Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

Read the book, kindle edition. Superfast delivery. Had a few problems with the concepts though. The term "glass ceiling" is typically meant to refer to an unseen barrier that stops one from achieving a goal that they have. In typical context it is meant to refer to organizations where there seem to be a specific demographic pervasive at upper levels of leadership/management. The sticky floor concept is as the name describes implying there is less of a glass ceiling than one may have thought previously, but rather as a woman that I am somehow unknowingly sabotaging my own efforts to achieve that senior level position. None of the examples utilized in the book resonated with me. I want accuracy and drive towards exceeding goals - but I'm not mired with a perfectionistic tendency which inhibits my career growth. I have learned how to allocate business demands and personal time - and while it's not perfect, it's also not causing me any problems. To me, if this book were written by a man, women all over would be clamoring against the sexist attitudes - it doesn't make it less sexist to me to have the philosophy put forth by a female. I will say that I bought the book out of curiousity having attended a seminar hosted by the author (company sponsored seminar, meaning I wasn't out seminar-shopping and picked this one) and I was flabbergasted that it seemed that Ms. Shambaugh had so little confidence in women in the workplace. I gave the book two stars, because if you do have habits like the ones she identifies in the book (which are not gender-specific by the way - men can be perfectionists as well as women) then she may have strategies to help you overcome those areas. Otherwise, you may just wind up offended.

This book has helped me recognize several factors holding me back in my job position. It is an easy read, with heplful useful information that is practical. I feel I have been able to excel and optimize my skills at my job position by implementing the recommendations outlined in the book. If you are at all doubting your abilities as a manager, and you are a women, this book is a must.

I honestly did not read this book cover to cover. It just couldn't capture 100% of my attention. However, there were some really great points that have definitely stuck in my head. If you have the patience, this is a really great read for women stuck on the lower-end of the totem pole!

This book, although marketed to women, has many things that men can also use as they climb the organizational ladder. Becky Shambaugh stresses the importance of first knowing yourself and then deciding what it is that you want. She peppers the book with many effective personal and professional anecdotes and stories to punctuate her points. This is more than a book. It is a manual for turning your professional life around. The "Sticky Floor" metaphor is a powerful reframe that changes the context of what it is that prevents us from moving up. Barriers are not imposed by anyone except us. Shambaugh does a masterful job of guiding us to put on a new pair of Teflon shoes - non-stick shoes that only we can create for ourselves.

I got to hear Ms. Shambaugh speak recently at a Society of Women Engineers convention I attended. She waswonderful and I look forward to reading her book. Her advice was wonderful for all working women not just executives.

I read this book because it was recommended by a management coach. It has helped me better understand both the behaviors that are keeping me at a certain level of an organization as well as those around me. While written from the perspective of women, it also tackles the very difficult topics that many older professionals run into when no longer able to outwork the younger talent, as we are too busy balancing the stress of being responsible for running a company's business with the increased and different stress of running a family's activities.

So, I am not a woman. However, I work with professional and semi-professional (more staff or operational function, not executive leadership) women, manage some, report to others, and am married to one who has succeeded for over 20 years in a typically male dominated world. In my opinion, while written from the perspective of women, this book is a must read for anyone tapping on the glass, stuck at a certain level, or those who are mentoring and helping others succeed in an organization.

Not only will this book help you better understand some typical strengths and weaknesses of women, it also will help you identify some typical pitfalls and traps that all people can and do fall into. While giving some realistic suggestions to solving most of the "sticky floor"issues, the book is at its best identifying the traps and understanding them. Thus, obviously, again, written by and for women, as a male author would probably have included more ten step "solutions" and prescriptions - a male trait.

This is a "must read" for all women who are working towards a career in business. There are also many concepts and explanations about behaviors and traits that could benefit anyone.