Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth

by Mika Brzezinski

Overview

Why are women so often overlooked and underpaid? In Knowing Your Value, the prequel to her new book Grow Your Value, bestselling author Mika Brzezinski takes an in-depth look at how women today achieve their deserved recognition and financial worth.

Prompted by her own experience as co-host of Morning Joe, Mika interviewed a number of prominent women across a wide range of industries on their experience moving up in their fields. Mika shares the surprising stories of such power players as presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, comedian Susie Essman, writer and director Nora Ephron, Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, television personality Joy Behar, and many others. Mika also gets honest answers from the likes of Donny Deutsch, Jack Welch, Donald Trump, and others about why women are paid less, and what pitfalls women face -- and play into.

Knowing Your Value blends personal stories with the latest research on why many women don't negotiate their compensation, why negotiating aggressively usually backfires, the real reasons why the gender wage gap persists, and what can be done about it.

Written in Mika's brutally honest, funny, and self-deprecating style, Knowing Your Value is a vital book for professional women of all ages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781602861428
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	04/26/2011
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Mika Brzezinski is a co-host of Morning Joe, an MSNBC anchor, author of the New York Times bestsellers All Things at Once, Knowing Your Value, and Obsessed. and founder of the women's empowerment community, "Know Your Value". She also served as a visiting fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. She is the mother of two daughters.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Success and Failure, All at Once 1

Chapter 1 My Story: How It Begins 11

Chapter 2 Get Out of Your Way: Women as Their Own Worst Enemies 31

Chapter 3 What's a Woman Worth? The Gender Wage Gap and the Perception of Value 51

Chapter 4 Acceptable Behavior: A Cautionary Tale about Women Acting Like Men in the Workplace 73

Chapter 5 What Men Know: We Can't Act Like Them, but We Can Learn from Them 95

Chapter 6 At the Bargaining Table: Table Manners and Tactical Maneuvers 115

Chapter 7 Allies and Enemies: A New Appreciation of Men in the Workplace, and a Warning About Women 139

Chapter 8 Motherhood: The Game Changer 157

Conclusion: My Story: How It Ends-for Now 179

Index 187

Editorial Reviews

Brzezinski knew that her role as cohost of the MSNBC show Morning Joe was integral to the show's success, and yet she was getting paid a fraction of what her male counterparts were. The network was certainly to blame, but so, she realized, was she; this was just the last in a long run of jobs where she'd seen a salary discrepancy, worked long hours to prove herself, got angry at herself for not earning more money and respect, and stormed off and got a new job—only to repeat the pattern. Wondering if other successful women also consistently undermined and undercut themselves, she interviews power women—Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Tina Brown, Nora Ephron, Suze Orman, and Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg. Brzezinski illustrates how women undervalue themselves in the workplace—excessive gratitude "just to have the opportunity," not negotiating their contracts, taking on extra work for which they're not being paid, and asking for raises in ways in which they're virtually certain to be turned down. While these insights are familiar, the celebrity angle provides much-needed perspective—if even the most successful women undervalue themselves out of a desire to be liked, as Joy Behar admits, then clearly the rest of us accepting 77 cents on our male colleagues' dollar are not alone. A thoughtful look at how women can quit getting in their own way. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"With books and a constellation of related content under the banner 'Know Your Value,' . . . [Mika Brzezinski is now a] guru for career women."
—New York Magazine

Praise for Mika's previous titles:

"A lot of getting ahead in the workplace has to do with being willing to raise your hand... If we as women don't raise our hands in the workplace, we're not going to get the same opportunities men do. Because men keep their hands up."—Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and bestselling author

"The words 'favored nations'-that's an expression all women should know. In other words, you always want to be paid no less than what anyone else is being paid."—Nora Ephron, award-winning film director and bestselling author

"Just look around and you'll see plenty of evidence that asking for what we want results not in the realization of our own worst fears but in getting what we want."

—Arianna Huffington, President and Editor in Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group and bestselling author

"An inspiring evaluation of the potential women have to create fully productive lives at work and at home."—Kirkus Reviews

"Penetratingly honest... a straight-from-the-shoulder everywoman story, told with heart and verve."
—Lesley Stahl, 60 Minutes and CBS News correspondent

"A rallying cry for women to get the money they deserve."—TheAtlantic.com

"Opportunity has seasoned Brzezinski but not hardened her, and having found her venue and voice with Morning Joe, she shares a refreshingly pragmatic approach for the professional woman: don't wait to have children and don't let your job treat you like a bad boyfriend."
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

The co-host of MSNBC's “Morning Joe” uses her efforts to overcome wage disparity as an illustration of the ways women undercut themselves in the business world by not believing in their value to an enterprise. Consulting with a range of people with experience in business—from Jack Welch to Suze Orman and Nora Ephron, among others—she dissects the reasons she failed and then ultimately succeeded in improving her salary. Although this is not a practical guide for women who can’t afford to give ultimatums when seeking a raise, the book provides insights worth noting. Coleen Marlo is a steady narrator who reflects the strength and confidence of the author. Her conversational style is easy to listen to. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

JULY 2011 - AudioFile