Work Like a Woman

Work Like a Woman is a bold manifesto about why the way we work now is in desperate need of change, how you can campaign to help make this happen and why we will all - men and women - profit from this.

Women today are working in a man's culture - and it's holding us back. In Work Like a Woman, Mary Portas examines the world of employment, how it works against women and what needs to change, as she tells the story of her career - and learning to rewrite the rules.

Taking us through her working life, Mary looks at a range of topics from workplace bullying and accessing promotion, to combining a career with children and the affect that getting divorced and becoming a single parent had on her professional life. Speaking candidly about the traps she fell into - from aping the behaviour seen in aggressive corporate environments to recreating a male working culture within her own business - Mary will explode the myth of women 'having it all'. She will also track her evolution as a business leader and the decision to rebuild her company from the ground up on a model that today embraces female values.

Examining practical issues, including flexible working and equal pay, and also cultural ones - such as gender bias - Mary will argue for a revolution in the way we work.

Work Like a Woman is a manifesto for all- from young women entering the workforce and older women trying to integrate professional and family ambitions, to executives running businesses and creating best practice and the businesses that employ them. Honest, accessible and entertaining, it is a bold and inspiring vision of the future world of work.

Full of advice for working women. Observer Mary Portas is a woman on a mission. Forbes A force for good, for change. This book will make you change the way you think. Mary is my hero. Scarlett Curtis, author of Feminists Don't Wear Pink I loved this book. Ideas, solutions, wisdom, kindness and zero whining... Everyone should be handed this book with their contract of employment. Sali Hughes Really enjoyed reading this and recommending it to everyone. There aren't many books that can claim to change your life, but this one will. Clare Balding

Known to the nation as Mary, Queen of Shops, from her Award winning series for the BBC Mary Portas has made an indelible mark on British retail. Starting her career with Harrods and then Top Shop she made her name as the Creative Director of Harvey Nichols, transforming the department store into London's sexiest fashion destination.

She has written columns for most national media on retail and consumerism, published two books, advised Government on the future of High Streets, launched her own fashion label, as well as kickstarting the return of British manufacturing with her brand Kinky Knickers.

Her proudest achievement to date, she says, is the creation of Mary's Living and Giving shops for Save The Children. Currently the most profitable charity shops in the UK, she has so far opened 25 and has raised over e13 million and counting.

All of this is fuelled by the talent and expertise of the people of Portas, her agency based in London. Working on an international level, the business advises clients from every continent, covering every sector of the industry, from mass market brands to high-end luxury, across fashion, beauty, hotels, airports, Malls and Real Estate Place-making.

Distinguished by an unrelenting focus on people and the cultural influences that shape their lives, Mary and her diverse team of strategists, designers and creatives have built made to-measure concepts that marry the key tenets of intelligence, instinct and insight.

Westfield, Louis Vuitton, Mercedes, Gap, Liberty, L'Oreal, Sainsburys, Estee Lauder to name but a few have all had the Portas magic. Portas believe that understanding today's fluid consumers is at the heart of great selling and shopping. That and a bloody great dollop of intuition, creativity, vision and risk. Otherwise, why bother?

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