Inside Knowledge
How Women Can Thrive in Professional Service Firms
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- Description
- Contents
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- About
The book draws on the knowledge accumulated during the author’s thirty years of experience working in and for such firms, supplemented by what she has learned from her work with hundreds of professional women and men that she has coached in accountancy, law and consulting firms as well as in award-winning women’s leadership programmes.
The practical exercises that appear within the book have been extensively tested and finely honed over time and are designed to build on one another, thereby allowing readers to manage their careers efficiently and effectively. They help the reader to articulate what she wants from her career and what she can offer a professional service firm, ensuring that others understand her ambitions, hopes and dreams as well as her knowledge, skills and expertise. The exercises build to provide guidance for managing office politics, developing business and ultimately obtaining the desired results from appraisals and promotion opportunities.
Foreword Preface — Why You Need This Book 1. An Analysis of the Uneven Playing Field 2. Why Should You Focus on Your Career Now? A Call to Be Conscious because You Are Important 3. Working to Get the Most Out of Your Time and Your Brain — Your Key Tools for Success 4. What Do You Offer Your Firm? 5. Are You Ambitious? If So What Are You Ambitious for? 6. Where Are You Starting from? Getting Feedback 7. Taking Stock 8. Impression Management — What Do You Do and How Do You Talk about It? 9. Politics — How Do You Get Involved? 10. Stepping Forward 11. Who Knows What You Do — Effective and Efficient Networking 12. Sponsorship: The Sharp End of Your Developmental Network 13. Role Models 14. Finding Your Equilibrium 15. Being Commercial 16. Developing Your Business 17. Making the Most of Your Appraisals 18. Preparing for Promotion Processes Appendix: Questions from Promotion Panels Wider Resources About the Author Index
For women working as accountants, lawyers, or consultants, this guide explains how to maximize their potential in their firm and get noticed, sponsored, and promoted. Drawing on her work as a coach with women in these firm, the author discusses the context of their work, the predominance of male partners, and the individual, organizational, and societal factors involved in this imbalance; why women should focus on their careers and how they can get the most out of their time and brains; how they can consider what they offer and their ambitions; how to assess feedback and take stock of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; impression management and the role of politics; interactions with the outside world; development networks, sponsors, and role models; how to find equilibrium between career and life; how to understand financial contributions to the firm and develop client relationships; and how to engage with the firm during appraisal and promotion processes.