About the Author

Robin Wolaner began her career as a copywriter at Penthouse, where she coined the famous slogan "Penthouse, more than just a pretty face." Before founding Parenting, she worked at magazines including Runner's World and Mother Jones. She became an executive at Time Warner after its purchase of Parenting, was appointed CEO of Sunset Publishing, launched Vibe, and helped develop Martha Stewart Living. In 1997 she joined the founders of CNET as executive vice president, responsible for the company's websites. She lives in San Francisco with her two children. Visit her at www.nakedintheboardroom.com

Reviews

"...A riveting read." -- Arlie Hochschild, author of The Second Shift and The Time Bind

"A how-to book for career women, with a difference: It is full of dishy and street-smart examples from her own life as a magazine executive...a quick diverting read." -- Fortune

"An excellent book...this is great one-stop shopping for women wanting to move ahead in business." -- Barry Diller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, InterActive Corp

"Robin Wolaner does something that few CEOs would ever do -- she shares her honest mistakes and the lessons she's learned along the tough road of starting and running a company. Both men and women can start smarter -- and finish richer -- as a result of reading this book." -- David Bach, #1 National bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire and Smart Women Finish Rich

"Robin Wolaner has written a terrific book...She offers insightful advice about such critical tasks as...negotiating, change management, and developing a positive culture." -- Professor William A. Sahlman, Harvard Business School

"...A riveting read."

-- Arlie Hochschild, author of The Second Shift and The Time Bind
"A how-to book for career women, with a difference: It is full of dishy and street-smart examples from her own life as a magazine executive...a quick diverting read."

-- Fortune
"An excellent book...this is great one-stop shopping for women wanting to move ahead in business."

-- Barry Diller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, InterActive Corp

-- David Bach, #1 National bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire and Smart Women Finish Rich
"Robin Wolaner has written a terrific book...She offers insightful advice about such critical tasks as...negotiating, change management, and developing a positive culture."

-- Professor William A. Sahlman, Harvard Business School

Wolaner rose from office temp to become president and CEO of Sunset Publishing before moving on to write, consult and serve on private corporate and nonprofit boards. Her own stories, and anecdotes from other achievers, are the basis for this chatty instruction manual for the distaff up-and-coming, which begins with the predictable assertion that women are generally different from men. The following chapters exhort readers to burn their career plans, listen to their guts, learn by example, benefit from smart moves, recover from bad ones, hire and fire well and manipulate situations to their advantage. Eighty-one "Naked Truths" punctuate her upbeat tale of mostly serendipitous and intuition-driven maneuvers. These aphorisms range from the obvious ("Return phone calls and emails") to the dubious ("If you undo a bad decision quickly, it doesn't count"). Sidebars labeled "Stripped-Down Wisdom" address corporate basics like how to dress, how to fire and how to cope as a working mother. In "Baring It," successful women recount their biggest mistakes and the lessons learned. Despite the book's intrusive theme of nudity, Wolaner gives some genuinely helpful advice, but often overplays the roles of ambition, networking and gut instinct at the expense of expertise, competence and plain hard work. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.