I recently read Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career by Kristi Coulter. I picked it up because the title resonated with me. I, too, have had an ambitious tech career and just recently semi-retired, pulling back to teach and run programs at my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Coulter’s book was funny, interesting, and, above all, kind of PTSD-inducing if you’re in tech and especially if you’re a woman in tech.
I just finished A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister from 2017 to 2023. At a moment when the political world feels particularly bleak, Ardern’s book feels different. It’s full of hope (and good decisions). Her tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister shows us that a person can hold the highest office in a country and still be, unmistakably and unapologetically, a human being, a woman, and a mom.
I’ve been working on a new book for women trying to kick ass in a male-centric world and I’m in the developmental editing stages right now. I just got through my final chapter and I love it so, darn much. The chapter is called: “Stick Together: How To Stop Undermining Other Women & Get Things Done Together”. Historically, our failure to stick together has cost us decades of progress. Here’s just one example.