Going to the Top: A Road Map for Success from America's Leading Women Executives

Along with Linda Austin's What's Holding You Back? (Forecasts, Apr. 3), this book may represent the latest wave of women's career management books: instructions on how to break into the highest echelon of corporate life. Women occupy nearly 50% of managerial and professional roles, yet they account for only 3% of the highest level jobs: CEO, chairman, president, other top positions. While Austin's book looks at the glass ceiling from a psychological viewpoint, here consultant Gallagher supplies true-life experiences of 200 women from Fortune 1000 companies, such as American Airlines, American Express, Dow Jones and Wells Fargo Bank. She describes the factors that were critical to her subjects' success and offers practical and strategic advice for other high potential women, along with many brief stories and comments from interviewees. Among other points, Gallagher encourages the reader to take responsibility for profits and losses and to form alliances instead of networking. Gallagher also offers some tools for self-assessment and ideas for developing what she calls the CORE qualities: competence (the sum of experience, skills, talent); outcomes (the ability to demonstrate results); relationship management, within the company and with customers, suppliers and the community; and endurance. Gallagher's interviewees come off as smart, tenacious and extremely self-aware; many corporate women will welcome their rarefied perspective and solid advice. Agent, Bob Tabian; 10-city author tour. (May)