I must have picked up and put back this book 10 times on 10 visits to the bookstore before I actually purchased it.  I mean, I've been doing this working in an office shtick for 20 years and you'd think I'd have learned the types of behaviours that work and the ones that don't.  But the better part of me won out.

Frankel is an executive coach who has written what I believe is the most valuable book one could give to new professional, female or male.  For each mistake, she tells a story of someone who has made the mistake and the price they pay.  Then on the next page she gives tips on how to correct or avoid the behaviour.  I can see myself in some of these situations, especially early in my career.

Chapter 1 contains a self assessment, along with a description of how people learn to change their behaviours.  I especially like the discussion about unconscious competence.

Chapter 2, How You Play the Game, discusses the types of work styles and approaches that get women into trouble - pinching company pennies, doing the work of others, working too hard, among others.

How You Act, Chapter 3, covers the tough problems that I constantly see women project: polling others before making a decision, needing to be liked, sharing too much personal information, decorating your office like a living room, and more.

Chapter 4, How You Think, delves into the problems women face when they think too much: viewing men as father figures, refusing perks, and making up negative stories.  I found this chapter to be right on the button when comes to how women think.

The fifth chapter, How You Brand and Market Yourself keyed in on important aspects of how women diminish their position in order to be "nice".  Minimizing your work or position, using only your nickname or first name, waiting to be noticed, working in stereotypical roles or departments were some of the most common mistakes I see women make.

Chapter 6, How You Sound, focused on how we women communicate: too much explaining, asking permission (we know what Grace Hopper said about this), apologizing, talking too fast, speaking softly, using touchy-feely language.  Two of the mistakes are ones that I see all the time and I have witnessed how they negatively affect a women's chances for promotion: couching statements as questions, and the killer mistake, using long preambles.  If you make these two mistakes on a regular basis, you need to get your hands on this book.

Chapter 7, How You Look, discusses how you present yourself, makeup mistakes, how you sit, how you dress. 

Chapter 8, How You Respond, deals with how you respond to awkward and tough situations.  One of my favourites here is what to say when you are asked to make coffee, get copies, or take notes.  I learned very early in my career to choose to do these tasks poorly.  My direct boss knew right away that I was faking it, but his bosses learned to ask some other woman to do it.  Frankel here suggest to refuse and I'm not sure how that would go over.  My rule is "never be good at something you don't want to do for the rest of your career." 

The appendix has resources for further development.

I read this book thinking "do I do that" much of the way through and I believe that's a great thing to get out of this book.  I highly recommend this to all new professionals, as many of the mistakes are made by men as well.