When Work Doesn't Work Anymore

Zusatztext "McKenna's book will likely become influential ...Frequently quoting from her talks with Gloria Steinem! Anna Quindlen and Letty Cottin Pogrebin! McKenna ...joins their prominence as a voice worth listening to." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Informationen zum Autor Elizabeth Perle McKenna is a graduate of Yale University. She worked in the publishing profession for eighteen years, holding publisher positions at Prentice-Hall, Addison-Wesley, William Morrow/Avon Books. She lives in New York City with her husband and son. Klappentext In this groundbreaking book! Elizabeth Perle McKenna challenges the outdated system of work for professional women! and encourages readers to re-examine work as their sole identities! and! if they are unhappy! to allow room for their Lives. For every worn-out! emotionally depleted female professional who has ever sighed! "there has got to be a better way!" here is the revolutionary book by Elizabeth Perle McKenna--herself a former publishing executive--that explores women's relationship with work. For decades! women have succeeded at traditional male jobs! but now! deep in the second stage of the feminist movement! they want lives that are integrated and whole. Based on original research and containing hundreds of interviews with prominent working women! this book exposes the inherent conflict between the way work traditionally is structured and rewarded! and what women desire and value in their lives. More important! it suggests new ways for women to identify their values! reclaim their identities! and define success on their own terms. Most importantly! this is not just another book about working mothers. Liz Perle McKenna deconstructs the myth that women can have it all! and shows that they risk true happiness until they give up that impossible ideal. The author's focus extends to every working woman who will most likely face a life-altering situation at some point in her career and will need to redefine what success means to her. Any woman who has been working for more than a few years will identify strongly with the issues raised here! and will be rewarded by the insights she gleans from this vital book. Leseprobe Here is my story. It is either a career woman's fantasy or worst nightmare. In all probability it's a little of both. But one day, after years of dedicated work, pleasure from what I did, and a rewarding record of achievement, I walked into my boss's office and quit. The decision wasn't sudden, even if the action was. It had been a long time in the making. I was tired, depressed, and no longer enjoying a job I had once loved. To stay in my position I had been paying an increasingly heavy price in pressure, politics, and stress. I was losing perspective about what was important to me. The quality of my life was lessening at the same time that quality was becoming more important. I needed a break and I wanted to rethink what my priorities were. For years I had gotten everything I needed from work and I felt puzzled, betrayed, and frightened that my career now seemed to be the problem, not the solution. I knew I had to make some changes but I didn't want to give anything up. Certainly not my career, which was sacred ground and synonymous with who I was. But there was less and less room for my "life"--whatever that was. If someone had told me then that giving up my professional identity would restore my love of work and then some, I would have asked them when they were released from the nuthouse. But that's what happened. It would take some time, though, before I discovered what enormous rewards were in store for me. At least I wasn't alone in my dilemma. Shortly after leaving work I picked up an issue of Fortune magazine. In it the editors had conducted a survey aimed at fleshing out the trend they perceived of widespread dissatisfaction of dedicated and accomplis...

Auteur
Elizabeth Perle McKenna is a graduate of Yale University.  She worked in the publishing profession for eighteen years, holding publisher positions at Prentice-Hall, Addison-Wesley, William Morrow/Avon Books.  She lives in New York City with her husband and son.

Texte du rabat

In this groundbreaking book, Elizabeth Perle McKenna challenges the outdated system of work for professional women, and encourages readers to re-examine work as their sole identities, and, if they are unhappy, to allow room for their Lives. For every worn-out, emotionally depleted female professional who has ever sighed, "there has got to be a better way," here is the revolutionary book by Elizabeth Perle McKenna--herself a former publishing executive--that explores women's relationship with work. For decades, women have succeeded at traditional male jobs, but now, deep in the second stage of the feminist movement, they want lives that are integrated and whole. Based on original research and containing hundreds of interviews with prominent working women, this book exposes the inherent conflict between the way work traditionally is structured and rewarded, and what women desire and value in their lives. More important, it suggests new ways for women to identify their values, reclaim their identities, and define success on their own terms. Most importantly, this is not just another book about working mothers. Liz Perle McKenna deconstructs the myth that women can have it all, and shows that they risk true happiness until they give up that impossible ideal. The author's focus extends to every working woman who will most likely face a life-altering situation at some point in her career and will need to redefine what success means to her. Any woman who has been working for more than a few years will identify strongly with the issues raised here, and will be rewarded by the insights she gleans from this vital book.

Échantillon de lecture
Here is my story.  It is either a career woman's fantasy or worst nightmare.  In all probability it's a little of both.  But one day, after years of dedicated work, pleasure from what I did, and a rewarding record of achievement, I walked into my boss's office and quit.  The decision wasn't sudden, even if the action was.  It had been a long time in the making.  I was tired, depressed, and no longer enjoying a job I had once loved.  To stay in my position I had been paying an increasingly heavy price in pressure, politics, and stress.  I was losing perspective about what was important to me.  The quality of my life was lessening at the same time that quality was becoming more important.  I needed a break and I wanted to rethink what my priorities were.  For years I had gotten everything I needed from work and I felt puzzled, betrayed, and frightened that my career now seemed to be the problem, not the solution.  I knew I had to make some changes but I didn't want to give anything up.  Certainly not my career, which was sacred ground and synonymous with who I was.  But there was less and less room for my "life"--whatever that was.  If someone had told me then that giving up my professional identity would restore my love of work and then some, I would have asked them when they were released from the nuthouse.  But that's what happened.  It would take some time, though, before I discovered what enormous rewards were in store for me.

At least I wasn't alone in my dilemma.

Shortly after leaving work I picked up an issue of Fortune  magazine.  In it the editors had conducted a survey aimed at fleshing out the trend they perceived of widespread dissatisfaction of dedicated and accomplished career women--women like me who had ground slowly to a halt on the road of their dreams and needed to make some changes.  "The generation of women that blazed new …