There are, conservatively, 300 gazillion books published every year. No one has the time to list them, let alone read them or review them. That’s a problem because there’s a lot of value in many books you may not hear about because of the clutter. 

“Short Takes” is my humble effort to cut through the clutter and highlight business books that might be perfect for your next read. There are two reasons I think When Women Lead by Julia Boorstin is a fine candidate for your next read.

When I was coming up, there were no (or very nearly no) women leaders in business. That’s changing a When Women Lead can give you some insight into why, how far we’ve come, and how far we need to go. Women account for only 3 percent of all venture capital dollars. I think that’s scandalous.

The other reason is related to skillsets. Many women business leaders seem more willing to tease out diverse perspectives and ask more questions than male business leaders. If you’re a guy, reading this book is an opportunity to get a handle on how that works, and adopt some of those behaviors.

A big plus for me is that Julia Boorstin is a savvy business reporter. She knows how to tell a story or, in this case, sixty stories.

Here’s a link to the book’s page on Amazon and pointers to three pieces that will give you more insight into the book.

From Kirkus Reviews

“An investigation of women leaders and how they ‘have been able to turn genuine grievance into entrepreneurial grit.’ Boorstin, the senior media and tech correspondent for CNBC and a former reporter for Fortune, is interested in the differences between companies founded by women and those established by men. The author examines more than 60 companies.”

From CNBC

“When Women Lead Julia Boorstin: Top lessons from business leaders”

From Bob Morris

“In this brilliant book, Julia Boorstin provides an abundance of information, insights, and counsel while explaining

o How and why women build strong companies by overcoming the odds, building with purpose, leading with empathy, and engineering smart teams

o How they solve problems by reforming broken systems, embracing change, and managing in crisis

o And how they create new patterns by defying CEO stereotypes, discovering resilience, creating new communities, and defying bias with data”