Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women's Paths to Power

What Were We Thinking?

Asking for permission, not making waves, denying our career ambition, doing as we are told, following the rules. These are not punishable offenses, but they do throw a roadblock across our path to power at work. Are the vastly different behaviors exhibited by men and women around ambition a style issue or something else?

One answer is that women are taught to be submissive “nice girls” as children, and it's a habit that many of us carry with us into the office. According to Linda Babcock, professor at Carnegie-Mellon University and coauthor of Women Don't Ask, “This reluctance to promote our own interests is not an innate quality or a genetic blind spot in women. As a society, we teach little girls … that it's not nice ...