How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business Success [Hardcover]

Margaret Heffernan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 18, 2007

Redefining power and the nature of success for the 21st century.

The numbers are staggering. Between 1997 and 2004, privately held, women-owned businesses grew at three times the rate of all American privately held firms; women’s companies are creating jobs at twice the rate of all firms; women’s companies are growing profits faster than all firms. Five-time CEO and contributor to Real Business and Fast Company Margaret Heffernan asks, Why are these women so successful?

In How She Does It, Heffernan finds a striking congruence between the things that women excel at and the demands of the new economy. After interviewing hundreds of women running businesses of all sizes and in all markets, she discovers a few attributes that hold true across the board. Women have a tremendous need to achieve. Women don’t feel they have a safety net or can turn back. They are smart about markets and timing. They practice diversity. They place values at the heart of their business and take culture very seriously. And women work from a different concept of power than men. The result is a unique style of leadership that challenges conventional wisdom: Soft skills are getting hard results. This is an inspiring workplace manifesto that reveals a new standard of excellence, a new way for any company to get from good to great that is fast becoming the new norm.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Women-run companies are more likely to stay in business than the average U.S. firm, to grow at three times the average rate, create jobs at twice the average rate and produce profits faster, according to former CEO and BBC producer Heffernan. To find out how and why, she interviewed hundreds of women business owners. Although the way her results confirmed stereotypes about gender differences made her queasy, it turned out that women business owners typically possess the characteristics experts think are needed in 21st-century businesses: combining "discipline, focus, detachment, and systematic thinking with playfulness, empathy, and design." She found that many women started their own businesses after working for corporations that didn't respect or listen to them. In charge of their own companies, their abilities to assert their values, nurture their employees and customers, "orchestrate" rather than "command and control," emphasize collaboration rather than competition, stay open to change, ask for help, learn from mistakes and make time for family became a formula for success. Heffernan's tone matches the frenetic pace and idealistic underpinnings of her interviewees' packed lives. Although aspiring entrepreneurs may wish for more specific details, this book inspires hope for a holistic alternative to the profits-only mentality. (Jan. 22)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Heffernan has held up a mirror for women business owners and I predict they will like what they see. -- Susan Phillips Bari, President of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council

I've long called the saga of American women-owned businesses our most under-reported business news story. Margaret Heffernan goes a long way to filling this empty canyon. HOW SHE DOES IT is a great piece of reporting, a great piece of writing--and, simply, one of the most important books, business or otherwise, to come along in many a year. -- Tom Peters

Illuminates the strengths of female-run companies. Will cause light bulbs to go off over the corporate world. -- USA Today

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First edition (January 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670038237
• ISBN-13: 978-0670038237
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,303,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MARGARET HEFFERNAN is an entrepreneur, Chief Executive and author. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge University. She worked in BBC Radio for five years where she wrote, directed, produced and commissioned dozens of documentaries and dramas. As a television producer, she made documentary films for Timewatch, Arena, and Newsnight. She was one of the producers of Out of the Doll's House, the prize-winning documentary series about the history of women in the twentieth century. She designed and executive produced a thirteen part series on The French Revolution for the BBC and A&E. The series featured, among others, Alan Rickman, Alfred Molina, Janet Suzman, Simon Callow and Jim Broadbent and introduced both historian Simon Schama and playwright Peter Barnes to British television. She also produced music videos with Virgin Records and the London Chamber Orchestra to raise attention and funds for Unicef's Lebanese fund.

Leaving the BBC, she ran the trade association IPPA, which represented the interests of independent film and television producers and was once described by the Financial Times as "the most formidable lobbying organization in England."

