“What I Know Now I Wish I Knew Then”. Seasoned Business Consultant Interviewed 35 Top Flight Female Executives and Shares a Wealth of Candid, Insider Wisdom for Anyone Starting Out in Business.
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“What I Know Now I Wish I Knew Then”
Seasoned Business Consultant Interviewed 35 Top Flight Female Executives and Shares a Wealth of Candid, Insider Wisdom for Anyone Starting Out in Business
WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW AND YOUR BOSS WON’T TELL YOU
Advice from Senior Female Executives on
What You Need to Succeed
Pamela F. Lenehan
“Complaints of ‘he doesn’t fit in’ or ‘she just doesn’t get it’ are common in business,” notes Pamela F. Lenehan in a candid new examination of the unwritten and often unspoken habits and mores of senior management and the board room titled WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW AND YOUR BOSS WON’T TELL YOU: Advice from Senior Female Executives on What You Need to Succeed (Syren Book Company; $15.95, paperback; April 2006). “While managers spend a significant amount of their time on personnel issues, most think it is an annoyance and managing people detracts from getting ‘real’ work done.” While executives are comfortable analyzing the performance of a business unit or critiquing a presentation, contends Lenehan, most are unwilling to tackle the critical complex social issues standing between a colleague or junior executive and success within the organization.
“Sometimes managers are not people-oriented and have learned important lessons in their own careers through trial and error, so they may have a hard time articulating their thoughts,” notes Lenehan. “Others may not want to hurt people’s feelings, especially when some of the comments touch on a person’s personality or dress. Finally, in our litigious society, many managers simply will not risk hurting their company or career by saying things that may be construed as politically incorrect, even if that view is being used to judge performance.”
Drawing on more than 30 years of business experience, including being a partner in a major investment bank and an officer of a public company, Lenehan interviewed 35 senior women – partners in law, investment banking, consulting, and accounting firms, as well as women at vice president and higher levels in media, technology, biotechnology, and manufacturing firms. These women share the kind of insights and advice on issues young women and men commonly struggle with and face alone – with little or no guidance – early in their careers.
“Personally, I learned a great deal from each of the women interviewed for this book,” observes the author. “My only regret is that I wasn’t able to tap their advice earlier in my own career.” While these women are very senior now, notes the author, they all started at the bottom and worked their way up. They’re the type of people anyone just starting out in business needs to understand and impress in order to move up in an organization. These leaders speak to the challenges many women and men in business today face, including:
- Actively managing your career
- Learning how to communicate in the language of business
- Effectively using your time while networking and on task forces
- Finding leadership opportunities and good mentors
- Developing a personal style that projects confidence and competence
- Handling the nuances of dating, emotions, and office politics
- Understanding the rigors and rules of business travel
- Balancing work and family comfortably
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While most of the discussion in Lenehan’s new book offers general business advice in an executive summary format busy, young executives will appreciate, some of the lessons offered are specific to women. Lenehan hopes that this comprehensive “lifeline” will help women just starting out or reentering the workforce to successfully navigate some of the particular challenges of performing in a male-dominated organization as well as meet the difficulties of balancing the active management of a fulfilling, successful career with a rich and rewarding personal life.
WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW AND YOUR BOSS WON’T TELL YOU:
Advice from Senior Female Executives on What You Need to Succeed
Pamela F. Lenehan
Syren Book Company
$15.95 trade paperback
April 2006
ISBN 0-929636-59-7; 188 pages
Business/Women and Careers/Workplace Culture
Pamela F. Lenehan is a senior executive with broad strategic and financial experience in corporate and investment banking environments. She founded Ridge Hill Consulting, LLC to work with senior executives and boards of directors to define and implement corporate strategy. Prior to starting Ridge Hill Consulting, she was chief financial officer of a high tech start-up and senior vice president, corporate development and treasurer of Oak Industries, a $500 million NYSE-listed manufacturer that was sold to Corning. Lenehan spent 20 years in financial services: she was a managing director at Credit Suisse First Boston and started her career at Chase Manhattan Bank lending money to growing technology companies. She is on the boards of directors of two public companies, Avid Technology, a $1billion software company and Spartech Corporation, a $1.4 billion plastics manufacturer. She is on the board of The Center for Women & Enterprise, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering women to become economically self-sufficient through entrepreneurship. She earned a BA in Mathematical Economics, Cum Laude and With Honors and a MA in Economics from Brown University. She and her husband have four adult children and live in Needham, MA.
