Swim with the Dolphins: How Women Can Succeed in Corporate America on Their Own Terms [Paperback]

Connie Glaser (Author), Barbara Steinberg Smalley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1996

Based on interviews with female managers, and featuring helpful charts and lists, this intelligent blueprint for managerial achievement presents new techniques for success in corporate America that rely on traditional "feminine" strengths--nurturing, caring, motivating and other characteristics that empower managers and help employees thrive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drawing on interviews with more than 200 female managers, the authors explore how traditional "feminine" virtues can be assets in the business world.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In October 1996, Catalyst, a nonprofit research group, reported that only ten percent of the top jobs in the nation's 500 largest companies were held by women. The fundamental premise behind this work aims to help women succeed in corporate America on their own terms. Drawing on many other works in this already saturated genre, the authors, who also collaborated on More Power to You (Warner, 1992), offer little new information, packaging their ideas in the once cute dolphin metaphor that quickly grows wearying. Emerging from the "sharks" mentality of the 1980s, the authors suggest that women draw upon their strengths and unique qualities, their supposed "dolphin" traits, to take pride in their femininity, seize the moment, and succeed in business without selling out. The fall-back here is to quote psychobabble from the prolific popular business works that fill the shelves, and the authors use just about every hot management guru's cliche and jargon term, resulting in a work that will appeal only to newly appointed women managers with little executive experience and, especially, little acquaintance with the pop management books referenced here. This work would be more appropriate if summarized in a 50-minute presentation in a human resource or training conference, or in a short article in professional journals. Recommended only for public libraries and only upon request.?Dale Farris, Groves, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446671843
• ISBN-13: 978-0446671842
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,143,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swimming Together in the Corporate Blender, December 31, 1999

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Swim with the Dolphins: How Women Can Succeed in Corporate America on Their Own Terms (Paperback)

Swim with the Dolphins is one of the most valuable books executives can read as they attempt to understand which strategies for interpersonal relations will be most effective during the new century. Co-authored by Connie Glaser and Barbara Steinberg Smalley (and published by Warner Books), Dolphins explains "how women can succeed in corporate America on their own terms."There are dozens of checklists throughout Dolphins which are of practical and immediate value. Also insightful profiles of women who have succeeded in business. No two are the same, of course, but they tended to face (and overcome) the same barriers. I suggest that Dolphins be read in combination with Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management (published by Harvard Business School Press) because Drucker's various essays provide a rock-solid framework within which to apply the wealth of information and wisdom which Glaser and Smalley so generously provide in Dolphins. To a significant extent, this is a "what to do...what not to do" guide for women who are determined to succeed in corporate America. For that reason alone, it is a stunning achievement. But I think the book's importance transcends narrowly-defined (albeit legitimate) gender issues. There is much that all of us, male or female, can learn from Dolphins. And there is much for all of us, male or female, to do. For example, eliminating all of the barriers to success for women in corporate America. Most of them are illegal and all of them are unconscionable.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I just keep telling myself - go ahead and be a dolphin!, August 27, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: Swim with the Dolphins: How Women Can Succeed in Corporate America on Their Own Terms (Paperback)

This book really helped me to validate my personality and management style. I really am a dolphin (intelligent, but warm and personable), rather than a shark, and I am striving to succeed (as a woman executive in a large corporation) without compromising those qualities. I have always wondered if I should try to be more of a shark; now I am content to remain a dolphin.

My only criticism is that the book was somewhat wordy and bogged down in places. But the messages were good and case stories interesting. This book can easily be read in a weekend, then passed on to others.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, May 8, 2001

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Swim with the Dolphins: How Women Can Succeed in Corporate America on Their Own Terms (Paperback)

Connie Brown Glaser and Barbara Steinberg Smalley argue that female managers no longer need to act like men to be successful. Instead, women managers should depend on their natural attributes - intuition, nurturing, having respect for individuals - to create webs rather than hierarchies. This bold, timely book is packed with profiles of women who have succeeded on their own terms. The writing is lean and cuts to the chase. We [...] recommend this book as a likely inspiration and a helpful guide to most women (particularly managers) trying to cope with the old folkways of corporate America. The male manager will also find that it offers him a new perspective at work and a wake-up call at home. [Note: This book is not linked to Harvey MacKay's Swim With the Sharks, which focuses on selling, negotiating, and marketing.]