Breakthrough

CHAPTER 3

Myth: If Women Are Assertive and Drive for Results, It Will Always Benefit Their Careers

My mother told me to be a lady.

And for her, that meant to be your own person, be independent.

—Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Confidence, assertiveness, strength, bravery, independence, courage, intelligence, and success; these are the traits admired in a businessman, and sometimes in a woman. At times they are not. An outgoing, well-educated, professional woman named Heidi Roizen spent a decade networking, leading others, and building a successful software company. When researchers at Columbia University changed her name to Howard in the Harvard Business Review Case and asked some students to evaluate Heidi and others to look at Howard, the results were ...