It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's a Sticky Floor: Free Yourself From the Hidden Behaviors Sabotaging Your Career Success (Hardcover)

~ Rebecca Shambaugh (Author)
Key Phrases: sticky floor, making your words, Glass Ceiling, Making Your Words Count, Forming Your Own Board of Directors (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Forget the old boys' club: women are the ones holding themselves back from top-level career success, advises Shambaugh, president and CEO of consulting firm Shambaugh Leadership. Though more businesswomen are in successful positions of power, they are still lagging behind men at the highest levels: more than a third of Fortune 500 managers and more than half of those with multidisciplinary master's degrees are women, yet women hold only 13% of Fortune 500 CEO positions. This lack of forward motion is due more substantially to women's own career-inhibiting behavior than to cultural impediments, Shambaugh claims. Women are more likely than men to shy away from leadership roles, to get bogged down in perfectionism and to avoid career-boosting changes out of a misplaced sense of loyalty. Through a series of exercises and self-appraisals, Shambaugh guides readers with executive suite aspirations through an evaluation of their own behaviors and skills, gauging which serve their ambitions and which are holding them back. Emphasizing strategic relationships, communication and the elements of executive presence, she writes in an encouraging tone with a refreshing lack of blame, making this a satisfying read for women stuck in middle management limbo. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

Turn the top 7 career breakers for women into career makers

Statistically, more than one-third of Fortune 500 managers are women-and yet we represent barely five percent of the top earners among executives. Usually, we blame it on men-those “old boy” networks that don't typically welcome women into “the club.” But, according to leadership coach Rebecca Shambaugh, the real obstacle to women's advancement is not a “glass ceiling.” It's the self-imposed career blocks that prevent us from moving up.

These are the 7 “sticky floors”:

1. Balancing Your Work and Life

2. Embracing “Good Enough” in Your Work

3. Making the Break

4. Making Your Words Count

5. Forming Your Own Board of Directors

6. Capitalizing on Your Political Savvy

7. Asking for What You Want

Admit it: You've probably been “stuck” in at least one or more of these situations. Maybe you're a perfectionist who has trouble letting go of a task. Maybe you're so loyal to your company that you haven't explored other career options. Maybe you're afraid of speaking up in meetings. Or maybe you're so accommodating to others' needs that you never take care of your own.

This book will show you how to get unstuck from these common traps. You'll discover how other successful women have managed to break out of middle management jobs to grab the top leadership positions. You'll hear hard-won advice from working mothers who also happen to be CEOs, including proven tricks of the trade when it comes to juggling career and family. You'll learn how to conquer your insecurities, transform your thinking, tailor your behavior, and demand the kind of professional recognition you deserve. There's even a section of fill-in charts and checklists at the end of the book to help you stay on track, in control, and on the rise.

Once you've freed yourself from life's sticky floors, there's nowhere to go but up.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071493948
• ISBN-13: 978-0071493949
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #295,346 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Any Leader, October 17, 2007

By	Executive Summit Members "CIC" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's a Sticky Floor: Free Yourself From the Hidden Behaviors Sabotaging Your Career Success

Awesome toolbox, particularly for women who find themselves trying to figure out how to break into the "C-suite" and truly be corporate leaders. Easy to read and very accessible for many future references. Successful leaders will find a dog-eared version of "Sticky Floor" in their continuous reading pile!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stick To It, November 25, 2007

By	Carol Kozloski - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For a change, practical insight with action steps to take to "un-stick" oneself. It's about time we take a hard look at what holds us back (usually ourselves). Shambaugh's style makes this a read a breeze. Shambaugh takes time to provide excellent examples from real life. If you don't read any other business book this year (or next)...You should read this one. Rare to find a book centered on leadership development that focuses on action women can take to make a big difference; not just restating the obvious.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book for career development, June 8, 2009

By	G. Boulden - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's not a glass ceiling; it's a sticky floor is a fantastic book for
anyone interested in career development, especially where they aspire
to a senior executive position. The book is written (as the title
implies) primarily for women but most (if not all) the messages apply
equally as well to men. The central premise is that career development
starts by really knowing what you want and what your strengths ,
weaknesses, values, desires and motivations are. Once you know what
success looks like for you and what sort of person you are you can
then start to act to develop your career. In this book the emphasis is
very much on understanding what it takes to move into a leadership
role. The author highlights seven topics which need to be mastered in
order to win a leadership position and in her view it is these areas
that hold you back when you don't address them correctly - the 'sticky
floors' of the title. The areas are: managing you time to achieve some
kind of work/life balance; having a career plan and willingly moving
jobs to implement it; looking at the big picture; having a diverse
network of contacts; understanding company politics; communicating
clearly and with impact; negotiating for what you want. There are
numerous exercises as you go through the book so there is lots of
practical help on 'how to' address the seven topics and there are also
plenty of real life examples contained within the pages including
many from the authors personal experiences of life in corporate
America and building her own business.