Women, read “Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office” by Lois P. Frankel (Warner Business Books, $16.95) if you’re more interested in winning that promotion than having a soul. OK, maybe we’re being a little harsh. Maybe. A little.
Frankel says her book “in many ways . . . is about how women live according to the rules established by men”–and proceeds to tell women, in great detail, how to follow the rules. In fact, she comes up with 101 “mistakes” women often make.
It’s not surprising when she urges women not to speak softly, go by their nicknames, flirt, feed others or cry at the office. And it’s annoying when she repeatedly tells women to focus more on schmoozing and less on working hard. But it’s downright hair-raising when she warns women not to be “the conscience” of a corporation.
She uses as cautionary tales the female whistleblowers at Enron, WorldCom and the FBI; yes, she says, they were admirable, but look how they were crucified. She warns women not to get hung up on “rigid interpretations” of corporate policy.
To us, Frankel has the corner on creepy. But if you can ignore the book’s ick factor and get some good from it, more power to you.
On that conscience thing: “Don’t equate doing good with doing right for yourself.”