The Skills

February 18, 2019
BBC anchor Husain issues a well-meaning but familiar guide to success for early- and mid-career women. After 20 years in broadcasting, Husain still sometimes feels that her courage came “later in life than it might have”; here she sets out to tell the truth about self-doubt; in particular, about managing it and forging ahead despite it. A perennial question, she shows, is figuring out how to feel at home in a new role even when one feels out of one’s depth. Moreover, she adds, remaining imbalances in the treatment of male and female professionals add an extra layer of complication for women trying to ascend the corporate ladder. Husain gives some time to the current state of workplace culture and to the undermining messages young girls are given about ambition, before moving on to the skills women need to succeed, such as starting out, speaking up for oneself, managing one’s digital life, and building resilience. This is all decent, solid advice, but very little is new, which will make this kindly worded primer a hard sell for business book buyers. Agent: Grainne Fox, Fletcher & Company.