Today I'm going to give you a quick review of Naked in the Boardroom by Robin Wolaner. I agreed to do this BBBT because any time I can use the word "naked" in a post, my site traffic increases. (just kidding) Robin (who has a blog for her book here) formerly worked at Penthouse, Mother Jones, and Runner's World before founding Parenting magazine in a partnership with Time-Warner. Now she is an executive at CNET.
As regular readers know, I like books that are different. This book certainly is. Most business books trumpet the success of the author, with platitudes about how you can acheive similar successes. Robin's book is about her failures. Basically, Robin writes about her working career, what she has done right, what she has done wrong, and what she has learned from her mistakes. It's a brave and refreshing perspective to look at business that way.
The main idea that I took from the book is to be honest and open in business. That isn't easy, with all the politics that go on in most offices today, but in the long run it simplifies things (particularly in hirings, firings, and performance reviews). Some other key points include:
- take jobs that stretch your skills and talents
-you can learn as much from anti-mentors as you can from mentors
- there is no dividing line between business and personal morality
This book is filled with practical advice, including Robin's "naked truths" every few pages. There are also lots of stories and wisdom from other female executives Robin interviewed.
The book leans more towards a female audience, although men will get a lot from reading it as well. (There are somethings that don't make a lot of sense to me, and other men may feel the same way. For instance, Robin writes about how women often compare themselves to an ideal candidate and don't see themselves as qualified for certain jobs, even if they are. I have difficulty relating to this as I've always believed I could come up to speed quickly on any job I'm thrown into. Yet Mrs. Businesspundit, who was valedictorian of her high school, valedictorian of her college, has a CPA and MBA and tons of outstanding performance reviews, instantly agreed when I read her that passage.)
Overall, I would say this book is a must-read for women who want to pursue a career path in business, and I would give it a strong recommendation for men as well. Robin's mix of experience in many different companies from startups to money losers to large industry stalwarts gives her a good perspective on what's really important to be successful in business.
Yesterday, the tour was at re:invention blog. The rest of the schedule is below.
March 16th – 800CEORead BlogMarch 17th – WonderBrandingMarch 18th – Community Guy
