Saying NO to the Workplace Status Quo: 13 Women Who Are Rewriting the RulesWomen of all generations will nod in recognition at the stories of thirteen professional women from diverse backgrounds and industries as they recount the career challenges they’ve faced and how they have overcome bias, sexism, and the power imbalance. If you’ve ever wondered what a true firebrand is, you’ll find out in … out in Mikaela Kiner’s powerful first book.
Full of practical examples and valuable insights and techniques, Female Firebrands is an honest, modern, and solutions-oriented guide for dealing with situations working women know all too well: sexual harassment, not being taken seriously, and being talked over, passed over, underpaid, and underappreciated.
Just like millions of other women who are trying to navigate the workplace every day, the firebrands are whole people, dealing with work, family, balance, confidence, and the need to stay motivated and strong. These role models stand out from the crowd with their inspirational stories, not just because they’ve been successful in their careers, but also because they’re mission driven, doing good in the world, and making a difference for all women.
Mid-career professional women will read this book and know they’re not alone—and women earlier in their careers can save years of heartache and frustration by learning what’s worked for women who came before them.
Female Firebrands provides the wisdom and advice that will help you—
•Develop tools and techniques to stand and speak up on behalf of yourself and others when it’s both difficult and necessary
•Get better at recognizing “little indignities” you don’t have to tolerate
•Understand what it means to be an informed, empowered advocate for women
•Increase awareness of your own blind spots and biases so you can learn from them
•Recognize the role of privilege at work and how it can be used for positive change
Mikaela Kiner has an MS in Human Resources Management, is a certified executive coach, and is an experienced consultant. In 2015, Mikaela founded Reverb, a leading provider of innovative HR services for startups and growing companies in the Pacific Northwest. An HR leader for nearly twenty years, Kiner enjoys coaching leaders at all levels and helping companies build healthy, inclusive cultures. She’s been quoted in Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and The Muse and is a member of the Forbes Human Resources Council. Mikaela is married to Henry, a musician, artist, and teacher. Their two children, Simon and Sidonie, are good at challenging the status quo and are a constant source of learning and laughter. She lives with her family in Seattle.
“Reading Female Firebrands is like getting to listen to a private conversation among powerful, smart women sharing their war stories about the challenges of being a woman in the workplace. Kiner is personable, authentic, and pragmatic. The book combines inspiration with actionable advice targeted not only to female professionals, but also to men who want to be better advocates and HR and business leaders who want to lead better.”
—Julie Pham, VP of Community Engagement & Marketing, Washington Technology Industry Association
“A frank, straightforward examination of what women face in the workplace on a daily basis. Mikaela incorporates stories from a strong cross-section of women, with up-to-the-minute examples that made me ache with empathy, grind my teeth in indignation, and applaud the courage of women everywhere who are choosing to stand up to change the workplace for themselves—and for all of us.”
—Amy Sallin, Director at the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship
5 % of the profits from the sale of Female Firebrands will be donated to BEST—Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking
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Female Firebrands, written by Mikaela Kiner is a novel that can connect with situations all different kinds of women have come across in the business world. The personal stories she includes are of women of color, and women from all different backgrounds. Mikaela herself is highly successful and well known in her movements toward a healthier and better-suited environment for women and people of color. The women she includes have also been very successful and tell about their experiences and where they found growth in their lives. One of the parts of her book that really hit home for me was when she got into the way we women see other women. We see them as competition. I know that I always thought there was one spot for a role as a woman in a subject that was male-dominated. It’s important for me from here on out to work on my perspective of that and to instead see those women as friends and not competition to be beaten down. I think everyone can find something in this novel that will make them realize this common conception is wrong and to make moves to change that part of themselves that has that way of thinking and also spread this to others and be vocal about their beleifs. I dream of a world that women are not held to these double standards and expected to work and take care of the home. Women have been doing the imposible for years; but many are not happy and burn themselves out trying to do it all.
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.