In 1994, she returned to the United States where she worked on public affair campaigns in Massachusetts and with software companies trying to break into multimedia. She developed interactive multimedia products with Peter Lynch, Tom Peters, Standard & Poors and The Learning Company. She then joined CMGI where she ran, bought and sold leading Internet businesses, serving as Chief Executive Officer for InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and iCAST Corporation. She was named one of the Internet's Top 100 by Silicon Alley Reporter in 1999, one of the Top 25 by Streaming Media magazine and one of the Top 100 Media Executives by The Hollywood Reporter. Her "Tear Down the Wall" campaign against AOL won the 2001 Silver SABRE award for public relations.

In 2004, Margaret published THE NAKED TRUTH: A Working Woman's Manifesto about Business and What Really Matters (Jossey-Bass) and in 2007 she brought out WOMEN ON TOP: How Female Entrepreneurs are Changing the Rules for Business Success. She is Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Simmons College in Boston and Executive in Residence at Babson College. She sits on the Council of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the UK as well as one the boards of several private companies. Margaret blogs for the Huffington Post and BNET and writes for Fast Company, Real Business, MORE, and other magazines around the world. She was recently featured on television in The Secret Millionaire and on radio in Changing the Rules. She is married with two children.

Copyright 2006-2010.
All Rights Reserved.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear look at the components of women's leadership and management style, January 29, 2007

By 

Shubha Chakravarthy (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business Success (Hardcover)

Margaret Heffernan has written her second book after "The Naked Truth" which I found enlightening, encouraging and helpful. In "How She Does It", Heffernan zeroes in on "entrepreneuses" as she calls them in her first book, to better understand how women run their businesses compared to men.

Here are the reasons I think this is a great read:

1. She talks from a position of having "been there, done that" and is able to add a credible commentary and context to the subjects she is talking about, and drawing deeper conclusions that may not have been possible for someone merely reporting on the subject.

2. She is realistic - she is very careful to point out that despite being successful business leaders, these women still face barriers and obstacles with their male colleagues and/or peer group. For example, she talks about a woman who decides to take her business private after she is repeatedly undermined by the traditional white middle aged men on her board, despite her obvious success in growing her company and taking it public.

3. Her analysis is intelligible and concrete - being structured around specific themes where she sees women doing things differently than men. For example, she highlights "value based leadership", as do a lot of business writers these days, but where she distinguises herself, in my opinion, is that she backs up this claim with very specific, concrete examples of day-to-day actions her subjects take (e.g. National Van Lines and their philosophy of training their drivers differently and more thoroughly than the competition, down to being able to talk to individual drivers on a first name basis whenever they visit headquarters), as well as the impact these practices have on a macro level.

This is a great book to read if you want to understand what it takes for a woman to be successful at running a business, while not entirely giving up core parts of your belief system unique to women, and more importantly, derive some encouragement from other successful role models. This is not a how-to book that lays out the twelve steps you need to take to become a successful business leader if you are a woman.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She Does IT .... Well!, January 29, 2007

By 

Susan RoAne "The Mingling Maven" (San Francisco/Bay Area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business Success (Hardcover)

Margaret Hefferman has written the definitive book on women entrepreneurs that is a well-researched and engaging guide to how we do it. She has done it well. Whether you have your own business, are contemplating starting one or just want to learn from those who have succeeded, How She DOes It is the perfect playbook for success---the women's way.
Hefferman's interviews are a goldmine of truths from inspiring women from whom we can learn... to honor ourselves and NOT imitate the male model of business ownership. How She Does It is a fascinating read that made me feel proud of the women forging the future of business.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy read coupled with fascinating stories, August 8, 2008

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business Success (Hardcover)

If you're expecting a feminist manifesto here, you won't find it. Margaret Heffernan, CEO of five companies, lets stories do the talking as she shows how women manage their businesses and break new ground. In fact, whether you're male or female, your business can benefit from the principles of these entrepreneurs. Anyone with an open mind can adopt the book's key points, attitudes and cultural guidelines, as reflected in an array of educational and often humorous stories. getAbstract thinks Heffernan's cast of female business leaders points entrepreneurs in the right direction and offers plenty of ideas to consider while on the road to success.