Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Can Women be Nice?

Newsweek discusses three books related to the question of whether nice women can succeed in the workplace.

My short answer: Sure. One of the depressing things in life is to encounter women and men who believe that in order to be successful in large organizations one has to be a jerk.

Do jerks rise to the top? On occasion, but the Center for Creative Leadership did a study that found that the number one reason for the sidetracking of otherwise promising executives was a lack of people skills.

People usually do not get to the top by crawling over the bodies of others. Some practices to avoid:
  • Overpromising. People don't like to be dropped on their heads.
  • Gossiping. If you badmouth someone, it will eventually get to the person.
  • Manipulating. You may think that people don't notice, but they do.
  • Annointing yourself. Putting on airs is a guaranteed way to zap your reputation.

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