PIC No. 10:
• Title: Arrive and Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership
• Authors: Susan MacKenty Brady, Janet Foutty, and Lynn Perry Wooten
• Publisher: McGraw Hill (April 9, 2022, 240 pages)
• Management Bucket #9 of 20: The Team Bucket
Welcome to Issue No. 10 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the “little brother” of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—short reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system.
“Convene Frequently”
In the late 1960s, equipped with a college degree in psychology and a minor in sociology (and serious street savvy), my wife began interviewing at major companies in the Chicago area. Her short-term goal—any position in personnel (pre-“HR” days) that would lead to a management position.
Nope! The men conducting the interviews simply said, “Sorry. We don’t promote women to management positions.” (Shocking today—but it was normal back then.) Undeterred, my wife became a social worker for Cook County Public Aid—and experienced Chicago’s war on poverty on the front lines with the Martin Luther King riots as a backdrop.
Me? I was in seminary in the safe suburbs at the time—but I was so impressed with her courage and passion, I seriously considered dropping out of seminary and joining her, thinking I could also make an immediate difference.
All this to say—gratefully, times have changed for women in management and leadership. Oh, my!
As the former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, writes in the foreword to this Wall Street Journal bestseller, Arrive and Thrive, “In 2021, the number of women CEOs on the Fortune 500 hit an all-time record: 41. And for the first time, two Black women are on the list. The numbers are better for the chief information officer (CIO) role—17 percent of Fortune 500 CIOs are women.” Yet… “women’s rise is also inconsistent and slow. The number of female CEOs is still just 8.1 percent of the total.”
So is this a platform for three very capable and competent leaders and authors to whine about men and the missed opportunities for women to lead? Gratefully, no. Subtitled, “7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership,” this book is must-reading for both women and men in leadership—and those who aspire to leadership.
Sadly, there is still much to learn in many male-dominated companies and organizations. But, say Susan MacKenty Brady, Janet Foutty, and Lynn Perry Wooten (check out their bios here) women can thrive—and this very practical book is jammed with insights, wisdom, and action steps.
HIGHLIGHTS:
• In the “7 Practices,” my favorite is “Practice 6: Creating a Healthy Team Environment.” The authors list six essential actions including “Understand and unleash team member strengths” and “Communicate honestly and convene frequently for service excellence.” (Three cheers for “convene frequently!”)
• The author’s stories. Many three-author books are a tangled mess of word salads. Not Arrive and Thrive, gratefully. The book’s direction is consistently aligned with the seven practices—but sidebars allow each author to comment on their preferences and personal stories. Example: Lynn Perry Wooten appreciates Clifton Strengths® (as do I).
• And…the book goes well beyond each author’s numerous recommended resources and assessments—by featuring other women in leadership who have thrived. Example: Sandra Fenwick, former CEO of Boston Children's Hospital. Leading a team of 20,000 (not a typo!), she’s big on lifelong learning, the three C’s (curiosity, courage, and compassion), and how to lead a turnaround and set the strategy for “a broken organization.” She asked, “What needed to be done and in what order?” And, “What do we have to do immediately?” (She picked six things including “create a strategy” and “communicate, communicate, communicate.”)
• They quote the (male) CEO of Pfizer, who “laments the fact that even today women are often asked to do more to prove themselves than men are.” That’s disappointing—but there is hope. Arrive and Thrive is a must-read for both women and men.
One last note: “The Resiliency Diagnostic” on page 111 is worth the price of the book. There are 20 statements on the “Effective Crisis Leadership Competency” chart that call for responses in three categories (need to develop the skill; moderately comfortable in this skill, but could do more; and confident in the skill). Examples:
• 9) I make time for learning and reflection.
• 12) I am comfortable with my personal identity and can differentiate who I am from the work that I choose to do.
• 18) I know how to demonstrate what is in my control and what is not in my control.
• 19) I regularly seek out new challenges that stretch beyond my comfort zone.
• 20) I regularly ask other people for feedback to help me learn, grow, and adapt.
OK, one more last note! The authors quote Simon Sinek’s counsel, “When it comes to organizational values or guiding principles, Sinek maintains that to be truly effective they must be verbs.” I loved that! Example: “By switching to verbs, he means, ‘It’s not integrity, it’s always do the right thing. It’s not innovation, it’s look at the problem from a different angle.’” There’s much more on that topic. The book is a feast.
Imagine if…Arrive and Thrive had been written 50 years ago—when my wife was looking for a management/leadership position! Better late than never.
PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Team Bucket (and other buckets/core competencies):
• The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter (Updated and Expanded), by Michael Watkins (read my review)
• The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right, by Gorick Ng (read my review)
• Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact, by Liz Wiseman (read my review)
To order from Amazon, click on the title for Arrive and Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership, by Susan MacKenty Brady, Janet Foutty, and Lynn Perry Wooten. Listen on Libro.fm (6 hours, 28 minutes). For more book reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting. (And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.)
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