BNH Book Review: The No Club

“The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work”
by Linda Babcock, Brenda Peyser, Lise Vesterlund, and Laurie Weingart
2022/Simon & Schuster
$27.99/309 pages

Two letters. That’s all it is. Not gonna, ain’t happening, not a chance, no. So, as Linda Babcock, Brenda Peyser, Lise Vesterlund, and Laurie Weingart ask in their new book, “The No Club,” why is that so hard for working women to say?

They set up what they called The No Club and began to study this issue in earnest. In every workplace, there are “non-promotable tasks,” or NPTs, as the authors call them: taking notes for a group, serving on committees, training employees, picking up the slack left over by coworkers. These are tasks that aren’t often visible, are quickly forgotten, or go unnoticed.

And women are saddled with these tasks because they’re asked to assume NPTs more often. But, say the authors, “Women aren’t the problem. Organizational practices are.”

Saying no to NPTs begins by identifying them in an average workweek. Learn that there are several ways to say no to an NPT and the reasons why you’d say yes. Then learn how to change your organization and talk to management about the promotability of work. Remember, “this is not a fix-the-women problem.”

While the authors offer advice on offering a gracious no, and on starting your own No Club, there’s scant information on how to stand firm when you really can’t take on one more thing. Still, “The No Club” is a good start.