Grow Your Value

April 1, 2015
Constructive advice for women on the work-life balance.In her latest book, Morning Joe co-host Brzezinski (Obsessed: America's Food Addiction-And My Own, 2013, etc.) continues with the theme she started in Knowing Your Value (2011). Using interviews from such successful women as PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Latina movement leader Nely Galan, and Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive, among many others, Brzezinski examines how women have really begun to find their balance and demonstrate their value in the workplace but continue to struggle to find that same kind of equilibrium at home. "According to a 2013 Pew study," writes the author, "only 16 percent of those Americans polled thought a home with the mother working full time was the best environment in which to raise a child....The whole proposition of being a breadwinning or career-driven mother is murky, sticky, and messy." Brzezinski recounts the time she moderated a panel for the White House Summit on Working Families and received absolute silence when she asked the group of distinguished and highly accomplished women how they juggled the work-life balance. From this launching point, she delves into the conflicting emotions that women experience as they try to advance their careers and still maintain rewarding home lives. Throughout, Brzezinski's prose is upbeat and encouraging, and she fills the narrative with personal stories of her own successes and mishaps, as well as those of her interview subjects. These provide a guide for women who have been struggling to equalize their lives, are just beginning to enter the workforce, and/or are ready to start a long-term relationship with or without children. As the author knows, anyone has the power to make wise decisions regarding his or her work and home lives, and this book will encourage plenty of readers to find that power and use it. An inspiring evaluation of the potential women have to create fully productive lives at home and at work.

May 15, 2015
Knowing something and acting upon that knowledge are often two very different things. For Brzezinski, the insights she gained through researching and writing her best-seller, Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Knowing What You're Worth (2011), were in danger of disintegrating as her multifaceted success took some alarming personal tolls. Is the notion of having it all a myth, or can women truly balance career and relationships? The lessons she imparted to help women gain equity and recognition in the workplace also have applications in the home, she found, yet learning how to make the switch from team captain to team player is often easier said than done. Interviews with accomplished women such as Senator Claire McCaskill, fashion mogul Tory Burch, and Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin shine bright insight into the complex balancing acts women manage every day. Brzezinski humanizes her motivating entreaties with candid admissions of her own misgivings and insecurities to make this inspirational guide widely applicable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)