As I realized that I’ve procrastinated on blogging today, I began flipping through the book Designed for Success: The 10 Commandments for Women in the Workplace by Dondi Scumaci. I was struck by the honesty in the book’s opening paragraph:

Good News! You are not imagining it. Women do face unique, even daunting challenges at work. There really are different rules and expectations in the workplace reserved just for women. The playing field is not always even. Sometimes the rules are unspoken, and the path is not always well marked.

Well, Hallelujah! It is about time someone out there admits that these challenges exist rather than saying things like “We’ve come a long way,” and “Today, women have the same opportunities as men,” and “Women are just as qualified as men to do the job.” The truth is we are different and the situations we face are different because we are women.

That is not to say that women are not qualified or that we are less capable in the workplace because we are female. But to deny the challenges - even barriers - that we all still face is to ignore a major component of the dynamics of business in our society today.

While Scumaci’s book is more geared toward a businesswoman on a career track who has a boss above her - rather than being her own boss and owning her own business - I think the approach she takes if fresh, direct and while quite analytical, is also quite accessible.

Commandment #1 is Manage Your Message from the Inside Out.

I was also struck by her statement that “How we present ourselves becomes what others believe about us. And what we believe about us and our abilities shapes their responses to us. Finally, the responses we receive from others come back around to reinforce the original belief.”

In my mind, this is a major issue for women and why we tend to be in the less powerful positions. We present ourselves all too often with apologies, disclaimers and sidebars that diminish our power and pride in our own work and achievements. I can’t tell you how many times I fight off the urge to lessen my own accomplishments.

When I am asked what I do, my first response is “Oh, I don’t know. Lots of things.” While that statement is true, I am doing a complete disservice to the nearly 15 years in the Internet industry as a Web pioneer as well as a decade as a published author and a diverse, successful career that includes starting and running four companies.

Release your internal brake, Scumaci says. Manage the critic living in your head. And all of this is covered in the first chapter alone. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of her book. And no, I won’t just place it on my nightstand with the intention of reading it. This book is speaking to me. But only I have the real answers.

What business book are you reading? And how is it shifting your thinking?