Listen to the podcasts to hear directly from the authors and order your favorites. Topics include fascinating research on how women make decisions, tips on building and managing a meaningful career, mastering your time, parenting for deep connections with your children and the importance of community for a happier life.
The Gutsy Girl Handbook by Kate White
As the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 14 years, Kate White led the iconic women’s glossy straight to the top. In The Gutsy Girl Handbook, Kate shares tactics to negotiate your salary, manage your time, learn from failure, reduce your worrying, shed the “good girl” instinct and more. This book might very well be the shift in your career path that you need to nail (and kick ass at) that job of your dreams.
How Women Decide by Therese Huston shows how women and men are equally skilled when it comes to decision making, while women have certain strengths. For example, research shows men and women are likely to make similar decisions when weighing the risks versus the rewards. When the pressure is on however, research shows that men are more likely to go for large risks, while women are more likely to go for smaller wins. The research in this book is evidence for the importance of having men and women in the room when making crucial business decisions.
Imperfect Courage by Jessica Honegger
Jessica Honegger is the founder of Noonday Collection, a soaring business that designs and sells fair trade jewelry and accessories made by artisans around the world. She’s also the author of Imperfect Courage: Live a Life of Purpose by Leaving Comfort and Going Scared. In the book, released in August, Jessica she shares her story about how she launched Noonday Collection as an inspired side hustle and provides guidance on soul searching, going scared, collaborating and broadening your circle of passion.
I know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam
As the popular writer of books including I Know How She Does It and What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast — Laura Vanderkam could deliver a masterclass on productivity and time management. Intrigued by time management and the art of planning, Laura has collected and analyzed hundreds of daily schedules from women. Her research has found that the art of planning your days, weeks, months and years with both short-term and long-term vision, you can have a successful career, while also intentionally planning for ways to celebrate and enjoy life.
Laura firmly believes that there are ways women can confidently pursue their careers, while also having a family life they love. In fact, her research has shown that women who have leadership roles can actually have more of a work/life balance. “Don’t fear the big job,” she advises. It turns out that many big jobs are actually more family-friendly than jobs that are, in theory, less demanding. “When you are high up in the ladder, you call the shots [and] the meeting happens at a time that is convenient for you.”
Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids by Dr. Laura Markham
If you’re a parent, chances are you know about Dr. Laura Markham. And if you don’t, allow us to introduce her and her parenting advice that could be life-changing for you and your family. Dr. Laura is the author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kid and founding editor of AhaParenting, a blog 130k+ subscribers strong. As a parenting expert she’s been interviewed for thousands of articles by publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Real Simple, Newsday and Parents magazine. In addition to her blog, she shares critical parenting advice in each of her weekly emails, aimed to help you build stronger and deeper bonds with your children. After all, we are mightily convinced she just may be a modern-day Mary Poppins.
New Better Off by Courtney Martin
How do you define success? It’s a question Courtney Martin asked herself and others while writing her book, The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream, which attempts to help all of us think about redefining our measures of success. She encourages us to “reject the tired narratives about success” because our motives and lives will change when we shift our focus, instead, to community.
The book asks questions many of us have asked ourselves, and it challenges what many of us have come to accept as the status quo. One of our favorite lines in Courtney’s book is: “I don’t want to get a good job, a house with a white picket fence, 2.5 kids and then just go to sleep.”
Imagine it Forward by Beth Comstock
Beth Comstock is the former vice chair of GE and a corporate director of Nike. Her accomplishments include building GE’s Business Innovations and GE Ventures, as well as overseeing the reinvention of GE Lighting. Prior to her role as vice chair, she served as chief marketing officer of the company. And before that, she had another dream job as the president of integrated media at NBC Universal, overseeing the company’s digital efforts, including the early formation of Hulu. While Beth has built an incredible career, she’s had to make some tough decisions in the process. We’re all lucky enough live vicariously through her, with the opportunity to learn more about her journey and the decisions that led her to career success in her new book out today called Imagine It Forward.
In it, Beth shares her story, documenting the ups and downs of working at GE and NBC during a time of tremendous growth. But, Beth will tell you she also wrote this book to help those out in the middle of their career. It’s for those who want to make change happen, but feel they need permission to do so, whether through others or from themselves.
Broad Influence by Jay Netwon Small explores how women are transforming government, politics, and the workforce, and how they are using that power shift to effect change throughout America
When in French by Lauren Collins
Lauren Collins is a staff writer at The New Yorker, and author of When In French: Love In A Second Language. The book, which is a memoir of falling in love, learning a new language and adjusting to a new culture, was selected as a “Notable Book of 2016” by The New York Times. And it’s easy to see why.
With plenty of humor and fascinating details on linguistics and French culture, in the book Lauren recounts her journey of learning and adjusting to a life in France. In her interview, she shares the story of the one decision that changed her life. Weeks before her 30th birthday, Lauren decided to shake things up, requesting to work for The New Yorker from London. It was during this fateful trip that, in a decidedly American way, Lauren walked over and introduced herself … to her future husband!
How to be a Power Connector by Judy Robinett
As a well-known and highly respected investor and advisor, Judy is known as the woman with a titanium Rolodex. If you’re curious about how she made the leap from insecure young woman to confident businesswoman, Judy shares some of her secrets and top tips for making your own connections.
Listen to hear Judy’s top advice for connecting, including a reminder that the people we gravitate toward are not the only people one should have in her network. Research she cites shows that the weaker links in one’s network are actually, “the strongest and most important connections in our network.” She continues to say that, “Diversity is key to a rich network.”
