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Andi Simon Ph.D. is an internationally recognized Corporate Anthropologist, an award-winning author, global podcast host and a specialist in helping people and their organizations change. Dr. Simon’s application of the theory and methods of anthropology to help people see organizations with more observant eyes. Her approach helps to turn observations into innovations.
After writing her award-winning book "On the Brink: A fresh lens to take your business to new heights," she realized that the stories she told did not include any women entrepreneurs and leaders. What were women doing to get “off the brink,” launching new businesses, building expertise in industry, shining as super-stars to effectively lead companies forward. The result is her new book, “Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business.”
In this book Dr. Simon tells the story of 11 women (including herself), each of whom entered non-traditional male-oriented fields and shattered the glass ceilings, leaped over brick walls, and showed the way for other women who wanted to do the same. Theirs are the stories of entrepreneurs who were told not to imagine a new business, or a woman leader who was reprimanded for successfully leading others, or an innovator in technology that kept building new businesses out of blockchain or AI.
Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business by Andi Simon is a non-fiction resource that delves into the universal mindset about women in positions of leadership and provides an inspirational study on women who have been able to shatter the myths and move the goalposts where inequality in virtually all aspects of the workplace have rarely been breached. Simon introduces eleven specific myths about women in the workplace, specifically as leaders, and follows each myth with a detailed explanation of its origin, impact, and provides facts that launch the myth thoroughly into the realm of fiction. From here, Simon then introduces a woman in business who blazed through to slay the proverbial dragon in a world that has historically put these same women firmly in the role of the damsel in distress.
I am father to a teenage daughter, who also happens to be a minority, and there is rarely a day that goes by that I don't worry about what she might be up against when the time comes for her to really, truly spread those wings. Rethink is a book that I didn't hesitate to pick up for this very reason, but also because of the misconception that I personally had that the winds of change were in full force when, in fact, they've mostly been blowing around the same sandwich bag for centuries. Andi Simon provides hope, not the meaningless type that keeps the sandwich bag afloat, but the hope that is wrapped in actual context and the women who wear it proudly.
Simon uses herself as an example in the field of anthropology and I'm struck by a nugget from just a couple weeks ago that couldn't be more apt here. My brother-in-law is also an anthropologist and has been working on an excavation in Peru where it was recently discovered that a Neolithic woman was buried with all the rights and adornments of a big game hunter, rubbishing the gender construct that men hunted and women gathered. The irony here is that at the excavation, among dozens of archaeologists and even press, there was not a single woman present except for the big game hunter in the grave. Maybe we've regressed and, thankfully, women such as Simon, Medvin, Ford and many others are still debunking the myths. This book is for all women who are willing to lead the charge.
