Women, Work, and the Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense & Sensibility
Product Description
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of French Women Don’t Get Fat comes every woman’s guide to navigating the world of work, living the good life, and savoring every minute of it.
When Mireille Guiliano became a senior executive and spokesperson for Veuve Clicquot, she took the Champagne to the top of the luxury market, using her distinctive French woman’s philosophy and style. Now she uses those same talents and savoir faire to help readers pop their own corks and get the mostout of life. Drawing on her experiences at the front lines and highest echelons of the business world, she gives women (and a few men, peut-être) the practical advice they need to make the most of work without skimping on all the other good things in life.With lively lessons, stories, and helpful hints, Mireille teaches every reader how to identify her own passions and talents, improve her communication skills, balance work and life, cope with everyday stress… More >>
Women, Work, and the Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense & Sensibility
This is a soulless book. I can’t believe this author is actually releasing this during a recession. This is supposed to be a guidebook for the career woman, but there is nothing to it. A most striking example of her callousness is an anecdote telling of one of her former acquaintances who was an attorney, spending his time and efforts building a secure life for his family – house, saving for college for his kids. The author ridiculed his lack of international travel while she herself was often the youngest person dining at 3-star Michelin restaurants and traveling internationally every few months.
This is a concentrated study of consumption. Traditional values of saving, working hard, even building up a business of one’s own, applying oneself to long hard courses of study in early adulthood are dismissed in favor of the good life. The good life reads as the empty life, though. Being a charming dinner conversationalist or a successful marketer as described by this author seems empty and superficial. I came away from the book feeling like I had just spent a few hours with a spoiled but glamorous urban woman with whom I would be happy never crossing paths again.
The career advice is a standard rehashing of mainstream women’s work books of the last ten years – network, perfect your people skills, take care of yourself. The author’s big focus is “moi time.” She speaks of how great it is that the French take six weeks of vacation a year while Americans shamefully don’t even usually take two weeks. Okay, but of the two, which country is the dominant superpower?
I don’t think the author has anything particularly special to say to women, so I would not recommend this book for anyone. I think following the author’s recommendations would only lead to self-centered unhappiness. (More effective career books for women include How to Say It For Women: Communicating with Confidence and Power Using the Language of Success, How to Work a Room, Revised Edition: Your Essential Guide to Savvy Socializing, and Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience.
(Reviewer Note: I wanted to rate this book four (and a half) stars, but Amazon’s rating / review system has been giving my browser fits as of late.)
Whatever Mireille Guiliano does, she does with class and savoir faire. I have long been a fan of her books since her first book, “French Women Don’t Get Fat”. Mireille understands what it is to balance career and marriage and how to navigate the oft treacherous path of being a woman in a man’s world, particularly in the international corporate world. Every savvy woman knows at least a little bit about how to behave in social situations, but Guiliano gives some very often not considered perspectives. Even in the era of email, text messaging and PDA’s she really does have some good advice and points on how to keep that balance and still maintain respect in the workplace Mireille as head of Veuve Clicquot Champagne has mastered the art of being a tough, no-nonsense business woman who inspires loyalty in those who work for her and she does it with sensitivity and genuineness. Mireille Guilano shows that it is definitely more than possible to be feminine and still successful and that the two things are not mutually exclusive.
Mireille has written an excellent and practical guide that all business women, young or maybe even those women considering a second career would benefit fro. She has filled the book with practical advice such as not being afraid to take risks, firing your boss if necessary in order to hook your star to a talented and dynamic leader, finding something you are passionate about and beomg realistic and honest enough to lay it on the line and say that you want to get ahead, as a woman, you have to work both harder and smarter than everyone else to succeed. I would personally agree. Most women in business, particularly in America, do not have hte level of sophistication necessary in the global marketplace. They come off as far too agressive, far too loud, too emotional and quite frankly, too often coming off as being some sort of “pseudo-man” in a skirt or designer pants suit doesn’t cut it. I disagree with the reviewers that say the author is simply full of herself. I think they missed the important point. Female executives or up and coming women, especially in the US, are quite often missing the “class” chip that is necessary even today in this world, whether they like it or not. In a global economy, this is very important. Mireille Guiliano gives some clues as to what women need in order to give them that self-confidence and assuredness that guarantees that a woman never necessarily raise her voice, resort to streams of profanity or behaviours in order to get her point of view across. She also advises using timing and above all cultivating your image both publically and privately. Mireille even includes a few recipes for entertaining in business which I would like to try myself.
I would definitely recommend it for any woman in business and would also recommend the book, “Outclassing the Competition” by Jan Darling. This book, though written in the 80’s and out of print, can still be found used here on Amazon. Both are excellent primers that give very good advices as to navigating societal do’s and don’ts, in spite of Jan Darling’s book being a little outdated.
I liked this different POV of women in business. The author makes it clear that women can succeed in business and in life with grace and style. One should not be tossed to the side in favor of the other.
The latest book by former Veuve Clicquot CEO Mireille Guiliano is titled, Woman, Work & The Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense and Sensibility. In this entertaining book, she offers her personal experience as a mentoring opportunity, especially for women in business. Each of her stories makes a key point. She offers practical, plain-spoken advice, all based on her own experience. While aimed at women, much of her advice applies to men (if we are willing to read and pay attention). Any reader who thinks he or she would benefit from the experience of a mentor who was a successful executive will find something useful on the pages of Woman, Work & The Art of Savoir Faire. Someone young and inexperienced is more likely to find this book to be of practical benefit; others may find some entertainment value in the stories Guiliano shares.
Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
To be honest, I was expecting something different from this book. I’m not sure who the audience is supposed to be, as much of it seems appropriate to very young women, but then some of it addresses issues that 40+ women have. Overall, to me there is a lack of focus in this book.
Although it does offer some good advice, I would find it hard to believe that anyone over the age of 30 would not already be in possession of the advice offered. Actually, I’ll go even further and say that some of the advice was downright insulting (e.g. don’t wear flip flops or sheer blouses. Does anyone really need to buy a book to discover such advice?)
I also found myself becoming bored with the many personal tales mentioned throughout the book, as much of the time they were overly long and didn’t really focus on the point that was allegedly being made. Maybe others will be fascinated with details of Ms. Guiliano’s business life and her lukewarm advice. Being French does not make one a good writer or a particularly wise person, although one gets the sense from reading this book that Ms. Guiliano believes otherwise.