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.