Review: Knowing Your Value - Mika Brzenzinski (sp)

[aurora]

I thought it might be fun to post some reviews of books we've read recently that might inspire good discussion. I just finished this book, which has the full title

Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth

I had never heard of it before someone loaned it to me, but as a woman in a very male-dominated field I am trying to learn as much as I can about salary negotiations before I ask for my next raise. It's a short, quick book that tells the story of Mika's progression through a series of jobs at NBC and how she was eventually able to increase her salary.

One thing I liked about the book is her honesty about all of the ways in which she didn't do a good job advocating for herself. I think most of us see inequity in the ways in which men and women are treated in single-sex dominated fields, and unfortunately it's sometimes easy to fall back on a blame game, but we really can't do that and expect to succeed. Her strongest message is that if we don't know our own worth, there is no way we'll be able to convince our bosses.

I didn't like some of the quotes and interviews that illustrated some of the systemic problems, just because they're a little depressing.

There are also other good books in this genre for those who are interested. For example, I really enjoyed Women Don't Ask by Linda Babcock, which is a more thorough (and scientific) read.

I'm happy to discuss the topics if anybody is interested.

[lemondrop]

Sounds great. i'll have to add this to my tbr list. i'm job hunting ight now, so i need to read up on salary negotiations. i also like mika. i agree that we can't blame inequality for not getting ahead, even if that's the reason. we just have to work harder.

i recently read secrets of six figure women by barbara stanley, which was a good read for women climbing the corp ladder.