Kim Meredith - Work Diva: How to Climb the Corporate Ladder Without Selling Your Soul

Published by Zebra Press
an imprint of Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd
Reg. No. 1966/003153/07
Wembley Square, First Floor, Solan Road, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
PO Box 1144, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

www.zebrapress.co.za

First published 2009
Reprinted in 2009 and 2013

Publication Zebra Press Books 2009
Text Kim Meredith 2009

Ten Tips for Meeting with Mr Big by Chrissy Scivicque.
Used by permission of Chrissy Scivicque of OfficeArrow.com

Cover photograph iStockphoto/Patrick Robbins

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

PUBLISHER: Marlene Fryer
MANAGING EDITOR: Ronel Richter-Herbert
PROOFREADER: Trish Myers Smith
COVER DESIGNERS: Monique Oberholzer and Leigh Dyson
TEXT DESIGNER AND TYPESETTER: Monique Oberholzer
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Valerie Kmmer

ISBN 978 1 77020 083 8 (print)
ISBN 978 1 77020 127 9 (ePub)
ISBN 978 1 77020 128 6 (PDF)

For my father, John Gordon Meredith, who taught me how to think

There are so many people I need to thank for making this adventure into the Work Divas world possible.

Firstly, and most importantly, my long-suffering husband Simon Carpenter, who feeds me and supports me from blunder to brilliance and back, and who maintains my faith in men, mankind and romantic love.

To all my friends and I am blessed to have the most magnificent selection of friends but especially the girls who have supported me in this endeavour: Barbara Edwards, Brenda Bensted-Smith, Karen Evans, Lorna Potgieter and Louise Chain. Not forgetting the boys: Allan Meyer, Ashley Marchment and Chris van der Walt.

A special word of thanks to Colleen Meredith, my mother, who is the kindest person in the whole wide world.

To the incredible people I have met in business, particularly my mentors and coaches: Bob Strain, David Black, Gary Harlow, Joan Joffe, Dr Karen Toombs, Nic Frangos, Nick Speare, Patrick Evans, Pauline Louw and Terry Dearling.

A huge thank you to Julie Purkis, aspiring Harley-Davidson owner, who ran the business far more competently than me while I wrote this book.

To Ronel Richter-Herbert and Marlene Fryer of Oshun Books for their gentle encouragement and for not destroying my spirit. Without this opportunity, I would not have been able to share my business scars with all the other Work Divas out there.

And, lastly, to the people mentioned in the book all of whom are larger than life.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who wasnt born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She did, though, have silver-lined dreams dreams of making money and having a horse and getting kissed by a special boy. She wasnt born a princess and wasnt really sure how she would achieve her dreams, so she simply followed her heart, which told her that she belonged in the big bad world of business.

Just like in the fairy tales, the little girls mother died when she was small, leaving her father with no money and three young children. But still she dreamt. She would wake her four-year-old brother in the middle of the night and tell him how she planned to fence off a park, charge people an entrance fee to bring their dogs to a grand dog show and then use the money to buy a horse. And on she dreamt. Twenty years went by, and still she woke various members of her family in the middle of the night to tell them how she was going to use the money recently released from her pension fund to start a business. And still she dreams. And still she wakes her family (now her husband) in the middle of the night.

Does this little girl live within you? Do you still have your dreams, even if theyre somewhat modified? Do you still lie awake at night planning how you can take your career to dizzying heights, having swapped ponies for world travel along the way? If so, then this book is for you. This book is dedicated to the little girls within us adult women who still dare to dream their dreams.

But enough about dreams, and back to reality. I dislike business books not what you want to hear from someone whos written one, Im sure, but I find most of them terminally boring. There are, of course, a few notable exceptions, but business books, more often than not, fail to ignite the fire of the little-girl-with-big-dreams part of me the part that keeps me awake at night with a head full of plots and plans. Perhaps this is the reason why so many of us women would rather sink our teeth into a juicy novel or gossipy magazine. Business books are generally written for men by men with a passing or patronising reference to this works for women too or by scary, ball-busting, suit-wearing ultra-females who put the fear of god into us when we just look at the cover.

Was it really asking for too much expecting a book that helped real women address the real challenges they face as they climb the corporate ladder? How about finding a course that understood the needs of women wanting to become goddesses or divas in the corridors of power, rather than in the kitchen? All, naturally, without selling their souls. Well, it seemed that I was hoping for too much, and it was this simple realisation that encouraged me to create Work Diva and The Dealdiva programme. Spot the similarity between the two, dear diva?

There is a reason that the finest bowed instrument, the Stradivarius, contains the word diva and, in my opinion, it has nothing to do with the last name of a famous family. According to www.wikipedia.com, The name Stradivarius has also become a superlative applied to designate excellence. To be called the Stradivari of any field is to be deemed the finest there is.

There you almost have it! I wanted to find a word for the book and the programme that described the excellence in women but that also encapsulated their very essence and spirit. I hope you approve of the word I chose.

Work Diva and The Dealdiva are designed to give women all the support they may want or need to make the most of their potential to climb that corporate ladder with confidence and style. Its time for women to acknowledge their dreams, to take charge of their work lives and to fulfil their ambitions. Work Diva is here to be the mentor and guide youve always wished for.

Kim Meredith

A VERY BRIEF HER STORY OF THE WORK DIVA

ARE YOU A DIVA OR A DOORMAT?

There are only two types of women: goddesses and doormats.

Pablo Picasso (Spanish painter; 18811973)

If you do not know who Pablo Picasso is, please do not tell anyone. Google the name before you even begin reading the rest of this book, and find out. You cannot survive without a good general knowledge if you want to get ahead in business or in life in general, in fact. Although I was flippant about business books in the Introduction, heres the bad news: If you want to be taken seriously in your career, you need to invest time in serious content.

In business, you are measured by your understanding of the world at large, the corporate world in general and your company in particular. Knowing who does what to whom in the latest Marian Keyes is not going to win you the big promotion or pay rise you are chasing. Thats not fair, you might moan. Men read golf magazines and that seems to help