The Third Shift: Managing Hard Choices in Our Careers, Homes, and Lives as Women

Rating:
Summary: The Third Shift
Review: Choices are always tough, and Michele Bolton's THE THIRD SHIFT makes them so much easier to make. I am a professional woman who, like many other readers of this book, am a mother, wife and involved community member as well. The societal infrastructure for women hasn't yet caught up with our aspirations as women -- to be the best at work, to be the best at home, to change the world -- and it is because we live in this transitional era that Bolton's book is so important for women like me to read. Instead of chastizing ourselves for trying to take on so much, Bolton's study shows that questioning oneself and others is the very essence of being a successful woman. In addition to providing useful suggestions for professional women in the corporate workplace to be (and feel) more successful, Bolton also turns her attention to entrepreneurial women launching their own businesses, a move she says that is so much more than a job change, but that involves a more profound change in one's very identity. Finally, Bolton even offers several chapters of suggestions for "stay-at-home" moms, so that no matter what your life choices are, you can find out how to feel better about them by reading this book! Best of all in this book is the personal voice of the author. She writes as a researcher, academic and executive coach, but also as a woman and mother. As you read each chapter (even the ones that don't seem to relate to you directly), you often feel as though you are reading about yourself or someone you know. Take time to buy this book and then sit down and browse through it. This book won't change the world, but it will change how you look at the world, and how you feel about your place in it.

Rating:
Summary: The Third Shift=Practical and Thoughtful Advice!
Review: Choices are always tough, and Michele Bolton's THE THIRD SHIFT makes them so much easier to make. I am a professional woman who, like many other readers of this book, am a mother, wife and involved community member as well. The societal infrastructure for women hasn't yet caught up with our aspirations as women -- to be the best at work, to be the best at home, to change the world -- and it is because we live in this transitional era that Bolton's book is so important for women like me to read. Instead of chastizing ourselves for trying to take on so much, Bolton's study shows that questioning oneself and others is the very essence of being a successful woman. In addition to providing useful suggestions for professional women in the corporate workplace to be (and feel) more successful, Bolton also turns her attention to entrepreneurial women launching their own businesses, a move she says that is so much more than a job change, but that involves a more profound change in one's very identity. Finally, Bolton even offers several chapters of suggestions for "stay-at-home" moms, so that no matter what your life choices are, you can find out how to feel better about them by reading this book! Best of all in this book is the personal voice of the author. She writes as a researcher, academic and executive coach, but also as a woman and mother. As you read each chapter (even the ones that don't seem to relate to you directly), you often feel as though you are reading about yourself or someone you know. Take time to buy this book and then sit down and browse through it. This book won't change the world, but it will change how you look at the world, and how you feel about your place in it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read for all women in and out of the workplace
Review: I purchased this book as I am a woman about to have my first child after spending many years building a career. I found this book to be enlightening and fascinating. Like many first time older mothers I have concerns about continuing to work and raise a child. Not only did this book help me come to terms with the fact that it is okay to work and have children but it helped me understand how women's behavior in the workplace and their tendency towards self-doubt is normal. Michele Bolton's use of examples from her meetings with numerous women is an excellent way for the reader to identify with the problems that all women face on a daily basis, both at home and in the workplace.

I have very rarely read a non-fiction book that I wanted to keep reading as if it was a good novel. It is written in a great style and uses a "self awareness" versus "self-doubt" analogy in each chapter with which I claimed total identification. I am recommending this book to all my friends. Many men could also benefit from reading this book too.

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Summary: The Third Shift: Create Maximum Power for Self-Actualization
Review: In this single volume, women are provided with excellent advice on how to manage hard choices in their career, their home, and (in fact) their entire life. The title refers to the "self-destructive and exhausting ritual" to which so many women become hostage. For many of them, this shift seems endless. Bolton observes: "Rather than deriving joy from their choices as women -- to work, to stay at home, to help out in the community -- many women are half-crazed by the constant demands, options, and trade-offs." She organizes her material within three Parts:

The Identity Challenge: Who Are We?

The Task Challenge: What Do We Do?

The Balance Challenge: Who Comes First?

Bolton draws upon a wealth of research (hers and others') which guides and informs her observations, recommendations, and conclusions. In the Afterword, she suggests that "In many ways, women today live in a surreal world, floating back and forth between an outdated cultural mirror that prescribes certain genderized roles, and then careening suddenly toward the possibility of an entirely new image, with as-yet-unknown life scripts and patterns for its many actors and actresses." Although written for women, this book should also be be read by men who also have "hard choices" to make. If they make the correct choices, perhaps many of the decisions made by women will be less difficult.

Rating:
Summary: The Third Shift
Review: This book is great! I am 45, a highly driven person with two school age children. I left a corporate management carreer after 15+ years feeling completely burned out and confused. Even though I knew it was not possible to be a Superwoman, I still tried to do it all. This book explains my feelings about my corporate experience and is a good guide to me for my current at home experience. I have gone back to reread it many times. I am now aware of my Third Shift, always have had it, just never gave it a name.