Make Room for Her by Rebecca Shambaugh - Book review

Make Room for Her

Why Companies Need an Integrated Leadership Model to Achieve Extraordinary Results

By: Rebecca Shambaugh

Published: November 7, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 0071797920
ISBN-13: 978-0071797924
Publisher: McGraw-Hill












"Today's marketplace is calling for a new approach to leadership. Integrated Leadership is the key to capturing and maintaining a lasting competitive advantage", writes leadership consultant and President and CEO of SHAMBAUGHm Rebecca Shambaugh, in her empowering and conversation changing book Make Room for Her: Why Companies Need an Integrated Leadership Model to Achieve Extraordinary Results. The author describes a fresh, inclusive, and participatory approach to leadership in the form of what she calls Integrated Leadership.

Rebecca Shambaugh recognizes the critical importance of adding more women leaders to the top management of major companies. The author presents a powerful case that businesses that fail to elevate women to the highest executive positions are less successful than those who embrace the value of the perspective of female leadership.

The addition of women leaders adds fresh thinking, new ideas, and the benefit of female gender intelligence. Rebecca Shambaugh offers insights into why women have been unable to achieve the critical senior leadership roles, dispels the many myths that have grown up around the issue, and shares ideas for promoting women from the sticky floor to the inner sanctum of the executive suite.



Rebecca Shambaugh (photo left) understands the importance of gender balanced intelligence and leadership in organizations. The author points out the valuable leadership and empowerment skills that women bring to senior executive roles and to the company culture as whole. These effective skills and traits empower both men and women within the organization, and through diversity of abilities and ideas result in stronger business performance.

Rebecca Shambaugh presents a comprehensive road map to advance the careers of women in any company through the Integrated Leadership model. The overarching themes of this groundbreaking and mutually beneficial strategy, for both male and female executive leaders, are as follows:

* Integrated leadership: How men and women can achieve extraordinary results together
* Integrated leadership: Men's role
* Integrated leadership: Women's role
* Integrated leadership: The organization's role

For me, the power of the book is how Rebecca Shambaugh combines a holistic leadership framework that encompasses men, women, and the company as a whole, with the practical steps and practices transform that framework into a complete cultural change. The result is enhanced and gender diverse leadership that boosts the firm's performance and profitability. The author goes beyond many leadership and career books for women, and demonstrates the importance of including men in the Integrated Leadership model. This combination of both male and female skills and talents creates a dynamic synergy that energizes the entire organization.

Rebecca Shambaugh bases her principles of leadership and the importance of a balanced perspective on interviews with over fifty top executives in leading companies. The author adds to those interviews with the inclusion of case studies based on her experiences with hundreds of male and female leaders. The chapters are set out in a logical and action oriented system that establishes a road map to achieving gender diversity in the leadership ranks. Each chapter also includes a handy summary that can be used for referral in the future.

I highly recommend the research based and gender diversity building book
Make Room for Her: Why Companies Need an Integrated Leadership Model to Achieve Extraordinary Results by Rebecca Shambaugh to any business leaders and executives who are serious about engaging the wealth of talent offered by women, and for integrating the proven value of gender diversity within their top management team. This book will transform any organization through the added abilities, perspectives, and talents offered by women as leaders within the company.