20 Summer Power Reads: Books for Business Women

Take some alone time this summer to sharpen your business skills. Here are our Top 20 new books published for business women, handpicked by In Your Shoes and loosely listed in order of sales rank by Barnes & Noble:

All Things at Once

1. All Things at Once. By Mika Brzezinski. Published January 2010. 256 pages. Description: Brzezinski is MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host. Her book provides inspiration and motivation to help women of all ages confront the unique professional and personal challenges they face in key life moments.

2. How Remarkable Women Lead: The Breakthrough Model for Work and Life. By Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston. Published September 2009. 368 pages. Description: Based on five years of proprietary research, Barsh and Cranston establish the links between joy, happiness and distinctive performance based on the model of Centered Leadership.

3. The Power of Many: Values for Success in Business and in Life. By Meg Whitman. Published January 2010. 288 pages. Description: Is it possible to run a multibillion-dollar corporation on the power of trust? Must you set aside your authentic self as you climb the corporate ladder? Whitman, the former president and CEO of eBay, identifies the core values that can steer leaders to success without ethical compromise.

4. Girl on Top: Your Guide to Turning Dating Rules into Career Success. By Nicole Williams. Published October 2009. 194 pages. Description: Williams provides a fresh approach: taking the tactics used to land a man and applying them to your career. She introduces 20 tried-and-true dating rules such as Don’t Give Away the Milk for Free and Don’t Waste the Pretty, and reveals how they can be applied just as effectively in the office.

5. The Next Generation of Women Leaders: What You Need to Lead but Won’t Learn in Business School. By Selena Rezvani. Published January 2010. 184 pages. Description: A collection of advice and stories of women at the top echelons of their fields. Provides a great leadership outlook for Generation X and Y women.

6. Womenomics: Work Less, Achieve More, Live Better. By Claire Shipman and Katty Kay. Published June 2009. 256 pages. Description: Journalists Shipman and Kay provide facts and a fresh perspective on the growing power of women in today’s marketplace. The book shows women how to redefine success, be productive and build satisfying careers that don’t require an all-or-nothing lifestyle.

7. The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide: Get What You Want in Work and Life (and Look Great While You’re at It). By Debra Shigley. Foreword by Nancy Lublin. Published September 2009. 256 pages. Description: Based on interviews with hundreds of successful, stylish young women — including award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, Spanx founder Sara Blakely and bestselling novelist Emily Griffin — the book provides a no-excuses, big-picture way of thinking about your life and career.

8. Women Lead the Way: Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World. By Linda Tarr-Whelan. Published October 2009. 240 pages. Description: Tarr-Whelan presents a discussion of women’s leadership styles and roles rooted in theory, research and the practicalities of the modern workplace.

9. Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers. By Lois P. Frankel. Published June 2010. 268 pages. Description: Frankel reveals how girlish behaviors may be sabotaging your career. She also provides guidance on how to eliminate these unconscious mistakes and offers tips for improving business and social skills.

10. The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business. By Susan Wilson Solovic. Foreword by Michael E. Gerber. Published November 2009. 210 pages. Description: Solovic is head of SBTV.com (Small Business Television), an authority on making money and building a thriving business. She shows women how to gain the confidence and knowledge they need to become successful entrepreneurs.

11. The Road to Someplace Better: From the Segregated South to Harvard Business School and Beyond. By Lillian Lincoln Lambert and Rosemary Brutico. Foreword by Cathy Hughes. Published January 2010. 238 pages. Description: Lambert rose from humble beginnings as a poor farm girl in the segregated South to become the first black woman to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. She went on to found a $20 million maintenance company with 1,200 employees. Lambert shares how she achieved the American dream — moving from dead-end jobs to the world of entrepreneurship.

12. There’s No Crying in Business: How Women Can Succeed in Male-Dominated Industries. By Roxanne Rivera. Published December 2009. 178 pages. Description: Rivera writes for women who aspire to top positions in companies and industries where men traditionally have held those positions. The book is based on interviews with women academics, engineers, politicians, mathematicians, neurologists and others in male-dominated organizations, as well as the author’s own experiences in the construction industry.

13. The Female Vision: Women’s Real Power at Work. By Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith. Published June 2010. 192 pages. Description: Based on extensive research and workplace experience, Helgesen demonstrates that what women perceive in organizations and beyond — often going unnoticed and unrewarded — is exactly what many companies need to succeed.

14. Career GPS: Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscape. By Ella L.J. Edmondson Bell with Linda Villarosa. Published February 2010. 234 pages. Description: New opportunities are open to women who understand the current rules for corporate success. The book offers guidelines to help women forge their own pathways to professional ascent, including tips on maximizing a review, networking and more.

15. The Women’s Small Business Start-up Kit: A Step-by-Step Legal Guide. By Peri Pakroo. Published May 2010. 520 pages. Description: Pakroo, an attorney and small business expert, offers advice on crafting a business plan, designing a marketing strategy, choosing the appropriate legal structure, handling employment issues and working with legal and financial professionals. She also covers the challenges of the home-based business.

16. The Female Brand: Using the Female Market to Succeed in Business. By Catherine Kaputa. Published June 2009. 220 pages. Description: Kaputa, a marketing and brand expert, mines anecdotes from successful women and her personal experience to insist that women will get farther in the workplace by using the strengths unique to them.

17. Down to Business: The First 10 Steps to Entrepreneurship for Women. By Clara Villarosa and Alicia Villarosa. Published September 2009. 256 pages. Description: Villarosa, an independent bookstore owner, provides a targeted plan to help women launch the small businesses of their dreams.

18. Breaking Into The Boys’ Club. By Molly Dickinson Shepard, Peter J. Dean and Jane K. Stimmler. Published May 2009. 240 pages. Description: A guide for women who want to advance professionally, this book explores the mistakes women make and how to fix them in order to achieve more personal and professional satisfaction and success.

19. Outstanding in Their Field: How Women Corporate Directors Succeed. By Elizabeth Ghaffari. Published June 2009. 247 pages. Description: Ghaffari, an expert in female board representation, shows what it takes to get nominated to  corporate board and become a productive and respected member.

20. How Women Mean Business: A Step by Step Guide to Profiting from Gender Balanced Business. By Avivah Wittenberg-Cox. Published June 2010. 424 pages. Description: Wittenberg-Cox shows businesses how to achieve a healthy and profitable balance through audit, awareness, alignment and sustainability.

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