And It Shall Be GivenOctober 6, 2008 I heard an interview with the authors of Ask For It on National Public Radio immediately bought their book. It more than fulfilled my expectations. Ask For It is crammed with useful information about how to negotiate, not only for a fair salary but also for other things that are important in life. I particularly enjoyed reading the many stories which provide experiences that mirror our own work situations. The authors are both distinguished scholars: Linda Babcock is a Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon University and Sara Laschever has written for The Harvard Business Review and The New York Times. The reader ultimate learns a good lesson: If you don't ask for it, the possibility that anyone will come along and hand it to you, is pretty close to zero. Buy this book and it will pay for itself a thousand times over.
Irena Chalmers Author of Food Jobs: 150 Great Jobs for Culinary Students, Career Changers and Food Lovers www.foodjobsbook.com
Decent bookJune 30, 2008 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The concept of this book is right on target. The "meat" of the book can be a little too simplified. I recommend it for young women just starting their careers - it offers advice that I wish I knew 30 years ago!
A book for women who think they don't need this bookJune 14, 2008 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I picked up this book with smug curiosity, confident that being able to ask for what I want was certainly NOT my issue. But what an eye-opener! I was guilty of every excuse in the book for not asking, on a day to day basis.
Asking doesn't just mean at the office. ASK FOR IT is about taking the time to identify one's life's desires, large and small, and asserting oneself with dignity, grace, and even humor.
This book is full of fun anecdotes, but also gives detailed instruction as to HOW to ask when one feels the need, but feels too uncertain about the fall out.
I can honestly say this book has changed my life. Period.
Practical and realistic guide to learning negotiationMay 31, 2008 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
After "Women Don't Ask," we knew that, as women, we are trained to fear and avoid negotiation - and that the personal cost of that training runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime (not to mention deep unhappiness and the waste of human potential). But everyone who read "Women Don't Ask" came back with the same question: How do I learn to negotiate?
"Ask for It" is the practical answer to that question. The authors give step-by-step instructions on how to learn to ask for (and get) what you want. The first step is to figure out what it is you want in life, above and beyond what you think you will be allowed to have. It's a surprisingly hard task when you've been trained to think about and fill other people's wants - try it! The program progresses by baby steps from there, negotiating for very minor unimportant things up to asking for things you are sure you can't get. As you progress, you'll learn by experience that you can get more than you think, and that people generally react much more positively to asking than you expect. Asking works, asking is safe, asking will make your life better.
One of the things I loved about "Women Don't Ask" was the inclusion of many studies conducted by social scientists on women and negotiation. "Ask for It" continues this trend, but also adds many personal stories about women negotiating. The stories aren't intended as scientific evidence but as examples and role models to help illustrate the authors' points. I found the concrete examples to be very helpful in showing just how much you can ask for and get. Some of the solutions are truly creative - I never imagined that an employer would be so flexible!
Finally, Babcock and Laschever managed to achieve the nearly impossible: They explain how to work around societal prejudices against women - while at the same time continuously asserting that these prejudices are unfair and should be changed. In particular, their advice on being "relentlessly pleasant" - the only way for women to ask for what they want without triggering anger and punishment - strikes this balance beautifully.
sequel does not live up to the high standard of Women Don't AskMay 11, 2008 3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was genuinely disappointed by this book. A loose collection of anecdotes with little substance connecting them. It proposes a variety of strategies to negotiate salary and indicates the timidness of many women in business to do this.
