Climb: Taking Every Step with Conviction, Courage, and Calculated Risk to Achieve a Thriving Career and Successful Life

by Michelle Gadsden-Williams, Carolyn M. Brown

“Michelle Gadsden-Williams has accomplished something rare for a black women in America: maintained a successful corporate career at the highest level. Climb is the story of her journey to the top, and her generous effort to send the elevator back down for the rest of us.”
—Tiffany Dufu, author of Drop the Ball

“Gadsden-Williams has written a brilliant book that reveals how companies can leverage diversity as a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace. Her argument is simple and powerful: Companies are inherently stronger, more agile, and innovative when they embrace ‘culture as business model.’ With vivid stories from her twenty-five years [of experience], Climb is a book that will reframe HR into a powerful strategy function for twenty-first century organizations.”
—John Gerzema, New York Times best-selling author of The Athena Doctrine

Renowned as a diversity and inclusion strategist, Gadsden-Williams held C-Suite positions at major organizations for many years . . . and then took the off-ramp to probe a different career path, launching Ceiling Breakers LLC, with the primary goal to help women and professionals of color reach their full potential.

As a woman of color and corporate executive who has worked and traveled the world for several Fortune 500 companies—all while managing a chronic illness—she provides insight into overcoming the barriers facing professionals in today’s workplace.

In Climb, Gadsden-Williams combines her inspirational life story with pragmatic solutions to address problems facing women in corporate America, offering a professional playbook for tackling today’s most pressing workplace issues.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2018

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

won from www.librarything
a advanced reader copy (arc)

[Dr. Sharon Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Climb is an outstanding book about how to move up in the work place for women of color. What makes this book great is its approach to explaining her corporate climb in a personal yet professional manner. The book does not give the same old stuff you’ve heard in the past. She mixes learning gained throughout life and shows how this information can me intertwined into leaning forward and succeeding. Michelle shares her experiences very well, yet boldly. This book gave me so many emotions. I was excited. I laughed. I screamed for joy. I continue to tell everyone I know about this book. I find myself pulling Clim off of the shelf and rereading passages, plus sharing the information with others.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author is a woman of color who tells the story of her journey to the C-Suite. It is rare to have a woman in the C-Suite and even rarer to have a woman of color. All women can learn something from Michelle’s journey as she outlined actual steps she took on her climb to the top. The following are actions that resonated with me and continues to help me on my journey:

1. Be visible and ask for sponsorship
2. Raise your hand for stretch assignments
3. Reach back once you cross over into a management or leadership position

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book should have been titled "How to succeed in corporate america as a black woman."
The book had some interesting points that I made note of but for the most part, it didn't apply to me. The author stressed on how difficult it is for a black woman to succeed in corporate america. I am not a black woman nor am I in corporate america.

[N N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent book. It’s interesting to hear one woman’s experience of navigating her career, and there are some interesting sections about advocating for oneself and negotiating, “queen bee syndrome” and women who don’t support other women, and managing a chronic illness alongside an ambitious career. The author’s mindset is very career-driven and lacks a liberal artsy sense of philosophy of life and seems to implicitly presume that money & status are the purpose of life, which can be a bit off-putting. There is also quite a bit of icky and boring self-promotion and self-congratulation, but overall the interesting tidbits make up for this.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if you are not a black woman in corporate America, this is an entertaining and educational read. I believe younger generations could benefit from the author's experiences. I found various sections more interesting than others but that is as it should be. A good book reaches the audience on a personal level.

[Angela S. Tillery]

Really good roadmap to navigating invisible corporate systems. I learned how to recognize the subtle biases that exists at the highest levels of big companies while learning how to thrive in spite of them. Stories/ real life examples help put things in perspective and were very relatable.

[Pía López Copetti · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book only applies to you if you’re a Black Woman seeking a power position in corporate America; otherwise worthless. Since neither of those statements apply to me, a total waste of time.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Open, honest, bold

I finished CLIMB in a single day. Author Michelle Gadsden-Williams has created a book that will help readers understand what it’s like to be a woman in corporate America, and more than that, a woman of color in the international business world. She explores the difference between the glass ceiling and the concrete ceiling, looks at the underrepresentation of minorities in a number of fields, shines a light on unrecognized efforts and contributions, and gives a unique insight into her own path toward the C-Suite. We learn about her marriage and her medical diagnosis, her twin sister and her parents, her mentors and her sponsors, and we even meet her dog. By the end of the book, you will admire her grit, determination, professionalism, resilience, and her forthright strength.