Tread Loudly: Call Out the Bullsh*t and Fight for Equality in the Workplace

by Kristine Cherek

Overview

Shatter the glass ceiling in stilettos
​In Tread Loudly, Kristine Cherek shares her experiences as a female professional in a male-dominated culture. Through her two-decade journey as a female attorney, corporate executive, and college professor, Cherek has cultivated a plethora of wisdom and poignant guidance to share about how to persevere in the biased world of business . . . and life in general. 
Cherek is here to tell you that, as women in the workforce and in broader society, you are not alone. She dispels the myth of “having it all” and uses personal stories and relatable examples to convey how you can—
•dream big, 
•take risks, and
•go for what you want. 
In this inspiring call to action, Cherek shines a light on the bias, gender discrimination, and inequities that women still face in the workplace. She calls on business leaders to make the changes necessary to level the playing field and invites you to join in the fight for equality.
She wants you to be empowered to demand equal treatment and speak out against wrongs. She wants you to know, believe, and live the truth that you do not have to dim your light to fit into a predetermined role in society. You not only have the power to succeed in your career, but you also have the power to change the workplace culture for women who will come after you.  

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781956072174
Publisher:	BrainTrust Ink
Publication date:	01/16/2024
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,019,900
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kristine Cherek is an attorney, former law professor, writer, and philanthropist. She began her career practicing real estate law at an international law firm. By age 33, she was the general counsel of one of the nation’s largest real estate development companies. She currently serves on multiple nonprofit boards where she advocates for arts education, equity and access in higher education, and animal welfare. She is a 6-time marathon runner, former college cheerleader, and avid Marquette University alumni. She and her husband reside in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, with their two rescue cats.

Editorial Reviews

01/22/2024

Cherek’s inspiring yet straight-talking debut is part personal account of the experiences of a woman professional enduring microaggressions and bad advice (“The key to success … is to increase one’s grit level”) in a male-dominated work culture, part blueprint for transformative societal change, and part compendium of advice for women building their own careers. Arguing that women (and other minorities) have been at best neglected and at worse exploited in American society, Cherek picks up the call of economic equality and equitable treatment at a time when “only one in four C-suite leaders is a woman, and only one in 20 is a woman of color.” Sharing revealing anecdotes from her own career, which found her often disillusioned and feeling unsupported, Cherek takes on the myths (“There’s no such thing as having it all”), expectations, and systemic biases and barriers holding so many back while sharing clear takeaways for those coming up behind her.

“I should be able to succeed in the corporate world without having to disguise, hide, or abandon who I am,” Cherek declares. With crisp, sometimes pugnacious prose and a sturdy moral compass, Cherek points out clear wrongs—including “crude jokes, awkward comments, blatant stares at my boobs and legs”—that in individual moments it might feel easy to just let slide. Doing so, she now argues, legitimizes the underlying assumptions of the biased. Instead, Cherek makes the case that thriving in the workplace—and improving society—means being truthful and encouraging women to tell their stories, to dare to quit bad jobs, and to not blame themselves when “the world or the workplace is unfairly stacked against you.”

Tread Loudly offers catharsis and hope as Cherek urges women to be bold—and be themselves. She buttresses her observations with examples from others’ careers and the hard facts of the closing chapter, which notes how women still lag far behind men in business, government and academia. A former attorney, she makes a compelling case for change.

Takeaway: Hard-won insight and guidance for women in male-dominated workplaces.

Comparable Titles: Alicia Menendez’s The Likeability Trap, Elaine Welteroth’s More Than Enough.

Production grades Cover: A- Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews

2024-01-15
A businesswoman with more than two decades of experience in male-dominated industries shares her advice for working women.

Cherek, who writes that she was raised in the 1970s by a divorced “Gloria Steinem–loving, unapologetic feminist mom,” learned early on to be fiercely independent and nurture her drive for success. She did so first as an attorney, then as a corporate vice president,law firm partner, and law professor. Using anecdotes from her own life and those of her friends, she reveals the behind-the-scenes messiness that often came with being professionally successful. When a colleague once noted that she was overwhelmed with balancing work with the tasks of daily living—without the help of a stay-at-home spouse, as many male colleagues had—Cherek revealed her secret: “‘My mom cleans my house. She does my laundry. She irons my clothes and puts them in the closet’.…That was the raw, brutal, truth. As a thirty-year-old professional woman, I literally could not have functioned as an adult with the career I had without the constant help of my mom.” The book reveals a dysfunctional corporate world in which workers don’t have time for basic personal tasks, but it also reveals that it’s OK to ask for help. Interspersed with these stories are plenty of statistics that show how many women in the workforce are in tenuous positions. Each section concludes with “Key Takeaways” that highlight the most important points. Cherek is rightly proud of her career achievements, but she’s also charmingly self-deprecating throughout, as when she tells of attending the University of Wisconsin Law School “armed with a lifetime of good grades, a long resume of extracurricular activities, and the naïve ambition of a toddler.” While some readers may find some parts less appealing, as when Cherek boastfully claims that she never liked dolls or Disney princesses (which seems to suggest that women who do like such things can’t be strong feminists), her clear, to-the-point advice is likely to motivate professional women who’ve doubted their abilities and need a good pep talk.

A sharp guide with plenty of practical tips and emotional support.

Kirkus Reviews