The Naked Truth: A Working Womans Manifesto on Business and What Really Matters

With Support, Humor, and Perspective, This Provocative Book Outlines New Options for Businesswomen "Finally! A book that exposes the masculine myths about what it takes to be effective in business and helps women reclaim the relational intelligence we have been taught to ignore. A must–read for all women who want to increase their power and influence in the workplace–especially those who are thinking of leaving because they are tired of the corporate gamesmanship that requires splitting themselves into a ′work me′ and a ′home me.′" — Joyce K. Fletcher , professor of management, Simmons School of Management, Boston, Massachusetts "Margaret Heffernan has provided us with that rarest commodity of all–a ′wise book.′ It′s ′well written.′ It′s got ′great stories.′ But mostly it′s wise; it deserves to be read carefully and digested. I, frankly, was mesmerized by virtually every page and every vignette. Bravo!" — Tom Peters "What I like about Margaret′s book (and Margaret for that matter) is the no–nonsense approach she brings to the topic of women in business. It′s not just that she sounds like the mentor you wish you had, it′s also that she doesn′t shy away from any topic, refuses to sugar–coat her own experience or her advice, and recognizes that the issues of women in business won′t get serious discussion until they cease to be a them–against–us mindless posture. She′s real. She′s smart. She′s experienced. She speaks the truth. What more could you want?" — Alan Webber , founding editor, Fast Company "They say the truth will set you free. It can also make you hopping mad! At a time when so many have given up telling the truth about women and men in the traditional corporation, along comes Margaret Heffernan prepared to take on the truth with a clear eye and a wry smile. Get free! Get mad! Let it stir you into action. Let it inspire you to roll up your sleeves and build a new kind of workplace–one that honors the complex realities of our twenty–first century lives." — Shoshana Zuboff , Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, and coauthor, The Support Economy

Preface ix Participants xiii Introduction 1 1 Start Smart 6 2 Geishas, Bitches, Guys—and the Invisible Woman 26 3 Balls to the Wall: Toxic Bosses and Hostile Environments 52 4 The Emperor′s New Clothes 77 5 Power and Where It Comes From 93 6 Sex, Love, and a Vision for Life 120 7 The Whole Life 139 8 How High Can You Go? 163 9 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do 186 10 The Entrepreneuse 200 11 The Parallel Universe 217 Notes 231 Web Resources 237 Bibliography 241 Acknowledgments 247 The Author 251 Index 253

Margaret Heffernan has been CEO of five different businesses (both old economy and new) in the United States and the United Kingdom. A former producer for the BBC, she has consulted for film and television and has been acknowledged as one of the top industry executives by the Silicon Alley Reporter, Streaming Media, and the Hollywood Reporter. She speaks regularly at industry and business school conferences and has appeared on NPR′s Talk of the Nation and Marketplace as well as CNN and CNBC. She is a regular contributor to Real Business and Fast Company magazines.