1. The discussion of the imposter syndrome (~P29) is per se a bit arrogant, although quietly so. It is not problematic since the person seems to have the height and the foundation.
2. The 'flat A' (p33): it is not
that men don't regret that they forgot something in their exam answers. Men
probably don't openly talk about that as often; doing so may appear weak. The
trait that you get an A and still regret about is what makes you more
successful in your next job. I admire that in SS. I am a bit turned off by
people who drink a lot right after exams. I live in Chestnut Hill, MA, the
middle of arguably the country's best college town. I see many student swamp
bars and restaurants upon the completion of a quarter. I wonder how much regret
is behind the drinks and parties
3. Connecting with Larry Summers:
many say SS got lucky and was on fast track once getting into LS's wing and
network. The thing is: as it turns out now, Larry's 'pick' of SS apparently is
a great one. Obviously Larry cannot possibly pick everybody that passes into
his radar. The deciding factor I suppose has lot of to do with SS
4. This book is rumble-in-writing.
It may not score very high as a sociological thesis. In citing findings and
publications to get points moving, the skill is not there at advanced levels.
The kill, the intellectual bent and edge, however, is felt throughout. If you
read this book to get to know her better, this style serves better. I am glad
she is not co-writing the book with a 'biographer'
I am not sure how and what to use the
34 pages of Notes (Page 183 to Page 217): why this book needs to put Notes at
the end?
5. The 'sit-at-table' story (p27):
Perhaps in the conference room in DC, the ladies were used to not come straight
to the tables where seating means ranking, seniority, factions, power,
authorities,... structured, while a conference room
in the West Coast naturally is more unstructured. So attributing
the ladies slow to the table side
to gender roles may be a bit too fast 'out of confounding'
6. The book uses quite many
experiment findings, many of which are self-reporting and are good for news
reporting, but not analytically rigorous. A lot of generalizations are hasty.
In the field of analytics, at least as far as I know, we don't comment on
female colleagues’ style, success, personality, or likability. Your success is
in your work. There could also be geo-difference: a DC suburban area may have
very different gender culture from Brookline, MA
7. The whole page 42 deservers
reading multiple times. Every graduate school dean who intends to improve his
or her performance rating system must read this page
8. How not to create environment
where speaking up about one's own success is weighted too much towards
self-promotion is interesting managerial subject. In the world today where
emails prevail over speaker phone, girls are not necessarily lacking channel of
speaking out
9. I don't agree that women go out
to negotiate their salary and they have to justify it. Among other things, the
one sitting across the table negotiating on behalf of the company is a woman
The book, after page 90, starts to
hurry up. 'Reading value' goes down precipitously. I don't have many bright
spots to comment on.
