Woman of Influence (Amazon) is about building your brand as a leader and taking charge of your career. It’s full of actionable strategies for understanding how you’re perceived – and how to change it.
My personal favourite is a long time favourite tool of Jo’s – the shadow org chart. This is the map of who influences who in an organization, and the concept alone is so helpful for bringing this new awareness into what’s actually happening.
The other thing I really loved in the book was identifying the 12 most common pitfalls that women fall into that hold us back. Such as doing work that will never make you shine, being good at a lot of things and famous for none of them, accepting low-visibility assignments and downplaying your accomplishments. And – of course – being over-mentored and under-sponsored! Never forget that one. Each of these come with a “leaderly move” to help escape the trap and build a better brand and career.
Overall I really loved it. There’s a lot of work in the exercises and I definitely didn’t do all of it! A good book to come back to again and decide where next to put attention to.