The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women ANNOTATION
Writing as "Machiavella, " Rubin, a longtime student of power, uncovers the Princessa's strategy for success and adapts it to women caught in the modern wars of intimacy with their bosses, clients, lovers, parents--anyone who stands between them and their desires. Size A. 160 pp. Major national print ads & 8-city author tour. 75,000 print.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Harriet Rubin has studied the great female heroes in the wars of intimacy and public life, and distilled their behavior into a plan of action. Whether confronting lovers, mothers, bosses, or competitors, The Princessa is a guide for the woman who feels she deserves far more than she has gotten through compromise.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Taking her cue from Machiavelli's The Prince, Rubin, founder and publisher of Doubleday's Currency business books imprint, declares that a woman can get what she wants, on the job or in personal relationships, by becoming a "princessa"a commanding presence exuding authority, both as a lover and a fighter, who wins not by copying male tactics of assertiveness and aggression but by drawing on her feminine strengths of wisdom, power-sharing and strategic maneuvering. Hillary Clinton, for example, ran into trouble by fighting like a prince, rather than using such princessa tactics as behaving "as if your enemy is your ally," or becoming "a woman who combines opposites." The advice here makes sense, although Rubin's handbook can be repetitive or can verge on self-parody: "Inanna, a Sumerian princess, was a princessa who became an expert at besting. If she were alive today, she would be the entrepreneur who wants a piece of the action," we are told. The role models provided include Russian "poet and warrior" Anna Akhmatova, George Eliot, Ayn Rand, Rosa Parks and French resister Magda Trocme, who sheltered Jewish refugees from the Nazis. Rubin occasionally falls back on clichs, but given her position in the corporate world, which provides testimony for the efficacy of the techniques she explicates here, women climbing the corporate ladder would do well to heed her guidance. (Apr.)
Library Journal
How can women achieve power? Rubin, founder of Doubleday's imprint Currency, explains the strategies, tactics, and weapons women should use to reach their goals. The main strategy is not to play by the rules but to change the game. Eighteen practical tactics are listed and explained; for example, "reduce the conflict to its bare essentials." Weapons include tears, breasts, and jewels. Rubin's ideas are illustrated using historical figures such as Joan of Arc and Gandhi. She posits that women must go after what they truly want-if they believe they are invincible, others will believe it as well-and concludes that peace is the recognition of what cannot be controlled. Unfortunately, Rubin's work is full of simplistic statements and generalizations without clarification or substantiation, e.g., "men are afraid of women." An optional purchase for large self-help collections.-Janet Clapp, Kingston P.L., Mass.
AudioFile - Joyce E. McCarty
Taking to heart her directive to "speak in declarations," Rubin reviews her ideas regarding what will help women succeed in the corporate world. To a large extent this tape gives the impression of being a collection of statements, not particularly smooth and with more concern for declaration than exposition. This impression is reinforced by Rubin's clipped style. She seldom pauses, not even stopping to catch a breath as she moves through her strategies in a determined and forceful manner. She leaves no doubt that a woman executing a well-conceived plan of action that builds on the strengths and values of women is no one to be trifled with. J.E.M. cAudioFile, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Rubin, who heads a business publishing imprint, tackles the subject of powerful women.
Using a couple of numbered lists, a New Age concept or two, and the poetry of Anna Akhmatova, Rubin attempts to explain to women the notion that power struggles are best solved by not struggling. In the business world, she writes, women are better served by appearing to yield to opposition, deferring to others, and subtly taking control of the situation. Much of the advice is common sense: Try to see the issue from the opposition's point of view; don't exact revenge; create a network of support. Rubin also gives many real-life examples of how women, ranging from George Eliot to Golda Meir, gained power by gracefully overcoming their enemies. Ahimsa, a Gandhian principle that advocates returning hate with love, is another technique Rubin recommends for the boardroom. Other tactics are a bit questionable, particularly Rubin's advice to women to cry if they must: It's a rare business person who would say that tears in the office are a sign of strength, and crying hardly engenders respect. A few business scenarios are offered and analyzed for their power structure, but apply mainly to women fairly far up in the corporate hierarchy—there's little here for the receptionist trying to make good.
