Welcome to summer friends!
Watermelon, the smell of sunscreen, and maybe a little bit more time for reading.
Here are the three books I keep recommending:
1. Likeable Badass by Alison Fragale
The culmination of 20 years of research on gender, status, and power - and somehow also one of the most practical books I've ever read. Page 67 shows you how to use the ubiquitous "how are you?" to build your credibility. Page 89 walks you through how to share your wins without feeling weird about it. Page 110 gives you a 2-minute strategy for gaining supporters.
PS. I may be slightly biased - yours truly makes an appearance in Chapter 6 - but don't let that stop you. 😉
2. Having It All by Corinne Low
If you read the Economist, you are going to love this book. Dr. Low takes the key decisions working women make and examines them through an economic lens, explaining which decision points are the trickiest, why, and what we’ve been getting wrong.
At just $30, this book saved me A LOT of expensive therapy - the graph on page 28 is gold.
P.S. There's a teeny tiny subplot that's easy to miss - Dr. Low's progression from being married to a man whose career she subsidized to getting divorced and partnering with a woman. Though I can't confirm she made this decision via Excel model, I laughed out loud when I realized her data would support it. 😄
3. Financial Feminist by Tori Dunlap
In my opinion, the definitive guide to money for women. In 2022, a negotiation client of mine scored an 84% raise - and then mentioned she was almost frozen trying to figure out what to do with it. Pay down debt? Buy a house? Max out retirement? Open a brokerage account? I did some digging and found this gem. Tori somehow manages to make financial literacy genuinely funny, which should be impossible but isn't.
P.S. I'm recording a podcast with her today - keep an eye out for it this fall!
BONUS: For when you don't want to think at all
The Inheritance Games series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I am fully, unabashedly addicted. You've been warned.
Consider this your official permission slip to lie on the beach and call it professional development. 😊
Happy summer!
PS. Am taking July and August off from this tipsheet and LinkedIn to finish up a HUGE project Haley and I started back in March. Can’t wait to share it with you this fall!
