As women strive for professional success, they face the same shifting landscape as everyone else: changes in technology, a rise in the number of people working remotely, and the expectation that employees should always be reachable. Several forthcoming business titles examine how to navigate the new rules of the workplace.
Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently (Spiegel & Grau, Aug.), by Dawna Markova and Angie McArthur, argues that for a business to succeed today, it must shift from a hierarchical top-down leadership to teamwork and collaboration. Markova is a former senior affiliate of the Organizational Learning Center at MIT; McArthur, her daughter-in-law, is a founder of the Worldwide Women’s Web, which aims to retain women in corporate leadership roles.
In Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (Penguin Press, Oct.), media scholar Sherry Turkle discusses the importance of face-to-face conversation in the workplace, among other areas of life. “Sherry Turkle heard from business leaders that their employees are not conversing as they once did, and this lack of conversation is hurting the bottom line,” says Virginia Smith Younce, senior editor at Penguin Press. “Younger employees who have grown up with digital communication may struggle with in-person meetings and phone calls. Employees who are not digital natives may need to be reminded of the benefits of speaking face-to-face.”
Janice Kaplan, the former editor-in-chief of Parade, also found that personal communication can affect a business’s ability to get the best work from its employees. In The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Transformed My Life (Dutton, Aug.), she builds on the results of a John Templeton Foundation study: 81% of people said they would work harder for a more grateful boss, and 70% felt better about themselves if their boss expressed appreciation. In response, Kaplan resolved to spend a year focusing on gratitude in different aspects of her life: work, health, relationships, and so on.
Like Kaplan’s book, Aliza Licht’s Leave Your Mark: Land Your Dream Job. Kill It In Your Career. Rock Social Media (Grand Central, May) is about more than just business. According to Licht, companies that foster creativity and flexibility will attract and retain the best talent.
“Millennials are happiest in careers that allow them to wear many hats,” Licht says. “It never used to be that way—you had one job. Now they want to try their hand at different jobs and possibly have them all at the same time.”
She adds that while her book is not solely targeted at women, “I do think it’s important for women to see an example of career/life balance, and how having professional power does not mean losing your feminine side.”