- Paperback: 290 pages
- Publisher: Potter Style; Reprint edition (9 Sep 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0307351130
- ISBN-13: 978-0307351135
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 1.8 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
710,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #80 in Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management > Management Skills > Inspriration
Basic Black
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
New York Times Bestseller ... #1 BusinessWeek Bestseller ... Wall Street Journal Bestseller
• Pursue Your Passions
• Take Risks That Are Calculated, Not Crazy
• Achieve “The 360° Life”
• Make Your Life a Grudge-Free Zone
• Orchestrate Your Own Success
The bestselling guide to seizing opportunity in the workplace, from the woman at the pinnacle of the Hearst magazine empire
Every woman dreams of having a wise, funny mentor who understands the challenges she faces. Now, Cathie Black—one of Forbes’s “100 Most Powerful Women” and Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business”—offers invaluable lessons that will help you land the job, promotion, or project you’re vying for. You’ll find out how to handle interviews, which rules to break, and why you should make your life a grudge-free zone. Filled with surprisingly candid, personal stories and advice, this is the only career guide you’ll ever need.
• Pursue Your Passions
• Take Risks That Are Calculated, Not Crazy
• Achieve “The 360° Life”
• Make Your Life a Grudge-Free Zone
• Orchestrate Your Own Success
The bestselling guide to seizing opportunity in the workplace, from the woman at the pinnacle of the Hearst magazine empire
Every woman dreams of having a wise, funny mentor who understands the challenges she faces. Now, Cathie Black—one of Forbes’s “100 Most Powerful Women” and Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business”—offers invaluable lessons that will help you land the job, promotion, or project you’re vying for. You’ll find out how to handle interviews, which rules to break, and why you should make your life a grudge-free zone. Filled with surprisingly candid, personal stories and advice, this is the only career guide you’ll ever need.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This isn't the kind of book I'd usually read but it was recommended to me by someone who'd seen it on Oprah. As a Marketing graduate looking for work I'd definitely say there are some useful tips (everything from dressing to maintaining a personal life and dealing with difficult people) and advice as well as insight into the workplace. All in all a quick, easy, interesting read (if a little too american-style pep-talky) which I'd recommend to those just starting out in their careers. It may be a little too 'basic' for others unless you're interested in the woman herself.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Of course as one of Americas most powerful women she is worth listening to, what's more this book contains invaluable lessons you can use to succeed in your career and life. Black explains how she achieved "the 360° life," a blend of professional accomplishment and personal contentment, and how any woman can seize opportunity in the workplace. Sharing her candid, personal stories, Black offers a close-up look at the keen judgment, perseverance, and optimism that propelled her to the top of her game.
Another book I highly recommend is Understanding: Train of Thought.
Another book I highly recommend is Understanding: Train of Thought.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
82 reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Basic Blah -- not a how-to, not a memoir
11 Mar 2008
Format:Hardcover
Despite this book's subtitle stating that it is a "Guide," I felt this book was more of a memoir than a how-to. It has components of both, and succeeds as neither.
Some of Black's anecdotes about her rise to the top were memorable -- most notably the one in which she very publicly gives one of her superiors a giant tomato from her garden, in order to make an impression on him.
But Black doesn't succeed in turning the anecdote into a lesson. It's just a story about a stunt she pulled to publicize herself -- and in the telling, it comes off as a lame stunt at that. (She also kept referring to the tomato as a "vegetable," which drove me nuts.)
Oddly enough, a few chapters later, she talks about a hopeful interviewee who sent her a four-foot-tall potted plant as a thank-you gift. Black makes fun of the gift and advises against readers doing something similar. I don't get it. Why is it clever for Black to go to a big meeting and give somebody a giant tomato, but it's stupid for a potential new hire to send Black a large plant?
Basic Black is full of muddles like this. In another anecdote, Black talks about the first executive resort getaway she organized after joining Hearst. She tells us that she booked the getaway at a Florida resort that was "not your father's resort," and yet she doesn't give other details to show why the place was so different, special, and fabulous. She does mention that the decor features sweeping floor-to-ceiling draperies.
Later, she describes making a speech to the Hearst execs, and makes a big deal about her rallying cry of, "It's time to shake the dust off the curtains at Hearst!" At which point, she gestured to the resort's big curtains.
