Swim with the Dolphins: How Women Can Succeed in Corporate America on Their Own Terms

by Connie Glaser and Barbara Steinberg Smalley

Book Overview

Based on interviews with female managers, and featuring helpful charts and lists, this intelligent blueprint for managerial achievement presents new techniques for success in corporate America that rely on traditional feminine strengths--nurturing, caring, motivating and other characteristics that empower managers and help employees thrive.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446671843
• ISBN13: 9780446671842
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Real Answer

I get really tired of the, "This is how you manipulate men in the work place so you can get ahead." It was really refreshing to read something that said, "It IS a male-dominated workplace, but if you educate yourself and are aware of the unspoken rules, you can BE YOURSELF and succeed by navigating the waters." The analogies using the differences between a shark and a dolphin were so easy to understand, it made me wonder why I hadn't seen it before. I would recommend this book to any woman who wants to succeed without being turning into a b_tch in a dog-eat-dog work world.

A modern-day classic

The shark attack is finally over! This book, a step-by-step manual for all women trying to make it in the business world, has withstood the test of time. Practical hands-on advice, inspiring profiles of successful women, and the knowledge that we can make it on our own terms - without having to sacrifice our own values or principles. Essential reading for every women who aspires to success - as a dolphin and not a shark.

Insightful!

Connie Brown Glaser and Barbara Steinberg Smalley argue that female managers no longer need to act like men to be successful. Instead, women managers should depend on their natural attributes - intuition, nurturing, having respect for individuals - to create webs rather than hierarchies. This bold, timely book is packed with profiles of women who have succeeded on their own terms. The writing is lean and cuts to the chase. We [...] recommend this book as a likely inspiration and a helpful guide to most women (particularly managers) trying to cope with the old folkways of corporate America. The male manager will also find that it offers him a new perspective at work and a wake-up call at home. [Note: This book is not linked to Harvey MacKay's Swim With the Sharks, which focuses on selling, negotiating, and marketing.]

Swimming Together in the Corporate Blender

Swim with the Dolphins is one of the most valuable books executives can read as they attempt to understand which strategies for interpersonal relations will be most effective during the new century. Co-authored by Connie Glaser and Barbara Steinberg Smalley (and published by Warner Books), Dolphins explains "how women can succeed in corporate America on their own terms."There are dozens of checklists throughout Dolphins which are of practical and immediate value. Also insightful profiles of women who have succeeded in business. No two are the same, of course, but they tended to face (and overcome) the same barriers. I suggest that Dolphins be read in combination with Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management (published by Harvard Business School Press) because Drucker's various essays provide a rock-solid framework within which to apply the wealth of information and wisdom which Glaser and Smalley so generously provide in Dolphins. To a significant extent, this is a "what to do...what not to do" guide for women who are determined to succeed in corporate America. For that reason alone, it is a stunning achievement. But I think the book's importance transcends narrowly-defined (albeit legitimate) gender issues. There is much that all of us, male or female, can learn from Dolphins. And there is much for all of us, male or female, to do. For example, eliminating all of the barriers to success for women in corporate America. Most of them are illegal and all of them are unconscionable.

I just keep telling myself - go ahead and be a dolphin!

This book really helped me to validate my personality and management style. I really am a dolphin (intelligent, but warm and personable), rather than a shark, and I am striving to succeed (as a woman executive in a large corporation) without compromising those qualities. I have always wondered if I should try to be more of a shark; now I am content to remain a dolphin.My only criticism is that the book was somewhat wordy and bogged down in places. But the messages were good and case stories interesting. This book can easily be read in a weekend, then passed on to others.