Happy New Year! I hope 2012 brings you everything you hope for yourself.

For me, the New Year begins with the release of my new book! Friday, January 6^th! At last!  The title is “I Love You – Now Get Over Yourself: 7 Secrets for Professional Success from The Jewish Mother Executive Coach” (phew)!

For the last 3 years, working on writing this book, I changed topics several times trying to find the most useful thing to write about. I went through the agonies of self-doubt, crises of confidence, and just plain laziness. In the end, it was crystal clear that whatever I was to write had to be about and for others. It was one of the greatest challenges and most difficult tasks I’ve ever undertaken. However, I won’t lie, when I actually saw and held the physical copy of the book in my hand, it was thrilling. I had actually accomplished something I never thought I could.

Make no mistake though. “I Love You-Now Get Over Yourself” is about you. It is about the issues you deal with in your professional lives and how to handle them successfully. It details how others have faced the same issues and beat them and how you can do it too

My greatest hope for this book is that it will serve as a valuable tool for solving some of the problems you’re facing.  Just as in my coaching, it is direct, to the point, with dashes of humor.

There are client stories to illustrate each of the 7 problems and then, step by step coaching enabling you to successfully handle the situation.

The book will be available in soft-cover and e-versions for however you prefer to read.  Also, I will be putting chapters or parts of chapters on line here from time to time, perhaps with a different client story illustrating the issue.  So check back here to see if there’s something more I can give you.

I hope you buy the book, use it, and love it. But however you feel about it please let me know. I learn from every reaction, suggestion, and comment and I can help others by using your feedback.   If you are so inclined, please feel free to write a review on the amazon site.

Buy the book here!!!!

Once again, best wishes for a wonderful new year and I look forward to hearing from you in 2012.  ♦Ruth

You may have seen this; it has been making the rounds this week on the internet:

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. …. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn’t always fair; And maybe it was my fault. He was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife Discretion, his daughter Responsibility, and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim.”

A very sad take on who we are as a society. However, there are bright spots here and there. In some businesses, there are those who still believe. http://buswk.co/qrJcf1 Here’s a CEO employing the tried and true common sense of Peter Drucker. I know it’s only one in many thousands, but at least it shows that common sense may not be dead. Thriving? No – but he’s up and taking nourishment!

Let’s not glue the back of our hands to our foreheads with the “woe is me” mantra. It really does sully the memory of Common Sense – he deserves to live and we are the ones responsible for seeing to it that he rises from the ashes.

What do you think? Is Common Sense dead and gone? ♦ Ruth

(BTW, there are situations where 2 of the stepbrothers are good boys. For example, “I know my rights” – a good thing to have when falsely accused of something (which happens more frequently than you think). “I Want it Now” – is the right thing when the QB says I play to win and I want it now. However, “Someone Else is to Blame”, and “I’m a victim” are definitely the evil twins.)

Like it or not, women do need coaching if they want to rise to senior leadership levels in mid to large organizations. The McKinsey report is quite clear about this – http://on.wsj.com/fldB8j .

Also necessary, is coaching to a new mind-set for the male-dominated leaders who are responsible for promoting women. According to the report, many organizations have consciously made efforts to promote women. That is true, however there still remains the bias that women are the “weaker sex” and therefore would not make good leaders. .

Strategic thinking, multi-tasking, conflict resolution, coaching and developing staff, as well as the many other parameters for promotion may be the same for men and women, but they need to be broadened to mine the depth of women’s business and personal acumen.

Certainly, coaching women to the C-Suite will help considerably. But the barriers- spoken and unspoken – will remain unless men are also coached about how to think about women inside their organization.

The report recommends that top managers be judged partly on their ability to groom and promote female talent. A strong reason for coaching the men.

That operational focus must be more than an organizational objective. It requires a commitment to the belief that it’s a positive thing to “groom and promote” women, not only for its own sake, but because it serves the organization well. As the report eloquently states: “A diversity program by itself, no matter how comprehensive, is no match for entrenched beliefs that prevail.” This is why women may need coaching to be promotable, and men need coaching to know how to promote them.