My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A friend recommended this to me on our Colombia trip. Because she's a writer whose career I admire, I decided to pick it up. But let's be clear: I wasn't really looking forward to it. I thought of it as medicine I should take along the way for my career. I picked up my copy at the local library (yay library!) and was impressed by the fierce woman on the cover. And so I began... and just a few pages in, I knew this was one of those books I'd be talking about for ages to come.
Knowing Your Value should be required reading for any woman who plans on, you know, ever having a job. It isn't about putting a # on your value but on realizing that the traditional ways that women communicate and relate- which often serve us well in our daily lives - actually work very much against us in the work environment. And an important point: it's not about men vs. women, it's about women as their own worst enemy.
First of all, Mika is extremely likeable and easy to identify with. I knew nothing about her, but now have set my tv to record her show, that sort of thing. Her analysis isn't written from a patronizing point of view (memo to every other advice author) but rather from the angle of someone who has been through a lot and had to earn her lesson-learning the hard way. Her humility is engaging, and inspiring (hey, if she ends up sitting on the desk for her book cover, so could you!)
Secondly, she pulls in a pool of high profile executives who corroborate what she says in their own ways. So the book ends up feeling like a star-studded focus group, complete with Carol Bartz's foul language, or Trump admitting that if you ask him for too much he'll probably fire you anyhow. It gives what she says additional validity, and more scenarios you are likely to identify with. What do women say that men would never say to themselves? What do men ask for that gets them the higher salaries? What are the possible reasons for those payment disparities we always hear about? How does motherhood affect the equation?
There were so many quotable passages in here. I found myself constantly bringing it up in conversation as I came to terms with how obvious some of the scenarios were, and yet I'd never really noticed them. I will be buying copies and gifting this for a long time to come.
Girls, get your read on.
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