Cambridge Business Association
Taking the Stage
Book

Taking the Stage

How Women Can Speak Up, Stand Out, and Succeed

Judith Humphrey
Jossey-Bass, 2014
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Many women struggle to get ahead in the workplace with no idea that the way they present themselves is holding them back. Leadership trainer Judith Humphrey presents an action-oriented plan to unlock your leadership potential and help you stand up for yourself at work and gain professional respect. She writes in a clear, concise tone, telling anecdotes about her life, friends and clients. In this insightful guidebook for anyone seeking to become a leader, she identifies several common factors – such as body language and word choices – that women must alter to communicate leadership. getAbstract recommends Humphrey’s manual to women in the corporate world and to anyone who might mentor a female future leader.

Summary

Choosing to Lead

Many women have a tough time developing the traits associated with leadership. Parents often encourage boys to display competitiveness, bravado and outspokenness. But they tell girls to embrace humility, obedience and passivity. Society teaches girls not to brag or promote themselves. But when women carry these characteristics into the workplace, men don’t identify them as leaders. To assume leadership, women must overcome such ingrained habits and become more visible to their colleagues, superiors and the public.

Often, people conflate healthy self-confidence in women with arrogance, yet many women lack the confident disposition leadership demands. Many successful female executives claim to feel unworthy of their careers, and experience self-doubt and negative thoughts about their performance. This trait – known as the “Imposter Syndrome”– is common among women in corporate life. Some 90% of the women who sought leadership coaching from The Humphrey Group consultancy spoke to themselves with a “negative internal voice.”

To get rid of a sour interior monologue, identify your negative thought patterns and combat them with positive statements...

About the Author

Also the author of Speaking as a Leader, Judith Humphrey is the chief creative officer and founder of The Humphrey Group, a Canadian firm providing corporate leadership training.

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