Have you ever wondered why women still earn 78 cents for every $1 a man makes? Do you wonder why women still only make up 18% of the corporate boardrooms, even though we make 85% of consumer spending decisions in the United States? Or do you want to know why women only make up 17% of elected positions in the US, even though we’re twice as likely to vote as men?

Gloria Feldt has some surprising answers in her new book No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power. In No Excuses, Feldt argues that no one is holding women back but themselves. Just think about that statement for a minute. No one is stopping women from claiming positions of leadership. We can vote. We can run for office. We can start our own companies. No one is telling us, “no.” But even though there are 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, women are still hesitant to embrace their power.

No Excuses provides some interesting research to back up Gloria Feldt’s claims, and there are inspiring interviews with women from across the country who share their stories of embracing their power. In fact, Gloria offers women tools for taking practical steps in their lives to embrace that power. She calls them the “power tools,” and she has been going even more in depth each week on her 9 Ways Blog.

I love the power tools in No Excuses. Instead of pointing the finger at this or that problem, Gloria provides practical solutions. One of my favorite tools is “Use What You’ve Got.” We all have strengths that we can employ to equalize our lives. Take me for example. I love to write, I am comfortable talking to people, I can research and assimilate information into a coherent argument, I tell a good joke, and I love to cook. All of these are skills that can be employed to make a difference. (I included cooking on the list because people have a harder time telling me “no” when I’m offering them a cupcake.) [Read more...]