HBR Women at Work Boxed Set (6 Books)

INTRODUCTION

Get Ready to Speak Up

by Amanda Kersey, producer of Women at Work

I rarely said anything during the morning meeting in my first full-time job as a production assistant in a newsroom. I had ideas, no doubt. But I was shy and intimidated not only by the sheer number of people crowded together in that conference room but also by how many of them were quick to interrupt, put down, or just tune out anyone they didn’t care to hear from. The threat of ridicule kept me quiet—and frustrated. I’d majored in journalism hoping to start somewhere like this. Editors in this room had hired me to be here. And now that I was, why couldn’t I get the words out?

Looking back, I cut myself slack for not speaking up much: A lot of us struggle. It’s ...