During Ellen Snee’s eighteen years as a Catholic nun, she gained a number of essential—and, happily, transferable—skills: how to discern a call or deep desire, how to work collaboratively with other women, and how to be a savvy operator within male hierarchies. In Lead, she draws on that knowledge—as well as lessons learned and insights gained from her Harvard dissertation on psychological dimensions of authority for women, two decades of work with executive women as CEO of Fine Line Consulting, and five years as VP of Organizational & Leadership Development at VMware, a global technology leader—to address the exercise of authority by women.
Lead guides readers through specific challenges of leadership Snee has identified as most vital to success through her own corporate experience and consulting work: developing resilience, presenting with authority, gaining financial literacy, managing in every direction, and more. Throughout, Snee urges women to find and speak with their unique voice and claim their personal power. Full of illuminating personal and client anecdotes and surprising research insights, Lead is an accessible, instructive, and empowering road map to finding external success—by drawing on the strengths you’ve carried inside you all along.
Industry Reviews
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“A solid and insightful guide to succeeding as a woman in business.”
-Kirkus Reviews
“Lead brings a fresh voice to the often-challenging intersection of women, authority, and power. Ellen shares insights into how we become powerful agents of change and advancement at every step in our career. The chapters focus on concrete, proactive steps that can help us become more comfortable with assuming power and stepping up as leaders.”
—Sally Helgesen, author of How Women Rise, The Female Vision, and The Female Advantage
“Ellen, as a coach and a friend, has had a transformative impact on my career. Reading Lead is a little like having Ellen as a personal coach by your side— cheering on your efforts, sharing candid career stories you can relate to, and providing thoughtful end-of-chapter exercises that help you to apply the information to your specific career challenges and goals.”
—Yanbing Li, PHD, VP of Product and Engineering, Google
“Lead should be required reading for all women in business school and for those who want to name and claim their authority when exercising leadership. The power of female leaders is undeniable, and this book is an important resource for helping women seize their power.”
—Wendy York, Dean of Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, Fortune 500 executive, and successful entrepreneur
“No matter your career path, Lead gives useful applicable advice toward identifying and achieving your goals. Any leader will find value in the coaching offered. One of Snee's gifts is presenting masterful summaries that are easy to understand yet retain the inherently nuanced complexities of the original ideas. The well-organized compilation of a wealth of strategies for navigating leadership challenges alone makes Lead invaluable.”
—Laurie King, Ph.D., Professor of Computer Science, College of the Holy Cross
“As a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart and as a chaired professor of management, I can say with assurance that this is a wonderfully deep, practically useful, stimulating and inspiring book. It provides coaching that is based on scholarly research, Ellen’s reflection on her life experiences, and elegantly sketched examples that give advice we all can follow. It illustrates and encourages ongoing learning over a lifetime, rather than expecting us all to be perfect immediately in every encounter.”
—Jean M. Bartunek, Robert A. and Evelyn J. Ferris Chair and Professor of Management and Organization, Carroll School of Management, Boston College
“Lead is an essential part of your professional toolkit. Beautifully written, boldly comprehensive, and loaded with critical nuggets for navigating the professional world, Snee unpacks it all, from external biases to the limitations we place on ourselves—and, more importantly, provides great insights on what to do about it!”
—Robin L. Matlock, public and private board member and former software executive
“Drawing from her research in psychology, Dr. Ellen Snee starts this highly actionable book for women leaders by asking the most fundamental question: What do you want? She leads the reader on a journey to find their own path to claiming power and authority from the inside out in the face of persistent structural barriers.”
—Caroline Simard, PhD, Managing Director, Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab
“Ellen’s book is insightful and empowering. Her own experience from being a nun, corporate executive, and coach is unique in the business world. Ellen offers actionable advice on how to navigate sys
