Mistakes I Made at Work: 25 Influential Women Reflect on What They Got Out of Getting It Wrong

Written by Jessica Bacal

Narrated by Karen Saltus

High-achieving women share their worst mistakes at work-and how learning from them paved the way to success.

Named by Fast Company as a "Top 10 Book You Need to Read This Year"

In Mistakes I Made at Work, a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Business Book for Spring 2014, Jessica Bacal interviews twenty-five successful women about their toughest on-the-job moments. These innovators across a variety of fields - from the arts to finance to tech - reveal that they're more thoughtful, purposeful and assertive as leaders because they learned from their mistakes, not because they never made any. Interviewees include:

Cheryl Strayed, bestselling author of Wild
Anna Holmes, founding editor of Jezebel.com
Kim Gordon, founding member of the band Sonic Youth
Joanna Barsch, Director Emeritus of McKinsey Company
Carol Dweck, Stanford psychology professor
Ruth Ozeki, New York Times bestselling author of Tale for the Time Being
And many more
Ideal for millenials just starting their careers, for women seeking to advance at work, or for anyone grappling with issues of perfectionism, Mistakes I Made at Work features fascinating and surprising anecdotes, as well as tips for listeners.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ascent Audio
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781469029573

Reviews for Mistakes I Made at Work

[elina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Life-changing insights that seem logical, but until you hear them from stories like these, it’s so difficult to let yourself take risks and make mistakes. Truly freeing experience listening to this book, thank you!

[Anna Zhu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very useful for increasing awareness and know that we are all equally skilled, we just need to be more aware of what we want to do and let go of the failure mindset.

[julesnstu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wish they could hand this out to every female highschool graduate. My generation was raised to be perfect to compete with men/to be successful. A mistake =failure. NOT TRUE! Sometimes the more mistakes we make, if we learn from them, the faster we get it right.

[meacoleman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Mistakes I Made at Work" is a book of 25 short vignettes of successful (yet imperfect) women who are brave enough to share mistakes they've made in their careers. Some share stories of discovery, while others admit to huge failures on the job. Ms. Bacal knits their stories together thoughtfully and sensitively.As a woman with nearly 28 years of industry experience, I didn't think I had much to learn from this book, but I found similarities in my work experiences and learned new ways to approach challenging situations. "Mistakes I Made at Work" is an inspiring companion to professionals of all ages.

[cherylefisher · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Written by 25 women who have made mistakes in their careers but have used those mistakes to grow and further their careers. All of the women who contributed to this book wrote essays on mistakes they made mostly early in their careers. They then went on to explain how they used those mistakes to analyze where they were and where they wanted to be. All had points at the end of their contribution to sum up their thoughts and how to use the same types of analysis for your own personal growth.

[chutzpanit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a great little book! it was a short easy read but really was a good topic especially with books like Leaning In coming out. This book really showed me that people, women, make mistakes in their careers and for the most part try to downplay them as their career continues but that has a negative effect on other women following because they feel that the women prior to them were no mistakers. Not true! These stories were a great way to see that everyone makes mistakes and then can continue on with great careers.

[emperatrix_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this from the Early Reviewers giveaway and I had to read it right away... It was such a great read; the contributors are all so open and inspiring, like listening to a beloved mentor or friend telling you about the struggles they've overcome. It's one of those books I can't wait to tell people about, especially young women.

[jillian_kay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a collection of essays written by high achieving women detailing mistakes they made at work. Some are more about mistakes they avoided, or bad jobs they had, but all are very valuable. My favorite was the essay by the ER doctor talking about what happened when she made a mistake. I figure if she can make mistakes at her job and the world didn't end I shouldn't be so hard on myself when I make a mistake on a very non-human spreadsheet. (Don't worry no one died.) This book has inspired me to speak out more about my mistakes to younger colleagues.