This One's For the Ladies...

After I'd accepted the job in Geneva, my ECD, Ken Erke, recommended I check out the book Getting Ahead by Going Abroad. He had met one of its authors during a presentation to Kraft. "Great premise," I thought. "Very appropriate." So I jumped online and ordered a copy. It wasn't until it arrived that noticed the subhead:

"A Woman's Guide to Fast-track Career Success."

With a conspicuous lack of estrogen, I emailed the authors who assured me that 80% of the book still applied to me as a man. So I cracked it open. (In a very masculine way.)

I ended up skimming the first few chapters that asked "Is going abroad right for you?" (a little late there, sisters), and "How to land a job overseas" (Done). By the time I got to the areas that actually applied to me, the text was so peppered with advice on dealing with dating abroad and sexual harassment in foreign cultures that I couldn't go on without feeling like I should be in a pants suit.

So I left the book with some of the women at Y&R Chicago. (Oddly, the two who asked to borrow it first were both citizens of other countries, already ahead and abroad.)

It seems like a very good book. I've been told it's very inspiring. If I get sexually harassed in Switzerland, I'll just have to order another copy.