How To Be A Real Boss

 How to be a Boss has been a viral meme for almost a decade: Girlboss, Bosslady, #likeaboss. Think Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada, an impeccably dressed ballbuster who kicks ass, takes names, manipulates others and has one face for home (usually sad) and another for work (always mean). She’s a frigid monarch obsessed with perfection and proud of the dog-eat-dog environment she’s cultivated at work. In the past, we’ve worked with a few of these people who lead with fear rather than love and every time we’ve regretted it. Before we knew better, we sacrificed our own values of civility and kindness in order to work with rising star clients, category leaders, or a load of cash. But in the end, we learned that being nice and working with nice people is not only sustainable and joyful but ... directly and positively impacts the bottom line for all parties involved. Nice is a necessity and Fran Hauser’s The Myth of the Nice Girlis the instruction manual. Whether you are at the starting block of your career or well along your way, this book is a must-read for every woman in the workplace.

We crossed paths with Fran years ago during her tenure at Time Inc. when she was building the iconic media brands People, Entertainment, and InStyle. She was a powerhouse then, as she is now. Fran is brilliant. Fran is effective. And Fran is nice. Really nice. She takes an attribute that has been baked in our collective unconscious as a trite weakness "sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what little girls are made of,” and turns it into a powerful force that attracts, retains, and nourishes people and partnerships.Myth of the Nice Girl is a critical read especially in our current political climate of bullying and name calling. Through personal stories and helpful takeaway summaries at the end of each chapter, Hauser will teach you to use your natural instincts—kindness, empathy, desire for personal connections—to give you an edge in business and in life. And her learnings, from confronting a bully to handling performance evaluations to negotiating salaries and getting what you deserve professionally and personally are delivered with wit, honesty and expertise. We hope The Myth of the Nice Girl becomes requisite reading for every leader, regardless of gender, and that the myth eventually becomes legend.