The Ambitious Woman illustrates how ambitious women embody characteristics such as inspiration, empowerment, and motivation to help others accomplish their goals, and create win-win relationships in all areas of life. When you think of the word 'ambitious', what comes to mind? Power hungry? Getting ahead no matter what it takes? Someone who runs over others to accomplish their goals? While many people may have a negative view of what it means to be ambitious, author, motivational speaker and women's movement leader, Esther Spina, is not one of them. In fact, in The Ambitious Woman, Esther shows that Ambitious Women are found in all walks of life - the famous and the not-so-famous. They embody characteristics such as inspiration, empowerment and motivation to help people accomplish their goals. Ambitious Women can be humble and loyal; they are disciplined and have a never-give-up attitude. Real and genuine ambitious people care about others; they are not self-centered. They are "ambitious" about seeing others succeed, and creating win-win relationships in all areas of life. Using profiles of people such as Diana Nyad and Barbara Walters, The Ambitious Woman offers contemporary illustrations of people who have lived ambitious lives and what we can learn from them. The book also profiles ambitious people who are close to the author, people who live with passion, confidence and consistency in their everyday lives. Women from all walks of life will find ambitious characteristics to strive for, ones that will improve their lives, their relationships, and who they are deep down. When you become an Ambitious Woman, you, too, can help others change their lives!

"A girl is inspired by an ambitious woman to ponder the word and claim it for herself as well"--

"This is the playbook for how to get flexibility in your career." - Molly Beck, author, Reach Out and founder of MessyBun.com "Critical advice for women when the traditional office job doesn't fit family life." - Meredith Bodgas, Editor-in-Chief, Working Mother magazine "Sollmann advocates that we 'lean in' to what she aptly labels one's own personal measure of success, rather than a monolithic vision of the ideal career."-- Whitney Johnson, critically-acclaimed author, Build an A Team and Disrupt Yourself, Thinkers50 Management Thinkers Ambition Redefined is a timely alternative to current women's business books that define professional ambition and success as climbing the corporate ladder. In fact, this is not a path that all women want or should feel pressured to follow. Sollmann's focus is on the more critical and widespread workplace issue for everyday women -- to always work in a way that fits their lives alongside their two major caregiving roles: for children and aging parents. Sollmann debunks common assumptions such as: IT'S NOT "WORTH IT" UNLESS THE SALARY IS HIGH. Women forfeit up to 4X their salaries every year out of the workforce to care for children and/or elderly parents--and it does not take a six-figure salary to achieve long-term financial security. FINDING FLEXIBLE WORK IS IMPOSSIBLE. Sollmann shines a bright light on the ever-widening world of flexwork--where women can find many interesting and exciting ways to tuck all generations of their families into a future that is financially secure and safe. The book includes realistic, practical tools for preparing for and finding flexible work within a current job or a new opportunity. IT WON'T HAPPEN TO ME. Divorce, death of a spouse, or unexpected financial support for aging parents are some of the life "you never knows" that all women could experience. Divorce, death of a spouse, caring for aging parents or adult children are some of the life "you never knows" that all women could experience. Sollmann encourages women to anticipate and buffer life surprises and she shows the profound impact of continual earning, saving, and investing toward a long and comfortable retirement. WORK ENDS AT AGE 65. Women who leave the workforce and want to return in their forties, fifties or sixties will be in good company as the ranks of older workers rise. Over the next two decades, adults age 50 and over will have greater rates of workforce participation into their sixth and seventh decades. Eye-opening and practical, the book shows that when we redefine ambition, we acknowledge that challenging, lucrative work can be found in many flexible ways that favor personal satisfaction over public applause.

"These are the 'know your value' conversations that we need to have. These women--their challenges, choices, and successes--are all of us." --Mika Brzezinski Over the last sixty years, women's lives have transformed radically from generation to generation. Without a template to follow--a way to peek into the future to catch a glimpse of what leaving this job or marrying that person might mean to us decades from now--women make important decisions blindly, groping for a way forward, winging it, and hoping it all works out. As they faced unexpectedly fraught decisions about their own lives, journalists Hana Schank and Elizabeth Wallace found themselves wondering about the women they'd graduated alongside. What happened to these women who seemed set to reap the rewards of second-wave feminism, on the brink of taking over the world? Where did their ambition lead them? So they tracked down their classmates and, over several hundred hours of interviews, gathered and mapped data about real women's lives that has been missing from our conversations about women and the workplace. Whether you're deciding if you should pass up a promotion in favor of more flex time, planning when to get pregnant, or wondering what the ramifications are of being the only person in your house who ever unloads the dishwasher, The Ambition Decisions is a guide to the changes that may seem arbitrary but are life defining, by women who've been there. Organized by theme, each chapter draws on real women's stories of facing down crisis, transition, and decision-making to illustrate broader trends Schank and Wallace observed. Each chapter wraps up with a useful bulleted list of questions to consider and tips to integrate that will guide women of all ages along the way to finding purpose and passion in work and life.

In this groundbreaking book about how women perceive, are prepared for, and cope with ambition and achievement, psychiatrist Anna Fels examines ambition at the deepest psychological level. Cutting to the core of what ambition can provide—the essential elements of a fulfilling life—Fels describes why, for women but not for men, ambition still remains fraught with often painful conflict. Fels draws on case studies, research, interviews, and autobiographies of accomplished and celebrated women past and present—writers, artists, architects, politicians, actors—to explore the ways in which women are brought up to avoid recognition and visibility in favor of traditional feminine values and why they often choose to nurture and defer to rather than compete with men. She poses invaluable questions: What is the nature of ambition and how important is it in a woman’s life? What are the forces that promote or impede its development? To what extent does ambition go against a woman’s very nature? And she challenges currently held theories about the state of mind and the needs of men. Incisive and highly readable, Necessary Dreams is a unique exploration of the options and obstacles women face in the pursuit of their goals. It is a book that every woman will want—and need—to read.

A practical and spiritual guide for working moms to learn how to have more by doing less. This is a book for working women and mothers who are ready to release the culturally inherited belief that their worth is equal to their productivity, and instead create a personal and professional life that's based on presence, meaning, and joy. As opposed to focusing on "fitting it all in," time management, and leaning in, as so many books geared at ambitious women do, this book embraces the notion that through doing less women can have--and be--more. The addiction to busyness and the obsession with always trying to do more leads women, especially working mothers, to feel like they're always failing their families, their careers, their spouses, and themselves. This book will give women the permission and tools to change the way they approach their lives and allow them to embrace living in tune with the cyclical nature of the feminine, cutting out the extraneous busyness from their lives so they have more satisfaction and joy, and letting themselves be more often instead of doing all the time. Do Less offers the reader a series of 14 experiments to try to see what would happen if she did less in one specific way. So, rather than approaching doing less as an entire life overhaul (which is overwhelming in and of itself), this book gives the reader bite-sized steps to try incorporating over 2 weeks!