I won a Kindle version of Andi Simon's new book Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business, which is all about 11 different women and the obstacles they overcame to be leaders in their industry. From the worlds of aerospace engineering and higher education to law and IT, these women span a variety of male-dominated industries, but they all have one thing in common: they kept pushing forward.
This was an interesting book for me to read in tandem with Marianne Schnall's What Will It Take to Make a Woman President? The main theme of both books seems to be there aren't enough women in these fields and women need to have confidence in their own skills and abilities to change that. It might be hard, but it's worth it. And men need to realize just what women in business are capable of. Myths and stereotypical thinking need to be shattered on both gender sides.
Each chapter also gives a history of women in these fields, pointing out that in some cases, women have always been participants, but they've never reached those top levels.
I wasn't always wild about the writing style of this book, nor did I really see the author's own story in the last chapter as being as much about a woman finding her place in anthropology as it was about budding anthropologists in general understanding all the different things they can do with that degree. (Because apparently there are no college professorships available for them.)
I did appreciate reading a book from someone with ties to Washington University in St. Louis (where I'm from!), and I also liked that the book includes discussion questions for a book club or women's group and tips for how the reader can get started realizing her own potential.
Rethink is published by Fast Company Press and is available now. I received a free copy as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
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