What's Holding You Back 8 Critical Choices For Women's Success [Hardcover]

Linda Gong Austin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2000

“Many women will never reach the point where a door bangs in their face because they’ve already slipped out a side exit.”--from the introduction to What’s Holding You Back?Most books about women’s ambition talk about society’s glass ceiling, that infamous external barrier to achievement. This groundbreaking book is the first to explore the psychological glass ceiling—the invisible but powerful thoughts and feelings that stand in the way of real achievement.After thirty years of feminism, women continue to underachieve, occupying only ten percent of top-level managerial and professional positions. And significant achievement—influential woman leaders and visionaries—is rarer still. The reason, argues this bold and inspiring new book, lies in the self-imposed psychological glass ceiling, which influences every decision women make in their lives. What’s Holding You Back? charts women’s unique pathways to achievement and examines eight critical choices that determine their ultimate level of accomplishment.The Eight Critical Choices that Lead to Success: channeling motivation and turning it into real action learning to take risks (unlearning that rough play in the sandbox is wrong for girls) and embracing confidence and optimism in the boardroom moving from problem fixing (a typical female skill) to problem finding (a crucial component of success) focusing on purposeful self-evaluation and avoiding self-blame learning to compete in hierarchies (more anxiety-producing for women than individual competition) rebounding from failure and not taking it personally mastering the art of dealing with difficult people and accepting that negative feelings from others comes with the territory of “doing business” harnessing women’s greatest strength—the capacity for connection—as a powerful tool of achievement From the pages of What’s Holding You Back?, the voices of women from all walks of life speak to the challenges and triumphs of a commitment to productive ambition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Over the course of the past three decades, the phrase "glass ceiling" has entered virtually every discussion on women in the professional workplace. The phrase has become entrenched in our vernacular as the barrier it refers to--lower salary levels for women than their male counterparts, a limit on their responsibilities, and fewer promotions to positions of real power--has proven to be a disappointingly prevalent aspect of corporate life. However, as Linda Austin convincingly demonstrates in What's Holding You Back?, it's nowhere near as career and life defining as the barrier women have unconsciously erected in their own minds.

Austin points out more than half of all undergraduate and postgraduate degrees are granted to women, but notes men are still nine times more likely to reach the highest levels of professional achievement. In other words, the intelligence is obviously there, and the initial drive to do well is evident, but something slows women down on their way to the top. Tripped up by psychological blocks that have been reinforced by culture and society, many women are unable to see themselves as great achievers, Austin argues. Instead of nurturing ambition and pursuing greatness, they shy away from stepping outside the boundary of ingrained behavior patterns--patterns that compel them to "cooperate but not initiate; produce but not invent; participate but not lead; reflect but not create." Austin presents these patterns of behavior, which she identifies as eight distinct, psychological issues united by the feminine drive to affiliate with others, as the countless daily choices women make that radically affect their professional success. These behaviors include examining and fully understanding one's motivation; learning where and how to invest one's energy and focus one's intelligence; employing one's competitive drive productively and efficiently; managing relationships in order to support one's accomplishments and deal effectively with adversaries; and, of course, recognizing how best to channel one's preferred style of dealing in the universal currency of power.

Austin's observations as a psychotherapist and medical professor are fascinating, as are the included findings of other renowned researchers and writers in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. She provides case studies of women in a wide range of occupations and offers explanations and encouragement in a tone that is never condescending, often eye opening, and always inspiring. A stimulating read. --S. Ketchum

From Publishers Weekly

Well-crafted and accessible, this study of the psychology of female ambition is sure to spark discussion about women's choices and the way society allocates power. A psychiatry professor and host of the nationally syndicated talk show What's On Your Mind? Austin points to figures showing that, despite 30 years of feminism, women generally have not attained the same levels of leadership as men when it comes to doctoral degrees and top-level jobs. Prompted by the attitudes of her students at the Medical University of South Carolina--where women tend to express their ambitions in multidimensional terms (i.e., to be great mothers and doctors) while men usually have a singular purpose (to be great physicians)--Austin began to research what "psychological issues most determined [women's] ability to achieve" success. This book combines her findings with abbreviated historical examples and some contemporary cases. Austin identifies eight factors that determine whether women will attain positions of power, and she suggests several reasons why women who are highly empathetic or nurturing hit what she calls the "psychological glass ceiling." Among the solutions she recommends are clarifying one's values and writing a vision statement, and carefully analyzing where to focus one's intelligence and other resources. Such advice might be appreciated by women interested in careers or lives that follow a single path, but not by those who want to change the definition of success. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (April 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465032621
• ISBN-13: 978-0465032624
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,928,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you could be doing more with your life, read this book!, April 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: What's Holding You Back 8 Critical Choices For Women's Success (Hardcover)

"What's Holding You Back" is the most interesting and motivating book I've read since attending college 20 years ago. Dr. Austin provides strategies for women to achieve their dreams, without undermining motherhood. As a former marketing professional and current at-home mom (the last eight years) it's given me the motivation I've needed to stop worrying about all the barriers and rather focus on taking the steps now to achieving my goals.

