Climbing the Spiral Staircase: How Women Can Navigate Their Careers and Accelerate Success

by Leanne Meyer

Overview

FOR TOO MANY PROFESSIONAL WOMEN IT'S NOT JUST THE GLASS CEILING HOLDING THEM BACK; IT'S THE STICKY FLOOR, TOO.
This may be your experience. You've advanced to a specific level in your career, but now you've stalled. In Climbing the Spiral Staircase, author Leanne Meyer shares specific, actionable strategies that will help you build the career you aspire to have. This book will help you gain control of your career by reclaiming the passion and ambition with which you began. Leanne's executive coaching strategies are firmly grounded in pragmatic, evidence-based thinking. Her goal is to equip you to be intentional in recognizing your sources of strength, assessing your impact, and achieving your ambitions.
This is a book that will empower you with the understanding of where you are in your career today—and equip you with the skills to advance further.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781950863518
Publisher:	Advantage Media Group, Inc.
Publication date:	03/08/2022
Pages:	282
Sales rank:	900,013
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

LEANNE MEYER directs the Carnegie Mellon Women's Executive Leadership Academy and is the former executive director of the university's Accelerate Leadership Center at the Tepper School of Business. Drawing from her thirty years of senior-level and executive development, she consults and coaches regularly. Her work focuses on assisting leaders in navigating critical inflection points where many have outgrown their professional identity and need new skills and behaviors to move forward. Her clients include a number of Fortune 100 large and midsize companies. She has a master's degree in industrial psychology from the University of Johannesburg. Her calling is to help leaders make sense of their lives through the reclamation of passion and purpose; her overarching goal is the advancement of women.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 1

Foreword 5

Introduction 9

Reclaiming and Sustaining Ambition-The Pep Talk

Chapter 1 The "Icky," Awkward Conversation 21

Chapter 2 Reconciling Cultural Factors 43

Chapter 3 Your Turn 67

Chapter 4 You Own Your Career 87

Part 2 The Transitions

Chapter 5 From Perfection to Passion 107

Chapter 6 From Clueless to Connected 139

Chapter 7 From Worker Bee to Strategic Resource 159

Part 3 Tactics to Build Your Skill Set

Chapter 8 Negotiating for Yourself 183

Chapter 9 Confident Is Not How You Feel 197

Chapter 10 Don't Berate Yourself; Be Curious 211

Chapter 11 The Quest for Authenticity 223

Chapter 12 Embrace the Neutral Zone 237

Conclusion: The Spiraling Staircase 247

Work with Me 257

About the Author 259

Editorial Reviews

I have known Leanne Meyer for many years and have admired her work in the field of leadership development, especially for women. In Climbing the Spiral Staircase, she shares a lifetime of expertise in helping leaders to succeed in their lives and in their careers. With actionable exercises, points to reflect upon, and numerous examples from her life and career, Leanne's book gives readers tools for navigating the modern workplace. Women can experience the workplace in a unique way, and this book gives us all a better understanding of the history and inherent biases of the workplace and how we can make orga- nizations more equitable for all employees. While this book is especially relevant for women, there is also much for everyone to learn in order to be a better ally, coworker, partner, and parent to women in the workplace and outside of it. —BRIAN T. OLSAVSKY,Chief financial officer and senior vice president, Amazon

In Climbing the Spiral Staircase, Leanne Meyer provides essential guidance to women who are aspiring to something better in their careers. No matter where you are in your professional work life, this book will help you think strategically about what's next. This is an empowering book, one that will coach you through the changes you'll need to make to become the leader you want to be. —SUSAN PACKARD,Cocreator, CNBC, HGTV, Food Network

Leanne Meyer brings her incredible experiences, global perspective, and sharp skill set to not only articulate inequities that women face, but she shares practical leadership strategies that apply both within and outside of the workplace. Climbing the Spiral Staircase is a book that can benefit everyone who reads it! —EVAN FRAZIER,President and CEO, The Advanced Leadership Institute

This is the book I wish I had when I was early in my working life, when I didn't understand that a bigger career was possible or the roadblocks I'd have to hurdle because of my gender. Leanne's advice and stories are insightful, fresh and frank, and grounded in practice, not theory. I'll gift this book to every aspiring young woman in my life—and to every father who wants to support her. —BETH MARCELLO,Director of women's business development, PNC Bank

Leanne Meyer has gifted ambitious women everywhere a wonderful road map to success. It's a bracingly honest, refreshingly global, eyes-wide-open acknowledgment of the state of play in companies (and countries). No smart woman will want to be without its insights.
—AVIVAH WITTENBERG-COX ,CEO, 20-first

From the Publisher