Ok, I’ll just say it… I feel like a punk for not picking this book up sooner and making it a priority and more important than sleep. I have a lot of priorities and generally, I run out of hours in the day long before I run out of “important things” to do, but If I knew that this gem of a book was as enlightening as it is, I would have forgone a nights sleep and read the entire thing… that night… because it really is that good.
As a “Cowgirl” in hiding who has worked in the corporate world for television syndicates like CBS and NBC, newspapers, and a company that provides services to non-profits across the country, I have found myself trying to hide my “cowgirl-ish-ness” more and more. When I first started my career, I thought that my Cowgirl-ish-ness was a valuable asset to the teams that I worked with, but the more and more meetings I attended, the more and more I realized that I needed to scale it back and put it where it belonged–in hiding. I resigned myself to thinking that most people just didn’t get it. My “go get it done” attitude was a culture that I understood, but maybe others didn’t. They wanted things done, but they wanted them done with little noise and few abrasions.
Now I’m not trying to say I was like ” a bull in a china shop,” because I wasn’t by any means. I believed in being open, honest, and to the point and I understood that things had to be done and said that some people might not like. As long as they were done thoughtfully, with kindness, and lacked ill intention— well— then everyone’s wounds would eventually heal. I understood, that done, was better than perfect. But despite that, I could feel the tension. I wasn’t good at the office small talk and I was even told to slow down my work pace more than once, even though I was receiving great performance reviews and turning out good results.
So, I told my inner Cowgirl to calm down.
……Work like the others.
Now enters Gay Gaddis, author of Cowgirl Power: How to Kick Ass in Business and Life. Gay is the leading lady behind the major advertising firm, T3 (The Think Tank), and uses her experience in multiple positions within her career to show how her inner “Cowgirl” has helped her succeed and when and how she used it to be the best that she could be and –Kickass–. She starts off each section with an inspiring story of a historical Cowgirl figure and then leads into her own life story. There is not a chapter in this book that I did not find valuable. Plus, I learned some very interesting facts, like Annie Oakley’s real name and how she was married for decades.
I recommend this book to any woman or man in the business world. Whether you are in business for yourself or you work for a small business or major corporation. Gay’s stories are inspiring and will make you more confident about your decisions. She will also show you how important it is to build your case and show your worth. Step out into the dangerous Wild West and go for the win in the arena.
