Female Firebrands: Stories and Techniques to Ignite Change, Take Control, and Succeed in the Workplace

Not Quite What I’d Thought (or Hoped) It Would Be I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, it felt too strident and rigid in places. I had incorrectly assumed by the title that this would essentially be the detailed stories of 13 female “firebrands.” The author did share stories of 13 women who own companies or are in other ways influential (or have influential companies), but the stories weren't as detailed as I'd hoped (or even really stories in the way they are typically shared in books like this). The bulk of the book instead looked at several different gender inequality problems women have (and have historically had) in the workplace, specifically issues with privilege, sexual harassment, female rivalry, and parenthood. Much of this book sounded the same. While the author strove to include a diversity of people in her spotlights, it didn't come across as a diversity of voices. The women's stories sounded much the same, and I find myself wondering if the author had included voices of those further down the rungs of power whether we would have gotten that diversity of voices. After all, women in more powerful positions have a certain level of privilege that comes with leadership or managerial titles that those rank-and-file employees don’t have. That is not to say that their struggles aren’t real; not at all! But women in less powerful positions don’t have as many options or arrows in their quivers. I read a lot of nonfiction, and I like for any non-fiction book to be true to the promise of its title, having the book actually deliver on that promise. I don't feel like that happened here. The emphasis was not on these female firebrands but on gender inequality issues. It's completely fine for a book to be about that, of course, but be honest in your title about what the book is going to be about. That way, if someone's not interested in your topic, they can easily move on. For instance, I would have certainly been interested in detailed stories of women who struggled and triumphed, sharing their universal lessons, which is what I thought this book was going to be about from the title. The topic I actually got in this book is something that I wouldn't have chosen to read/listen to if I had known beforehand. The book could have been better organized. The different women's stories might have been better interspersed with the main topics instead of being separate from them. Having the women separately first followed by a deeper look at the issues themselves just didn't work. I also didn't like the tone and some specific words the author used. She tried very hard to be inclusive and espouse being nonjudgmental—good things—yet at times she came across as very judgmental of people who disagreed with her. For instance, in the chapter on privilege, she made a statement that those who thought differently than her were clearly blinded by privilege. That's an ad hominem attack for one thing, which I never like to see in books like this; it's also black-and-white thinking, and the world's nature is more complex than that. Why does the author think her opinion is the only correct one? As soon as we label people like that—see only ourselves as right—we shut down the lines of communication and calcify our own thoughts. As a female in my 50s, I have worked for a variety of organizations and owned my own (very small) businesses. I have experienced some of these topics firsthand and know their ugliness. I strongly believe that women ought to have their proper place at the table, so to speak, whether it is someone else's table or one we fashion ourselves. Many practices and institutional blind spots here are abhorrent, and they shouldn't happen in this day and age. But I don't think a book like this helps further that conversation, at least in a helpful way. Like the title, it is more apt to be incendiary than helpful. I received a free copy of the audiobook version of this, but that did not affect my review.