Women have seemingly limitless career opportunities. If we’re smart enough, tough enough, and driven enough, we can get where we want to go. But will we get paid for our value?
Women have different career obstacles to overcome, in most cases, then men. The most challenging is often ourselves.
Mika Brzezinski unplugged
Her new book, Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth, is an amazingly open account of the inner-workings of on-air journalism and its impact on one woman’s career. Its impact grows from the stream of revelations from accomplished and powerful women from many careers who share similar experiences.
In a way, this book about the under-the-radar sisterhood of shared struggles and triumphs in the business world, and how some “sistas” don’t play nice.
Mika Brzezinski is the co-host of the MSNBC morning cable news show, Morning Joe, with former Florida congressman, Joe Scarbourgh, the show’s creator. 
She had been an on-air TV news personality for many years, including a stint with CBS as weekend news anchor and a 60 Minutes program contributor until she lost her job.
This plunged her back into the job search which was more like a work search, looking for any opportunity she could find. As she writes in her book, “…you are only as good as your last minute on air.” She found that when you’re not visible, you’re easily forgotten.
I’d assumed that everyone we see on TV makes either “good” or “amazing” money. That’s not necessarily the case. We, as viewers, don’t know if the person behind the desk is a co-host with a lucrative contract and set hours or a freelancer who can be asked to fill in anytime at a moment’s notice.
That’s what happened to Mika. For a time, on Morning Joe, even though she was essential to the show’s ratings, she was paid 14 times less than Joe Scarborough and significantly less then the other men on the show. For a long time, she just lived with it.
Wake up call
Mika faced the same reality that most women face:”…women everywhere still make less” then men.”
So why was she letting this happen to her? She writes: “Looking back, I realize that every time I sat at the negotiating table, my greatest enemy was myself.”
Her book chronicles the pervasive reasons why women don’t know their value and can’t, don’t, or won’t negotiate its worth when they do.
She recounts her own mistakes, echoed and expanded on by women like Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama; Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, Suze Orman, personal-finance expert, and Carol Bartz, Facebook COO.
Mika tells us: The biggest hurdle for women is to assemble the objective facts that define their value.
The next is to find out what others, making comparable contributions, are earning, particularly the men.
Making your move
In her chapter, “At the Bargaining Table: Table Manners and Tactical Maneuvers,” Mika lays out key strategies and tactics like:
- “Negotiate Like a Powerful Woman: …come to the table with information and alternatives, not just a catalog of emotions and self doubt
- Know Your Contributions and Their Market Value…Prior to that meeting, you are to give your boss a one-page outline of your achievements. Not ten pages—one page.
- How Not to Ask:
- ‘I know you’re busy.’
- ‘I don’t know if this is possible….’
- ‘I’m sorry if this is bad timing.’
- How to Ask: …explain why a raise would make sense to the person you’re talking with and to the company as a whole…[Then say], ‘I expect you’ll be fair to me.’”
Overcoming our misconceptions
Knowing Your Value is a storehouse of insights, gripping accounts, and practical information, artfully assembled and beautifully written into 186 pages.
It’s a frank reminder that, in business, our value is denoted by what we’re paid. Knowing your value, respecting it, and taking steps to get compensated for it ensures ongoing success and expanding opportunities.
If we don’t value ourselves, it’s unlikely anyone else will. I recommend you read Mika’s book. You owe it to yourself.
Photo from scriptingnews via Flickr
This sounds like a great book, Dawn. I’ll have to check it out. Seems like really good, useful information that many women will benefit by.
It really is terrific, Katie, and an easy read too. I was so taken about how open Mika is about exactly what was going on around her and the wonderful role that Joe Scarborough played. I could really relate to how Mika’s reactions came together on all levels. It’s truly worth the time! Thanks, ~Dawn
sounds great..I am going to kindle it
Dawn – thank you so much for this information. I kindled the book this week and it is life-changing. I am astounded that powerful professional women at the upper echelons of society also suffer or have suffered from underestimating their value. I am astounded at the psychological differences between how men view the world and how women view the world. It is been a real eye-opener and I’ve used it in my professional practice already with women that I see. It’s great. Thank you so much!
Kathy, I’m thrilled that you liked the book and could put it to use in your practice. What a great reward for me in sharing it. The differences between the approaches and expectations of men and women are to be reckoned with. Women have much to learn and to overcome. That book handles the issue and the remedies beautifully. Thanks for trusting my recommendation. That means a lot to me. ~Dawn
Good for professional women but not hourly un-unionized or unionized wage earners. What is amazing is that Mika is who she is and let this happen to her.
But given her on air personality she is always deferential to the males on the program and that gives me insight in how this could happen to her. As these “professional” women raise themselves up I hope they don’t forget about the women like me. Who check their groceries, clean the toilets where they work or do the day care for their children.
I’d love a raise to just the median income for my county for one person $31,000, it would make a big difference in the life of my household…where I work that is not going to happen anytime soon.
I am in the process of starting my own business and I will have to negotiate for banks and businesses to see if I can get it started making for me and my community a better life.
You raise some really important points here. You’re so right about the struggles that women face who are frontline workers. When unionized, our recourse is actually to negotiate better salaries and benefits with the union leadership (union stewards and officers) because they’re the ones who should be negotiating in our behalf. The problem often is that the needs of women employees are sometimes not their priority. That means we have to dig in and use the steps that Mika proposes. Regardless of our job positions, we need to voice our logic for improved compensation. Management often expects us to be “quiet” so we need to speak up anyway. The results may not be immediate, but at least we’re trying to chip away.
You make excellent observations about how unfair compensation affects women at every level. Now that you’re exploring your own business, it’s great that you recognize the opportunities you have to negotiate and how important each one is. Good luck with your new venture and all your efforts to improve income for women. Best, Dawn
Hi Dawn, checked my mentions and saw your reply. I am looking for guidance on how to approach the banks and business people in my community. They are in the upper echelons like New York or Chicago, but they are well to do enough.
As for my current job there is no way I could ask for any additional money, when I was layed off and I came back I asked for additional pay the answer was NO.
I told them I had been through the training and I understood the work I’d been hired to do there were no emotions envolved. So it was take what they are offering or find something eles. For women like me there is NOTHING else out there.
I’m going to put you on follow. I hope you will continue to write about soloutions.
GOOD WORK and good luck.!
Thanks, Cozella, for filling in more of the details. Given your circumstances, I can see why looking into setting up your own business is an attractive next step. Good luck with it all, especially with the financing. You may have already done this, but there are small business centers often at universities or SCORE chapters that can help you with the preparation and strategies for dealing with the banks. That’s not my area, but there is free help out there.
Thanks for continuing to follow my posts. I really appreciate it. You can count on my posts being about solutions and results. Achieving goals and getting things done the right way are my thing! Best, ~Dawn