This is a fairly interesting idea turned into a trifle of a book; the examples are uniformly vague, though Rubin's advice is well-meaning. Women truly interested in the pursuit and acquisition of power will want to seek the original Prince.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
From a barnesandnoble.com e-nnouncement
Harriet Rubin, 46, has been a publisher, an editor, an
author, and all three simultaneously. Now Rubin, the
author of THE PRINCESSA: MACHIAVELLI FOR WOMEN and the
former publisher of Doubleday's Currency book imprint,
is taking on her most challenging role to date: going
solo. Rubin is even chronicling her entrepreneurial
pursuits in a forthcoming book, SOLOING: REACHING
YOUR LIFE'S AMBITION, due to hit stores in November
1999.
Out of the Chorus Line...into the Spotlight, Solo
by Harriet Rubin
When I was an editor/publisher, I always looked for the
core sentence in a manuscript to pull out as the line
that could become the book's foundation or even its
title. "The Fifth Discipline," I know (I was the editor),
was buried in Peter Senge's messy manuscript. "You're
looking for 'the phrase that pays,'" an advertising
executive said. "No, I'm looking for the chord, the
one sentence which, when you strike it, lets you hear
the whole book in a single sound." A Buddhist friend
said, "Ah, you mean the Jain chord. The Jainists
believe that if you combine the first phrase of a book
and the last phrase, together they tell the entire
theme or story -- as if every word of the book hung
between these two points, like a line of fresh wash
by one long thread."
That was it. Ten years into editing, my job seemed a
bit small. I wanted a new adventure. So I wrote a book,
THE PRINCESSA: MACHIAVELLI FOR WOMEN, and throughout
the process, I looked high and low for the chord. Near
the end of the writing, something started ringing in
my ears. THE PRINCESSA contains over 200 pages of
advice for women on how to take power in their lives,
strategically. But it all comes down to a single line:
"Ask for everything."
Deceptively simple, but try it. Spend two weeks asking
people for everything and your life will change. Ask
for everything, of yourself, others, the world. People
love to be asked for big favors; it ennobles them; it
reminds them that they are capable of delivering on
something important. Too often our organizations ask
us for so little that we become deflated. Lovers ask
us for so little -- bring home a pizza, or come with
me to a party -- when we could ask for, and get, a big
favor like: teach me to be independent and strong. If
we don't ask for everything, we shrink down to the
smallest doll in the large nest of dolls that we are.
As soon as I heard that chord, the sound got louder...
Eighteen months, three days, and fourteen hours ago, it
shattered glass. I asked Doubleday for permission to
break free, to leave my job to go solo. I didn't want
to start a new company; I wanted to restart my life.
This was asking for everything. I walked out of a job
friends said was the best in publishing. A job that
made authors like Intel's Andy Grove or business guru
Peter Senge or futurist Faith Popcorn stop what they
were doing and listen to me! Suddenly that job seemed
like asking for very little. I wanted to see if I
could do for myself what I had done for countless
authors: guide them to a new understanding of their
gifts.
Working solo is great and terrible and some days I can't
tell one state of existence from the other. I keep in
mind Thoreau's recipe for happiness. I had come to
publishing because I always believed that books would
change the world. Thoreau left his miserable civil
service job and lit out for Walden Pond on July 4,
1845 (Independence Day!) with one mission in mind:
"I want to be sure the world doesn't change me."
People with jobs inevitably cut themselves down to
fit a corporate culture, and we lose ourselves in
the process. SOLOING: REACHING YOUR LIFE'S AMBITION
talks about how to -- as an anonymous poet wrote --
work as if you don't need the money, dance as if
nobody's watching, and love as if you've never been
hurt. That's the kind of strong self-belief soloing
brings out in a person. The book grows out of a series
of diary entries that I kept for "Inc." magazine.
"Inc."'s editor-in-chief tells me these articles
generated more response than anything he's published
in twenty-five years.
What's the Jain chord in going solo? I haven't found it
yet, but as I write, I'm looking.
— Harriet Rubin
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