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Fearless and Free
Book

Fearless and Free

How Smart Women Pivot – and Relaunch Their Careers

Wendy Sachs
AMACOM, 2017
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright once said that women’s careers aren’t linear: instead, they zigzag. Public relations maven and journalist Wendy Sachs goes a step further by explaining how women can create their own success by zigging and zagging with purpose. With today’s fluctuations in markets and revolutions in industries, everyone has to be a hybrid, with multiple talents, projects and goals. Women consistently underestimate their abilities and diminish their accomplishments in an atmosphere where confidence is especially important. With amusing, harrowing and emboldening stories of women at all stages of multiple careers, Sachs reveals the tips that have worked for other women covering how to cultivate confidence, manage obstacles and keep pushing for the life you want. getAbstract recommends this fun, inspiring look at how to handle change with confidence to women considering a career shift or a new endeavor.

Summary

The Hustle

Everyone has to be a hybrid today. “Deb” used to wake up at four in the morning to write, put in a full day at the office, return home to feed her children and help them with homework or college applications, then start on her freelance work at 9 p.m. Her photography skills got her hired on a photo shoot in Paris, where she took her daughter on a paid-for vacation. Keeping your options open draws opportunities. Keep going out, connecting with people, promoting your work and skills, maintaining a social media presence and being your own CEO – because no one else will.

Women now own 30% of American businesses. Since the mid- to late-1990s, minority-women-owned businesses have grown by 265%, making them a third of all women-owned businesses. Women still face tremendous challenges since only 7% of venture capital funding goes to women-led start-ups, even though they offer a 35% higher ROI. Women’s endeavors are sound investments: They return 20% more with 50% less investment. With such gumption – and facing so many challenges – women need to support one another. Rather than letting success, beauty, intelligence, humor and connections intimidate...

About the Author

Wendy Sachs has made several career pivots, working in PR on Capitol Hill, in television as an Emmy-award-winning news producer, and as a writer and editor. She has written and spoken about women’s issues and work-life balance for CNN and Good Morning America, among others.

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