While women are often praised for being nice, excessive niceness can hold them back.

Women are often placed in entry- and mid-level roles where they must focus on assisting others, regardless of whether their success depends on being assertive. This need to please continues into adulthood. Boys don’t get that same kind of reward when they’re young. They receive praise from their parents and teachers for being agreeable, helpful and obedient. This is known as the “disease to please,” and it’s particularly common among women. They want to make others feel good and always try to please them. Nobody’s perfect, but a lot of people still strive to be.

Big Idea #2: Women are taught to please, but it’s harming their careers. As a manager, any failure to claim credit on behalf of her people will demoralize and resent them because they worked hard for those successes. If a woman demonstrates this tendency in a management role, she also risks diminishing the accomplishments of the team she leads. Over the course of their careers, both authors have noticed that men tend to distrust women who are self-deprecating about their achievements. This is a problem in many workplaces and at every level of the hierarchy.Īlthough it is considered polite to be modest, being overly self-deprecating can harm your career. However, they lacked confidence when it came to taking credit for their accomplishments.įor instance, the author has noticed that women prefer to share credit for their success rather than take full credit. They all agreed that younger women employees were conscientious, consistent and delivered work of a very high standard. The author discussed this with several female professionals in accounting, consulting and law. It’s common for women to be reluctant to take credit for their achievements. The verdict was unanimous – younger women struggled with saying “I.” She wanted to find out what was holding back younger female professionals from advancing in their careers. Several years ago, one of the authors, Sally Helgesen, decided to interview successful professional women.

Big Idea #1: Women struggle to claim their own accomplishments. Finally, taking up more than one chair will help your career move forward faster. Next, women have unfair expectations placed on them from school to the workplace. First, being an expert is not always a good thing for your career. There are some key points in this passage that you should know. By understanding your own unconscious learned behaviors, you can eliminate the unhelpful traits that hold you back from success as a woman in business. Many women adapt by developing bad habits in an effort to prove their worth at work. Men are praised for taking risks and being assertive whereas women are expected to be nice and supportive. Women have made progress, but they face challenges that men don’t. When it comes to professional women, there are still glass ceilings. 1-Page Summary of How Women Rise Overview

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