Dr. Austin explores the differences between men's and women's roles in the family and society and how this shapes women's self-esteem and expectations for achievement. She then offers a practical step-by-step plan for accomplishing your goals. The book is filled with inspiring and amusing stories of famous and not-so-famous women who achieved their goals despite overwhelming obstacles. Whatever your background or age, you'll know "if they can do it, I can do it!".

Regarding her appearance on "Oprah" last week, Dr. Austin was the most intelligent and charismatic psychiatrist Oprah has had. It was fascinating to see how Dr. Austin "zeroed-in" on the conflicts of each guest and provided an insightful and meaningful solution that each woman could use to improve her life. Unfortunately, in one hour they only touched the surface of her book. I hope Dr. Austin will return for a more comprehensive interview.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This gifted woman helps others achieve their dreams!, October 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: What's Holding You Back 8 Critical Choices For Women's Success (Hardcover)

I have been enthusiastically recommending this book to every woman in my peer group ever since I read it. Before I quit my job, I was a lawyer , but I also had a family that needed me at home. I was perpetually struggling to find a middle ground, to be taken seriously at work, to meet the needs of my family. I know the issues Austin discusses are real! I wish I had read the book at the beginning of my career rather than wait until I was discouraged and had already opted out of the workplace. But, when I was starting my career in the early `80's, there were no such books as this. Austin is a trailblazer, a creative thinker who wrote this book to help other women, and I thank her. My attorney friends have been very enthusiastic about the book when I recommended it, but I was surprised that some women in more "traditionally feminine" careers were put off by the "woman's libber" implication of the title, and they refused to read it. Please, don't make that mistake! Austin doesn't try to say that a woman has to fit into the same career mold as a man, nor define achievement the same way, either. In that sense, this book breaks the mold of many books about women's achievement. Austin's goal is not to give tips about how to fit into a man's world. Instead, she gives a map and compass that a woman can use to navigate her own path. A truly empowering book, it convinced me that many of my personal attributes that had sabotaged me in the workplace were, in fact, assets which I could uniquely appreciate and exploit to forge my own, creative career solutions. I think the ideal, target audience for this book is a woman who is gifted, educated, and who really wants to achieve but who doesn't quite know how to overcome the special obstacles that women typically must confront. These obstacles include things like (a chapter devoted to each of the following): the goals we choose (or don't choose) for ourselves to begin with, having self confidence even when no one encourages us, taking risks even when it's uncomfortable, focusing talents even when that means forgoing other possibilities, taking positions of leadership even if it feels like we are neglecting daily tasks, competing head to head with others, dealing with distractions, coping with failure, and wielding power. I'm not a fan of "self help" books, but I could relate with personal examples to every single issue Austin explores in her book. Her book encouraged me enough, personally, that I'm going to give it a go again in law practice, but this time on my own terms and in a way that is more true to my own values. Finally, for those intellectuals among us, this book is well enough researched and documented that, if it had footnotes, it could have been published as a scholarly text in the psychology of gifted and/or achieving women. But it doesn't read in a stilted way. It reads conversationally and easily, much like Austin's radio talk show that I listen to on S.C. Educational Radio. I honestly believe this book is a "must-read" for any woman who has experienced career frustration and who wants to set and meet goals for herself in life in a way that will be authentic to fulfilling her dream of who she wants to be as a person and as an achiever.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book...enhances resilience, in finding life's passion., April 6, 2000

By 

"el-lei" - See all my reviews

This review is from: What's Holding You Back 8 Critical Choices For Women's Success (Hardcover)

One discovers the keys to uncover your dream job. You can with the author's tips, discover your life's work. The author gradually coaxes you out of your shell, with steps to encourage you to keep on the path of discovery. She teaches you how to rebound, when the " going gets tough "and how to stay focused. Steps are discussed regarding how to face challenges, take risks, and enhance your resilience to continue on the journey. It is never to late to discover your passion, what it is YOU were meant to do, to arrive at your dream job, to use your talent not wake up one day, wondering..if only or I wish i had done .........this book will enhance YOU!