; and advice from a whole host of experts. In addition, there are funny and informative checklists and tips to make sure you’re the Good Witch around the office and not the Big Bitch. And, most important, Caitlin and Kim will teach you the secrets to owning your role and loving it. You’ve earned your promotion, so enjoy it!


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio offer advice for "both the leader and the led" in this entertaining and useful guidebook for today's working woman. Through quizzes, personal anecdotes, and interviews, Friedman and Yorio help readers to identify their leadership style and share support and encouragement from experts to help women become better (and more comfortable) leaders. Want to know more? Check out Friedman and Yorio's "Top 5 Reasons to Buy This Book" for the inside scoop.


Top 5 Reasons to Buy The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss (Without Being a Bitch)

1. You just got promoted.
Yikes! Nobody ever taught you to be a manager. Your role models have been less than fabulous and you want to be better. We teach you how to be more mentor than manager. We show you how to be firm but fair. Armed with our book, you will learn how to get the best out of your employees.

2. Most management books put you to sleep.
No jargon and no need for an MBA. The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss Without Being a Bitch is a fun read that offers information without intimidation and includes all the advice you need to learn to lead, inspire and motivate. We include quizzes, tips, checklists and fun sidebars such as "Celluloid Bitches," and "The Girl’s Guide to Gossip" throughout.

3. Your manager is crazy.
You're not alone. In our "Good Witch/Big Bitch" boxes we share both the horrible and the heroic--stories from women from around the country who have seen it all and learned their lessons.

4. You're not a manager…yet!
Unlike most management books we speak to both leaders and the led. We offer tips and suggestions for dealing with issues such as micromanagement, taking credit for ideas, managing up to get the promotion, office politics and taking responsibility for mistakes.

5. Don't take just our word for it....
Good management is a life-long pursuit. We'd be foolish to believe we know it all, so to help us fill in the blanks we got on the phone with women from all over the country. We include interviews with coaches, human resource directors, other writers, supervisors, the supervised, mediators, and social workers to get their take on the challenges and opportunities of being the chick-in-charge.



From Publishers Weekly

Since the early 1980s, studies have shown that the techniques utilized by successful men in leadership roles do not have the same effects when practiced by women in similar contexts. It is commonly known that when a woman behaves like her male counterpart, she is often negatively labeled as cold, tough, etc. In addition, women have fewer female role models to whom they can turn for advice and assistance. Friedman and Yorio help readers through this dilemma by compiling personal anecdotes, pop culture references and an array of interviews with female leaders in various fields in an attempt to offer the support and encouragement women need to excel as leaders. The authors state that the patience, strength, wisdom, resourcefulness and nurturance that society cultivates in women might actually make females better managers than males. The book is filled with numerous examples of management styles as well as quizzes to determine if the reader is a "Good Witch" or a "Bad Bitch" with regard to her own leadership skills. Leaders of any gender will find solace in reading these stories from the trenches and may learn some new tips to improve on their own leadership skills as well. (Apr. 4)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Business; First Edition edition (April 18, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0767922840
  • ISBN-13: 978-0767922845
  • Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #773,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Girls Guide is always on Caitlin's mind. She's constantly coming up with new ways to make the Girls Guide more relevant and helpful to women who work. The evolution of the Girls Guide from one book to four and now this web-site has been under her creative direction for the past three years. Not that she figures out complicated mathematical problems on her way to sleep. But rather, she can't seem to turn it off and will find herself lying there thinking about where they can take Girls Guide next, another children's book she should write or the dialog from some guilty pleasure movie.

In the daylight hours Caitlin and Kim run a food-focused PR business called YC Media and have written four books to help women achieve professional success:

The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business
The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss without Being a Bitch
The Girl's Guide to Kicking Your Career Into Gear
Happy at Work, Happy at Home (coming out September 2009).

Whenever possible, Caitlin and Kim speak to women about the importance of building self-confidence at work by being yourself and have appeared on national television including the Today Show multiple times, and in magazines including Time and Real Simple.

Caitlin is married to writer Andrew Friedman and the mother of twins. She loves chick-lit, most everything on television, great bbq and an uninterrupted bath that lasts at least an hour.

Customer Reviews

I would recommend this book to both new and experienced managers. Jan  |  8 reviewers made a similar statement
So if this book helps people in that situation, it's doing a good thing. Lisa Shea  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Female manager May 22, 2006
By Reader
Format:Hardcover
As a first time manager, I was thrilled to see advertisement for this book. It really was the title that attracted me to it. I was delighted to learn that my intuition about my employees behavior was not my imagination, and this book nailed it. It was interesting to read about people behavior, gossip, reluctunce of male counterparts to cooperate in workplace. This easy to read book was pure blessing with its down to earth advice and excellent reference index. Once I finished reading this book, I was able to continue my management education thru referring to other book materials that address leadership issues and what is means to be a female manager. This is great book for both managers and employees. It does not matter is you work in corporate world or you own your business. Advice from this book applies to all work environments.
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29 of 34 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Some Valuable Advice - and Some Things to Ignore April 8, 2008
Format:Paperback
The full name of this book is The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss (Without Being a Bitch). The title bothers me - it seems a marketing ploy to catch people's attention while perpetuating a stereotype which is more suitable to the 1980s than the current decade. There are thousands of great female bosses out there. Over half of all graduate students are female. I've worked for many companies and never have had a problem because I'm female - or had a problem with females in management.

