|
Book Review: Pitch Like a Girl
September 27, 2005
Elizabeth Johns, Managing Director, AFP
From the Sept/Oct 2005 issue of AFP Exchange
Some women try to match their business style to what they think is expected of them. A new book by former Prudential executive Ronna Lichtenberg shows that being yourself may be a better way to play the game.
Confident and stylish, author Ronna Lichtenberg is the oft-quoted, super-successful president of Clear Peak, a management consulting firm that advises financial clients like Merrill Lynch and Fleet Financial. She’s also a former senior vice president with Prudential Securities, Inc., the investment and brokerage firm, and was the first woman named to its top management group, the Operating Council. She rose, she says, because she was able to get people to buy into her business ideas.
In her new book Pitch Like a Girl: How a Woman Can be Herself and Still Succeed, Ronna Lichtenberg traces the business “pitches” she had to make to sell her ideas over the years. She reveals a method of thinking that helped her do so in a way that made use of her natural strengths, especially her ability to connect with people.
Lichtenberg’s theory is that there are really two types of business people: those who put an emphasis on relationships (pink) and those who put an emphasis on business activity (blue). The generalization is that most men prefer a blue style whereas women have traditionally favored pink—although both styles can be effective when used to their advantage.
“The words ‘pink and blue style’ sound pretty simple and maybe even a little light, but they represent a learning tool that can help you, your teams and your organization perform at higher levels,” Lichtenberg said in an interview with AFP.
By Lichtenberg’s thinking, no “pink” businesswoman has been more successful than Oprah Winfrey, whose talent for connecting with an audience has helped forge a huge communications empire. A successful “blue” would be Martha Stewart. For anyone comfortable with business for business’ sake, like me, I’m not sure if this is a compliment or not.
"Blue" women, she says, are easily recognizable for being achievers in business, the ones able to play ball with the guys. But, Lichtenberg says, they can experience difficulty if pink is what’s expected. And that’s really the gist of the book: finding one's natural style, understanding how it’s perceived by others and then using it to “pitch” successfully.
“Women in finance have already proven that we have the skills it takes to succeed in this field. The opportunity now is to succeed in a way that feels better—that doesn't drain you,” Lichtenberg told AFP. “Knowing your style—the way you feel and communicate about the value of relationship in a business setting—lets you learn about how to adapt your style to others, when you need to do it and when you can do better by using your natural style more effectively.”
Her idea gets a little complicated when pinks try to act like blues and vice versa. Lichtenberg refers to these types as striped, and that’s not all bad—again, if the style is used properly. For example, with a striped style, it is possible to form a business connection with charm… and then negotiate to win.
Lest this all sound contrived, I should point out that there’s a big interest in this sports conceit in the executive ranks of U.S. corporations. Lichtenber has recently been quoted in many publications, including Across the Board magazine, which is widely read by corporate boards.
Like other business books of this genre geared toward women executives, Pitch Like a Girl has its share of appearance advice, with sections on achieving the right look, and that’s the place where I took a bit of issue, perhaps because she’s a self-described pink and I lean toward blue. For example, in describing the right kind of power handbag, Lichtenberg says her lavender bag is “authoritative.” I don’t get it. Lavender authoritative?
Nevertheless, I have to admit that I raced through this book, which is full of anecdotes interesting to anyone who’s ever had to sell an idea to a potential business partner, and went right to the tests in the back, scoring about where I expected to, a little left of the middle.
You can find out how you score, too. To learn whether your business style is pink or blue, take Lichtenberg’s online quiz at www.pitchlikeagirl.com.
Ronna Lichtenberg will discuss the concepts in her book Oct. 10 at AFP’s annual conference in San Antonio, part of the "Women in Finance" track.
—Elizabeth Johns, AFP's managing diector of commnications, runs the association's Web site, magazine, newsletters, and books, among other content initiatives. Contact her at ejohns@afponline.org
Copyright © 2005 Association for Financial Professionals. All Rights Reserved.
|
Add to del.icio.us
Add to Facebook