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The Naked Truth

   It is in our nature to point out what is wrong with things.
   Women earn 76 cents for every dollar men earn. Only a handful of women serve as CEOs of major U.S. companies; none serve on Fortune 500 boards. Women's careers hardly ever survive taking a break to raise children.
   More and more, we are told women can't have it all. It's too hard to blend a successful corporate career or to build a business while keeping a marriage alive and tending a family.
   In The Naked Truth: A Modern Woman's Manifesto on Business and What Really Matters (2004 Free Press), author Margaret Heffernan peels back the veneer of those words and shows us exactly how hard that is.
   A former television producer, consultant and corporate executive, Heffernan interviewed more than 50 executives, almost all female, who are trying or have tried to achieve the impossible. Her book reveals institutional sexism thrives in U.S. corporations, even as it slowly fades in other parts of the world. But while these women and men share their misery, many of them also share an absurd optimism rooted in their passion for what they do.
   These are not people filled with regret; most have found ways to cope, whether it meant changing jobs, changing cultures or changing lifestyle. Heffernan has a knack for sharing the hope in their stories. The book teems with practical advice and encouragement, the kind readers will put to use even before putting the book down.