{"product_id":"the-ambition-penalty-how-corporate-culture-tells-women-to-step-up-and-then-pushes-them-down","title":"The Ambition Penalty: How Corporate Culture Tells Women to Step Up―and Then Pushes Them Down","description":"\u003cp\u003eWomen have spent years being told to lean in, speak up and ask for more. Stefanie O'Connell examines what happens to the women who actually do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReadical Key Points\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA reported examination of how corporate culture treats women's ambition\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChallenges the idea that a lack of confidence or negotiating skill explains the gender pay gap\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSets out the financial, personal and professional costs O'Connell calls the ambition penalty\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHardcover, 320 pages, Basic Venture, 2026\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eO'Connell argues that ambitious women are not held back by a shortage of drive. Her case is that workplaces ask women to step up and then penalize them, in pay, in promotion and at home, when they do. Drawing on research and her reporting on money and power, she asks why decades of educational gains and empowerment messaging have done so little to close the pay gap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book is written for readers who want the structural view of a problem usually handed back to individuals as advice: professionals weighing their next move, managers deciding who gets the stretch assignment, and anyone who followed the career playbook and watched the rules shift. It also looks at practices that support women's advancement. O'Connell's question is not whether women want more. It is what it costs them to ask.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStefanie O'Connell is a journalist who covers money, power and ambition. Her work has appeared in Slate, Bloomberg, Newsweek and USA Today, and she created and hosted the Webby Award-winning podcast \u003cem\u003eMoney Confidential\u003c\/em\u003e for Real Simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Brand New and Readical Ready.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReadical™ is an independent bookstore and reading-products brand built around a simple idea: books matter most when what we learn leaves the page and enters our lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eApply the Page. Get Readical™.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Basic Venture","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48017090314389,"sku":"NEW-ING-1541705211","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0800\/5861\/3909\/files\/ambition-penalty.jpg?v=1789606351","url":"https:\/\/readical.com\/products\/the-ambition-penalty-how-corporate-culture-tells-women-to-step-up-and-then-pushes-them-down","provider":"Readical","version":"1.0","type":"link"}