 Why Climb a Ladder in High Heels?—By Lori Hope Published: July, 2006  Author Kathleen Archambeau Kathleen Archambeau has written a book that's easy to fall in love with, especially if you're a fan of efficiency, success, and good manners. One of the numerous wise and yet surprisingly simple tips she offers in Climbing the Corporate Ladder in High Heels is to write one thank-you note a week. In the interest of full disclosure, I had better reveal up front that Archambeau has been reporting for Bay Area BusinessWoman News for more than a dozen years. That made me a little leery of writing about her book. What if I didn't like it? Luckily, I loved it. And I love how she has successfully juggled so many roles which have contribute to her success and that of so many others. Not only does Archambeau come through for this newspaper almost every month, she does so while holding down a full-time job at Holy Names University, where she is director of educational and Corporate outreach. She also runs her own marketing/consulting business. When I first started working with this very bright but also playful woman, I had no idea that she was a former Hewlett-Packard corporate sales and marketing maven who had coached CEOs and presidents from three Fortune 500 companies, and trained more than 20,000 professionals, managers, executives, students and politicians (including folks from Genentech, State Farm Insurance, Sybase, and Symantec) on three continents. She left the corporate life for a calmer and more fulfilling job and one that would allow her enough space to pursue her writing and other avocations. One of my earliest encounters with Archambeau as a writer was just after I was hired by Bay Area Business-Woman News. She had penned a cover story about executives mentoring younger women in technology. I included the term "WoMentors" in the story, and got a quintessentially-Archambeau email back after the issue was on the newsstands. Her note said something like, "I prefer not to manufacture words like 'WoMentors.' Women don't need to feminize words. Next time, please run the headline by me first." Always one to speak her mind, Archambeau similarly always has plenty to say. Now she has taken her wisdom and the knowledge gained from decades of experience making it in what used to be (and some say still is) a "man's world," and parlayed it into her new book, Climbing the Corporate Ladder in High Heels. Though Archambeau no longer wears high heels, she remembers well what it took to get to the top when encumbered by not only shoes that were restrictive but also mores and rules. I asked Archambeau to tell us about some of those, and about what she offers up in her new book, and here's what she had to sayÖ Archambeau: You started writing this book while still working for Hewlett-Packard. Why did you decide the book was needed? I was traveling 50 percent of my time, leaving SFO at 6am Monday mornings and returning Fridays at 10pm (1am PST) and thinking, "There's gotta' be a better way. Has my life become all work and no play? Why do women, especially, seem overloaded?" So, I began, on those cross-country flights, to sketch out ideas for the book. Hope: Who's the audience? Archambeau: Professional women, 25 to 50, are my primary target. Today, nearly 8 in 10 women work outside the home (and yet working women with families still perform 90 percent of the household and childcare duties). Hope: What makes this book different from all the other business books? | ||
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