Uh, OK. So that was it? You pointed at the curtains, AND...?
And nothing. That's the end of the story. Apparently she is to be congratulated for booking a resort that had fantastic curtains, and then working the curtains into her speech. The book doesn't go any deeper into the Big Curtain Metaphor to provide any advice for the reader. The anecdote falls flat.
As does much of the book. I found very little in it that was interesting or worthwhile. The "Devil is in the Details" chapter was probably the best one. It broke out, in list form, various dos and don'ts of maintaining and upgrading one's career and personal relationships.
But there is very little actual "advice" in this book, so don't be fooled by the subtitle, or by a quick flip-through -- those little red-boxed bits of "advice" peppered through the text were more like lame fortune-cookie fortunes, empty aphorisms.
Some of Black's anecdotes about her rise to the top were memorable -- most notably the one in which she very publicly gives one of her superiors a giant tomato from her garden, in order to make an impression on him.
But Black doesn't succeed in turning the anecdote into a lesson. It's just a story about a stunt she pulled to publicize herself -- and in the telling, it comes off as a lame stunt at that. (She also kept referring to the tomato as a "vegetable," which drove me nuts.)
Oddly enough, a few chapters later, she talks about a hopeful interviewee who sent her a four-foot-tall potted plant as a thank-you gift. Black makes fun of the gift and advises against readers doing something similar. I don't get it. Why is it clever for Black to go to a big meeting and give somebody a giant tomato, but it's stupid for a potential new hire to send Black a large plant?
Basic Black is full of muddles like this. In another anecdote, Black talks about the first executive resort getaway she organized after joining Hearst. She tells us that she booked the getaway at a Florida resort that was "not your father's resort," and yet she doesn't give other details to show why the place was so different, special, and fabulous. She does mention that the decor features sweeping floor-to-ceiling draperies.
Later, she describes making a speech to the Hearst execs, and makes a big deal about her rallying cry of, "It's time to shake the dust off the curtains at Hearst!" At which point, she gestured to the resort's big curtains.
Uh, OK. So that was it? You pointed at the curtains, AND...?
And nothing. That's the end of the story. Apparently she is to be congratulated for booking a resort that had fantastic curtains, and then working the curtains into her speech. The book doesn't go any deeper into the Big Curtain Metaphor to provide any advice for the reader. The anecdote falls flat.
As does much of the book. I found very little in it that was interesting or worthwhile. The "Devil is in the Details" chapter was probably the best one. It broke out, in list form, various dos and don'ts of maintaining and upgrading one's career and personal relationships.
But there is very little actual "advice" in this book, so don't be fooled by the subtitle, or by a quick flip-through -- those little red-boxed bits of "advice" peppered through the text were more like lame fortune-cookie fortunes, empty aphorisms.
36 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Basic Black Teaches Basic Work Skills
24 Nov 2007
Format:Hardcover
I enjoyed this book as a corporate skills review. Cathie Black's book gives good information on basic business life skills. This book gives advice on how to handle the corporate environment and what to do to avoid some office politic pitfalls. However, the subtitle of the book "the essential guide for getting ahead at work (and in life)" does not hold true to the final story. This book does not talk about life outside of the corporate circle Cathie Black lives. Unless you are a recent new corporate entry, most of this book is leadership review. This book helps to iterate what is learned over years of working. Cathie's work stories tend to become tired by 3/4 through the book and her experiences seem limited to some degree. I recommend this book for young, fresh out of college corporate women. They will learn some basic leadership skills from this book.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Applaud the effort, question the value for women
8 Jan 2008
Format:Hardcover
As a highly successful working woman and mother, I'm always interested in hearing from other successful working women--and I thank Cathie Black for her attempt. I'm tired of books written by men. And even though women have the money and buying power, there aren't enough books out there for us. Yet, this book disappointed me. Cathie Black's book is black and white: an over-drive of ego. Her stories center around her brilliance. She comes off as self-obsorbed and shallow. Where are the business books written by women that have walked our path--eager to share their stories as a woman, mother, wife? Don't tell me to be driven and take risks. I do that every day. Don't bore me with your love story with yourself. Surely she could do more for women than canned testimonials and naming a book afer herself. I wish you would have dug deeper, Cathie.
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