Book Capsules, September 2025

Content

The Broken Rung Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, and María Del Mar Martínez Harvard Business Review Press, 288 pp., $32

The Broken Rung
Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, and María Del Mar Martínez
Harvard Business Review Press, 288 pp., $32

Content

Statistically, women graduate from college at a higher rate and have higher average grade point averages than men. Regardless, organizations typically promote men first. For every 100 men employers promote, only 81 women receive a promotion. The authors refer to that phenomenon as "the broken rung." Its effects compound throughout women's careers. The root of the problem is that men get more value from their educational and work experiences than women. This book says the solution is for women to build "experience capital" and offers strategies to help readers attain it.

Statistically, women graduate from college at a higher rate and have higher average grade point averages than men. Regardless, organizations typically promote men first. For every 100 men employers promote, only 81 women receive a promotion. The authors refer to that phenomenon as "the broken rung." Its effects compound throughout women's careers. The root of the problem is that men get more value from their educational and work experiences than women. This book says the solution is for women to build "experience capital" and offers strategies to help readers attain it.

Content

Speak, Memorably Bill McGowan and Juliana Silva Harper Business, 272 pp., $32

Speak, Memorably
Bill McGowan and Juliana Silva
Harper Business, 272 pp., $32

Content

In today's landscape, industry leaders have trained professionals to use a rigid, bland way of communicating that uses buzzwords and jargon. The result is that all individuals sound the same. This book argues that such a communication style has become counterproductive because no one stands out, making it more difficult to make messaging stick. The authors spoke with a variety of experts, such as CEOs, White House staffers, and television personalities, to offer concrete strategies that help professionals speak with conviction and cut through clichés and typical rhetoric. Speak, Memorably enables professionals to stand out from their peers.

In today's landscape, industry leaders have trained professionals to use a rigid, bland way of communicating that uses buzzwords and jargon. The result is that all individuals sound the same. This book argues that such a communication style has become counterproductive because no one stands out, making it more difficult to make messaging stick. The authors spoke with a variety of experts, such as CEOs, White House staffers, and television personalities, to offer concrete strategies that help professionals speak with conviction and cut through clichés and typical rhetoric. Speak, Memorably enables professionals to stand out from their peers.