That being said, I know many women have trouble in a position of power - and I know that some people still have an issue with women being *in* power. Heck, there are still people around who look down on people for having dark skin. So if this book helps people in that situation, it's doing a good thing.

One indicator of the mindset of the authors is that the book is about 200 pages long - but they explain that they originally had a chapter on "why being a boss sucks" and that one chapter ALONE was over 200 pages and had to be drastically trimmed. What an awful attitude to have!! That's like having a book for moms with a gigantic chapter on "why being a mom sucks". As we all know, the things you focus on end up being the things that take over your life. If you focus on all the awful things about being a boss, that is not a healthy way of living. Heck, why not choose a different career path then, one that does not involve management, if you truly hate being a boss so much? Some people simply are more happy not having control over others. That is fine.

I'm not saying that you should ignore the challenges of being a boss. Certainly, there are challenges! But they are simply skills you need to learn to master, not "being a boss sucks" situations.

What are some of the challenges?
... Read more ›
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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Not a lot of practical advice January 8, 2007
Format:Hardcover
I was excited about this book, as its subject matter addressed an issue I've struggled with recently--transitioning to being someone's boss.

I was disappointed. It made a lot of solid statements, but didn't give a lot of good advice on how to implement their suggestions. For example, the authors stated that many women cry at work, and one should never be seen crying. But the book offers no suggestions on how to prevent yourself from crying as a reaction to difficult suggestions, right after saying it is a problem a lot of women face. Same with handling the difficulty of giving negative feedback to someone--they say it is a hard thing for many people to do, but don't offer much in the way of how to overcome that difficulty.

Hopefully someone else will write an improved version of this, with real, tangible advice.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy, Fun & Inspiring reading April 20, 2006
Format:Hardcover
I related to this book on many levels. I'm not only a woman who owns her own business, but I have several female Managers who report to me. This book reminded me of the self-doubt that I experienced early on in my career and the long process of creating a management style that I am both proud of and comfortable with. It inspired me to become a better mentor to those who work for me.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Bitches, man April 19, 2006
Format:Hardcover
I bet any woman in the workforce will not only have female bosses from hell stories, but will also be able to recount times when they've been accused of attitude when that really was not the case. Is it possible for a woman to be powerful without being a bitch? Yes. Is it always the case that nice girls don't get the corner office? Not at all. Is this hard thing to pull off? Most definitely. But this new book makes it much easier with sound advice, true stories from an array of businesswomen, and tips for how to be a good (and successful)"chick-in-charge." And with more women working, more female bosses and more chiquitas owning businesses than ever before, it's a necessary book.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Practical advice for women leaders August 11, 2006
Format:Hardcover
The Girls Guide to Being a Boss (without being a bitch) is a down-to-earth guidebook for women in leadership positions. It is written how we might talk amongst friends, in a straightforward manner. The bulleted lists, succinct paragraphs, personal anecdotes, and interviews with women leaders made the book a quick read.

By the conclusion of the book, I realized the authors' goal was to empower women to inspire other women by becoming a role model. That is so important, because, even in 2006, there are very few great female leaders that women can look up to or turn to for advice. None of the literature I have read on leadership quotes women leaders or mentions a great woman leader. Perhaps it is because so many of them become "the bitch" or take on a male persona. Both are equally ineffective. Women have innate qualities, such as good interpersonal skills, that naturally make them good leaders. It's a matter of harnessing the skills women already have to make them work to their advantage.

This book is for those looking for practical and applicable suggestions of what to do and what not to do as a woman leader.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars The book for every boss
This book has been my holy bible when I was just starting out. I worked in an office where everyone were women, so imagine the hormones around. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kei
4.0 out of 5 stars A College Student Loves the Guidance
As I am about to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh I read this book to possibly give me some guidance and how to make it as a woman in a men's business world. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Kristyn Marie Spanik
5.0 out of 5 stars Girl's Guide To Being a Boss
I am glad I purchased this online. I saved money. It was a good price and came quick. All around good experience!
Published 10 months ago by Candice
4.0 out of 5 stars Great, universal book!
I don't even work in the corporate world, I work at a state park. The vast majority of the examples and information still applied to me, although a small percentage did not. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ranger
5.0 out of 5 stars awesome, must read book! Buy it now!!!!
I have to tell you I have been on both sides. I am a Therapist with a MA degree and was a manager. I am writing with honesty so please read on and respect my opinion. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Lynne M. LaBianca
1.0 out of 5 stars it's all case , boring!
it's all case studies, nothing special about it, if you are looking for direct advice this is not the book, but if you like short stories and case studies then this is it... Read more
Published on January 28, 2011 by N
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun book for leadership
This is a fun quirky yet serious book on being the chick-in-charge. This book takes you through journeys, interviews, and scenarios to assist you in your new leadership roles,... Read more
Published on December 22, 2010 by Jacindha
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent business manual for women
I really enjoyed this book, which is an engaging and comprehensive book about women in management. It offers tons of practical advice and is never boring. Read more
Published on July 24, 2010 by Melissa Niksic
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good examples and insight
Very Good book, it re-enforces what we as women already know but take for granted. I like the fact that it helps to dis-spelled the myth that women have to taken on the masculine... Read more
Published on June 13, 2010 by G. Hudson
5.0 out of 5 stars The Girls Guide to "How to be a Boss without Being a Bitch"
Thank you. I am very satisfied with the product purchase of this book. It sure is funny and has a great amount of tips on what to look out in any job situation and is not always... Read more
Published on August 5, 2009 by E. Garibovic
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