Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers (A NICE GIRLS Book)

I purchased Nice Girls Still Don’t Get the Corner Office about two years ago, and I can honestly say it changed the trajectory of my professional life. I am a Latina immigrant working in academia in the United States. I speak three languages, hold three degrees, have publications and grant funding, yet I often feel underestimated, overworked, and, at times, dismissed. I knew I was capable. I had always been confident in my leadership skills. But I began noticing patterns at work that felt unfair, workload inequities, compensation issues, and subtle dynamics that were difficult to name. This book gave me language for what I was experiencing and, more importantly, a strategy. What makes this book powerful is its practicality. The examples are clear and direct. I started making small but intentional changes: where I sit in meetings, who I sit next to, how I phrase my ideas, how I negotiate, and how I manage emotional reactions. As a Latina, expressiveness is part of my culture and identity, a strength, but I learned how to respond strategically rather than react emotionally in professional spaces. After applying what I learned, I successfully advocated for and helped secure approval of a formal teaching load policy at my university, following a long and difficult process. I truly believe I would not have navigated that situation as effectively without the insights from this book. If you are a woman in academia, leadership, or aspiring to be, especially if you come from a different cultural background, this book is not about changing who you are. It is about understanding the unspoken rules of the workplace and choosing how to navigate them intentionally. Highly recommend this book.

Great for a woman in a position of power who is constantly being tested and dismissed by the employees they supervise.

Having just researched how to get my own career on track by starting my own business by reading The 20 Percent Solution: Create Your Own Website for Almost Passive Income, ( a detailed, easy reading, illustrated guide to launching ones' own website and income producing online business), I wanted to dig into the subject of advancing one’s own career. In Lois Frankel’s book, I was particularly struck by the advice of getting a Mentor and not waiting to get what you want. There were also two critical pieces of advice that were similar to The 20 Percent Solution book: realizing business is a game and building your own personal brand. Frankel’s book is quite comprehensive, taking in most aspects of how to think, work and act in business to have the very best chance of competing and making it to the top. All in all, it's a good foundation and good resource to have.

Favorite book !!! Every career oriented girly should read this one . It changed my perspective about how I managed myself at work

This book is a gem. It has excellent advice for any female in the workplace regardless of their role. It can be read one section at a time. It’s an easy read and contains great tips for the business minded female.

I just graduated from college and needed a motivating book going into the workplace soon! This book has been great about standing up for yourself. It is nice you take a quiz in the beginning and can read what you need to work on most.

I'm just beginning to read this book (and will update my review when I'm done) but I already see a few issues with the content so far that contradicts its purpose, sets women back, and if applied in the workplace, could put an employer at risk for a discrimination lawsuit. 1) The title. It's catchy but I am a grown woman, not a girl. In terms of professionalism, shouldn't we begin by referring to ourselves as women? 2) Pages 275-276, "Wearing Inappropriate Makeup" - while I understand that too much makeup (and perfume) can be disruptive but wearing no makeup at all is a bad thing??? There are so many women and girls out there who try to live up to this unrealistic social standard of beauty that they are literally hurting and/or killing themselves (eating disorders, plastic surgery, injections, etc.). Telling women that success ties into how much makeup one wears is very dangerous. Success should never be defined by how much makeup one wears or doesn't wear. 3) Pages 277-278, "The Wrong Hairstyle" - again, this buys into an unrealistic social standard of beauty and could be considered discrimination. Some women cannot cut or dye their hair for religious purposes. Some women, like me, have naturally kinky or frizzy hair. Others can't afford the $200+ to see a "good hairdresser" every 6-8 weeks. My hair is so much healthier since I stopped dying it. Am I going to dye it again to meet stereotypical standards? NO. Am I going to use chemicals or heating appliances on my hair regardless of the damage they may cause? NOT HAPPENING. Does that me a bad employee? ABSOLUTELY NOT! No one (male or female) should feel any pressure to do things their bodies or hair that results in damage. To promote equality in the workplace, maybe we need to start challenging and changing the way we judge each other - it should be by performance, not appearance/difference. Maybe someone needs to write a book titled "How To Recognize and Promote Talent Fairly Regardless of Sex, Race, Religion, Etc."

Very useful and easy to implement coaching tips provided throughout the book, unlike most self-help books in this vein which tell you what success looks like but not how to get there. Nicely done Lois!

You must read this.

Arrived super quick! Lovely book, really enjoying it so far, it's definitely helpful

What an incredible book. Its so real. I am guilty of making most of the mistakes mentioned in this book. Though this book os written for workplace setting, it is equally relevant for personal relationships also because nice girls behave ‘nicely’ in and out of the office. This book is helping me in many areas of my life. I recently negotiated a car deal and I could feel the difference in how I sound now. Its a must read for all women. Another thing this book helped me with is to make me realize I am not the only one making these mistakes because I have been very hard on myself for sounding stupid and unconfident. Rather than beating ourselves up, we need to understand the reasons why most women behave ‘nicely ‘ while men go out and conquer the world (and intimidate us) is because of our upbringing and a lot of other external factors. This book provides many many practical tools to change that. I will be rereading this book several times. Make sure you take lots of notes.

It’s a very well written book. Highly recommended