Going to the Top

Based on interviews with two hundred successful women executives, a timely guide for today's businesswomen provides advice on how to make it to the top, as offered by the executives of such companies as America Online, Pepsi, and Intel. Reprint.

Much has been written about the glass ceiling women encounter in business, but Carol Gallagher isn't having it. Of the 200 women executives she interviewed for Going to the Top, many had already found "windows" through the ceiling; many others, Gallagher says, will get through eventually. To her, the future looks bright for women in corporations: she notes they earn more than one third of all MBAs and more than 42 percent of law degrees. Women also hold close to half of all managerial and professional jobs. Sure, about 30 percent of those women leave corporate life, but the other 70 percent keep on going. It's for them Gallagher has written this guidebook.

What does it take to make it to the top in today's corporate world? Gallagher shows that the same qualities top male managers have--a desire to win, an ability to learn the complex unwritten rules of an organization, the emulation of role models--are absolutely essential for women, too. One large section of the book debunks female myths of achievement--that a single mentor will lift you to success; that endless networking is productive; that you can't afford to be nice and help others if you want to succeed. "If people trust you--if you can lead, build a team, and get the job done without alienating others--higher-ups will think of you first for promotions," Gallagher writes. The last section of the book presents strategies for juggling marriage, family, and career choices, and there's also a chapter for minority women. But it's chapter 12, "Fifteen Proven Strategies That Will Advance Your Career," that many will undoubtedly read first. Most guys should probably read this chapter, too, because ultimately, Going to the Top demonstrates that competence, leadership, and corporate political savvy are gender neutral. --Lou Schuler