How Women Decide - by Therese Huston (Paperback)

About the Book

A definitive playbook for making stronger, wise choices that thoughtfully addresses how the cultural landscape--and the research--define how women decide.

Book Synopsis

"One could imagine it becoming required reading on Wall Street."--New York Times Book Review

So, you've earned a seat at the table.
What happens next?

We all face hard decisions every day and the choices we make, and how others perceive them, can be life-changing. There are countless books on how to make those tough calls, but How Women Decide is the first to examine a much overlooked truth: men and women approach decisions differently, and often in surprising ways. Stress? It makes women more focused. Confidence? Caution can lead to stronger decisions. And despite popular misconceptions, women are just as decisive as men--though they may pay for it. Pulling from the latest science on decision-making, as well as lively stories of real women and their experiences, cognitive scientist Therese Huston teaches us how we can best shape our habits, perceptions, and strategies, not just to make the most of our own opportunities, but to reshape the culture and bring out the best decisions--regardless of who's making them.

"I thought I had read everything I needed to read on gender differences, but, as a CEO, this book showed me a new and critically important area in which we need to be very aware of our biases and take the steps Huston recommends to address them."--Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family and president and CEO of New America

Review Quotes

"Using a wealth of economic and social science research, Huston - a cognitive psychologist [...] - documents these stereotypes and shows how women are often trapped in situations where they can't come out ahead, no matter what they do....[How Women Decide] will resonate with any women trying to navigate treacherous career waters as well as with managers wondering how to increase diversity and get the best out of all their employees. One could also imagine it becoming required reading on Wall Street, where male-dominated thinking has caused so many problems." --New York Times Book Review "Huston, writing in a cheerful, classroom voice, wants to give readers tools to take apart the frequently hostile response to women's decisions...In clear, declarative prose, [How Women Decide] dips readers' toes into stereotype threat and confirmation bias, role congruity theory, cortisol and stress studies and prospect theory." --Seattle Times "To decide or not to decide? All leaders face that question, but Therese Huston shows us convincingly and compellingly that women's decisions are viewed and judged differently than men's. I thought I had read everything I needed to read on gender differences, but, as a CEO, this book showed me a new and critically important area in which we need to be very aware of our biases and take the steps Huston recommends to address them." --Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family and President and CEO of New America "With verve, charm, and a ruthless reliance on data, [Huston] challenge[s] and ultimately disprove[s] several common assumptions about how women make decisions... Huston provides sharp observations, handy chapter summaries, and practical advice... She builds a convincing case that if businesses, government, and other organizations want to improve their decision-making at the highest levels, they need to have more women in the boardroom; and she provides women readers with concrete strategies to defuse existing stereotypes." --Publishers Weekly "Extraordinarily readable--and a profound supplement to Sandberg's Lean In." --Booklist "Insightful advice for women about decisiveness, confidence, and tackling gender bias...Useful, practical strategies based on informed analysis." --Kirkus "How Women Decide blows up several myths about female decision-making that everyone believes, women included. Through thoughtful analysis and lively, entertaining anecdotes, it teaches us what's really happening--how bias works. Every woman needs to read this well-researched and wonderfully reported book. She'll gain confidence through useful tactics for even better decision-making. Men should read it, too; they'll learn tactics that make women great leaders!" --Joanna Barsh, bestselling author of How Remarkable Women Lead and Centered Leadership "Ever wonder whether 'women's instinct' is a real thing? Ever consider multiple points of view, only to be called 'wishy-washy'? In this brilliantly researched and entertaining book, Therese Huston reveals the ways in which understanding ourselves and thinking critically about gender biases can help us all make better choices. I'm already using it to strategize at work, and I predict that every reader will learn something new and useful in its pages." --Jessica Bacal, editor of Mistakes I Made at Work: 25 Influential Women Reflect on What They Got Out of Getting It Wrong and Director of the Wu --

About the Author

THERESE HUSTON, Ph.D., cognitive psychologist and founding director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University, has spent fifteen years helping people make better decisions. She has written for the New York Times. She lives in Seattle, Washington.