From the Inside Flap
Women are significantly underrepresented in upper management positions--particularly at the top companies. For example, women hold only 5.2% of CEO positions in the Fortune 500 companies. Business is still a man's world, but why? Research findings continue to show that women are just as good, and often better, than men at displaying the skills and competencies that make for good leadership. So women who aspire to top leadership positions need to know how to overcome the statistics. Real Women, Real Leaders is a unique new resource in which some of the world's top female leaders tell their stories firsthand. These authentic accounts provide invaluable lessons from the women who experienced--and overcame--obstacles to advancement.
By interviewing transformational women leaders and allowing them to explain the secrets to their success in their own words, Kathy Hurley and Priscilla Shumway uncovered crucial patterns that begin to explain how women can succeed in business while remaining true to themselves. The chapters of Real Women, Real Leaders come together around the key competencies that researchers have identified as being crucial to leadership excellence. From motivating others to developing strategic perspective, these abilities come naturally to many women, and the stories in this book provide priceless insight into how today's leaders harnessed their innate talents.
Despite much progress in the area of gender equality, women still face significant obstacles as they work their way to the top. Real Women, Real Leaders is full of inspiring anecdotes demonstrating the attitudes and techniques that work to overcome barriers and clear the way for success. Readers are also encouraged to be proactive, applying what they learn from the book's contributors as they complete the Personal Leadership Assessment and begin to develop their own top competencies.
Contemporary research insights and action strategies for leadership development are woven together with the personal narratives in Real Women, Real Leaders, yielding a book that is at once practical and relatable. A companion website contains video interviews with many of the powerful contributors, giving readers living examples to study and observe. The ascension of women to leadership success in business, government, and nonprofit is one of the major cultural shifts of our time. With Real Women, Real Leaders, Kathy Hurley and Priscilla Shumway promote the advancement of women by giving rising leaders a look at what really makes women leaders shine.
KATHY HURLEY is a veteran of more than forty years in the education industry, where she has served in senior executive positions at Pearson, IBM, and The Learning Company among others. She recently attended Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative and upon completion co-founded a global non-profit called Girls Thinking Global. She has received many industry awards, including induction into the AAP Hall of Fame.
PRISCILLA SHUMWAY is president and principal of New Learning Presentation Systems, a consultancy specializing in learning and development. She is an award-winning presenter who has presented nationally and internationally, observing the challenges and opportunities facing women in business.
