36则女性商业领导者的成功故事，她们来自世界各地不同领域，身经百战，而极为一至的经历是她们一起完成了哈佛商学院的女性领导力课程（Women on Boards），并顺势一起发起了WomenExecs on Boards的运动。至今WomenExecs on Boards的人脉成员已超过190位来自30多国的女性领导者。本书除了讲述这些成功女性领导者如何以柔克刚跨越最大挑战以外，还揭示了领导者很少谈论的地方——成功背後的挣扎。而正是这些所谓的瑕疵和挣扎为个人经历增添色彩，并最终教会一个人坚强丶坚定和成功。

当你阅读本书中的故事时，会忍不住被这些无所畏惧的女性领导者的话语与经历所感动和激励。

关於作者

Bonnie Hagemann is the CEO of EDA, Inc. formerly known as Executive Development Associates. EDA is a progressive firm using its HR/Culture Tech platform and it 37-year history of top-of-the-house executive development to create compelling cultures and advance the strategy of the companies we serve.

Lisa Pent is a financially literate FTSE 100 senior executive fluent in the worlds of Business Development, Finance, Governance, Strategy, Transformation, Innovation, and Digital Transformation. Lisa sits on the board of the Wall Street Women's Alliance and was in the inaugural Class of Harvard Business School's Executive Education - Women on Boards: Succeeding as a Corporate Director program.

WomenExecs on Boards is a global network of Women Prepared for Board Service at Harvard Business School with over 190 members from 23 countries.  They are deeply committed to one another’s success and are working together systematically to advance the state of gender equality in corporate governance and senior executive positions.

书评

"As I read the many stories so artfully captured in the Courage to Advance, I could not help but think of my own mothers struggle to succeed as Physician in a Navy town in the late 1960s. Like so many of the leaders profiled in this book, she persevered through countless challenges and setbacks and paved the way for future generations of leaders in the process. One cannot help but be inspired by the courage, humility, and tenacity of the special Women profiled in these stories."  ―Christian Brickman, CEO, Sally Beauty Holdings, SBH (NYSE:SBH)

“Women’s empowerment is the single biggest opportunity of the 21st century. Read this book and be inspired by the courageous stories of those who are re-writing the rules of leadership.”―Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever plc UL (NYSE: UL), Co-founder and Chair of IMAGINE, a social venture accelerating business leadership to achieve the Global Goals

"It's often through hearing the stories of others that we come to the best moments of clarity in our own. Women leaders are courageous, resilient, fully capable of making sense and success of the world around them. We adapt, and we also lead change. All, with grace, humility, and vulnerability. In this book are thirty-six stories of proof."―Coco Brown, Founder & CEO, Athena Alliance, Inc., a digital platform for community, learning and access to opportunity for the top women in business

"Courage to Advance is an easy read because it keeps you engaged through the very personal and different  stories which are short but powerful. It will inspire you to never give up and to achieve your wildest dreams despite the many obstacles along the way. You will take ownership and achieve more than you could have ever imagined!"―Dimitri Panayotopoulos, Board Director and former vice chairman of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG)

"Finally! A book so validating, so encouraging, that it feels as though I sat through years of life, career, and business lessons from successful mentors willing to bare it all to pave a path just for me.  If you are ready for your head to be full of ideas, your heart running over, and your insides raring to go - The Courage to Advance is for you!"―Nanette Harrell, Independent Fractional Chief Information Officer & former Transportation Executive, at Faneuil, Inc., Savi Tech & GE (NYSE: GE)

“It’s through the power of storytelling that we are motivated and inspired. Here are the stories of some of our top women leaders. The stories contain big lessons in bite-size pieces. Many have a 'hard knocks' quality because they are genuine and unsparing. They show courage, resiliency, adaptability, sense-making, and vulnerability at work. Bonnie Hagemann and colleagues have produced a volume that will have a wide following. The volume should be on the top of your desk, the lessons very much top of mind.”―Andrew R. Hoehn, Senior Vice President, RAND Corporation, an American nonprofit global policy think tank

"Through telling the stories of these courageous leaders, we reveal the path for others. Sharing the wisdom from experiences that led these women to step fully into the light of their success, is a gift to the reader and a roadmap for stepping into one's own power and potential." ―Rebekah E. Dopp, Founder & Chair of Exponent, a Global Gender Accelerator

"There is an old adage that 'anything that matters in life is worth fighting for' and Hagemann, Pent and their amazing contributing Board members provide some remarkably elegant advise on how women have overcome societies innate obstacles to achieving their full potential in leadership without selling out on family and work-life balance.