How Smart Women Win

"Power UP: How Smart Women Win in the New Economy"
by Magdalena Yesil
2017, Seal Press
$27/$35 Canada
230 pages

One. For many years, that’s the number of women there were in your department at work. One (you), or maybe a few more, but not many. You survived it, for sure, but times have absolutely changed since then and, in the new book, “Power UP” by Magdalena Yesil, they’re still changing, even now.

For generations, women in business have been told how difficult it is to break through a glass ceiling at work. Having grown up in Turkey, Yesil knew a little about that but she wasn’t fully prepared for what faced her in the traditionally male-dominated American world of tech engineering. To survive, she had to learn American culture, English-as-a-fourth-language, and to allow herself to “make big bets and lose several.”

One of the wins was something she learned: success is very possible for women in business, but you can’t wait around for it. To move ahead, and as hard as these things are, ask for feedback and act on the negative. Know when it’s time to be assertive.

Learn to “brush off provocations,” even when #metoo has thrown you for a curve by knowing that “you have more power than you think,” and that cultivating gravitas—“a combination of your dignity and seriousness”—will make all the difference.

When Yesil begins sharing tales of being the lone woman in a team of men, the tone of this book shifts from cheer leading to empowerment. When she offers advice, it’s from the POV of someone who’s dug a foxhole in a career in a mostly male business. And when she describes how she dealt with harassment, this book immediately jumps to the headlines. For that, it should be next on your to-read shelf. If you need a business book that’s timely and helpful, “Power UP” is the one.