The No Club
Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work
Table of Contents
About The Book
The No Club started when four women, crushed by endless to-do lists, banded together to get their work lives under control. Working harder than ever, they still trailed behind their male colleagues. And so, they vowed to say no to requests that pulled them away from the work that mattered most to their careers. Their over-a-decade-long journey and subsequent, groundbreaking research reveals that women everywhere are unfairly burdened with “non-promotable work,” a tremendous problem we can—and must—solve.
All organizations have work that no one wants to do: planning the office party, screening interns, attending to that time-consuming client, or simply helping others with their work. A woman, most often, takes on these tasks. In study after study, the original “No Club”—professors Linda Babcock (bestselling author of Women Don’t Ask), Brenda Peyser, Lise Vesterlund, and Laurie Weingart—document that women are disproportionately asked and expected to do this work. The imbalance leaves women overcommitted and underutilized as companies forfeit revenue, productivity, and top talent.
The No Club walks through how any woman can rebalance her workload, empowering individuals to make savvy decisions about the work they take on. The authors also illuminate how organizations can reassess how they assign and reward work to level the playing field. With hard data, personal anecdotes from women of all stripes, self- and workplace-assessments for immediate use, and innovative advice from the authors’ consulting with Fortune 500 companies, this book will forever change the conversation about how we advance women’s careers and achieve equity in the 21st century.
About The Authors
Linda Babcock is a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University. She is the author of Women Don’t Ask and Ask for It. A behavioral economist, she is the founder and director of PROGRESS, which pursues positive social change for women and girls through education, partnerships, and research. Babcock’s media appearances include Good Morning America, ABC’s World News Tonight, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, USA TODAY, and more.
Brenda Peyser has held leadership positions in the corporate world and academia for over thirty years. Most recently, she was a professor of communications at Carnegie Mellon, where she also served as associate dean of the School of Public Policy and Management. She has worked with organizations as a consultant and speaker on women’s workplace issues.
Lise Vesterlund is a professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh and founding director of the Behavioral Economic Design Initiative. Her work with Fortune 100 companies addresses issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. Published in leading economic journals, her research has been covered by NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, and Forbes.
Laurie R. Weingart is a professor of organizational behavior at Carnegie Mellon University. She served as CMU’s Interim Provost/Chief Academic Officer, Director of the Accelerate Leadership Center, and a senior associate dean at CMU’s Tepper School of Business. Her award-winning research on team collaboration and conflict has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider and published in top management and psychology journals.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (May 3, 2022)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9781982152352
Raves and Reviews
“The rewards that flow from collaborativeness are uneven. ‘The No Club’ examines the disproportionate amount of 'non-promotable work' done by women—tasks like covering absences, organising logistics and mentoring. Collaboration is a much less attractive proposition if helping others means spending less time on the sort of work that gets recognised when it is time to hand out actual promotions.” —The Economist
"To progress in their careers, employees typically need to check three boxes: Does it advance the goals of the organization? Is it visible? And does it require specialized skills, or can anyone do it? The rest is 'non-promotable work.' And unsurprisingly, women do more of it." —Fortune
"Taking one for the team could be holding all women back. A new book argues that 'non-promotable work'—the kind that is important to organisational functioning, but unlikely to be rewarded or even recognised—is the invisible hurdle to gender equality in the workplace." —The Guardian
"Four female academics have identified the non-promotable tasks that have obstructed their, and their peers’, career paths." —Financial Times
"When women perform less promotable work than their colleagues do, they have fewer opportunities to demonstrate their skills and their value to the organization’s mission. The result is that they advance more slowly than their male coworkers." —Forbes
“With hard data, personal anecdotes from women of all stripes, and innovative advice from the authors’ consulting Fortune 500 companies, this book will forever change the conversation about how we advance women’s careers and achieve equity.” —Next Big Idea Club
“Say ‘yes’ to your dreams and the long-term potential of your organization. How? By learning how to say ‘no.’ The No Club is a long overdue manifesto on gender equality in the workplace, a practical playbook with tips you can put into action immediately, and the story of four women whose collective wisdom on how to sustain personal success is simply priceless.”
—Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit
"In many organizations, women are in the minority but end up doing the majority of the thankless jobs. This important book helps women learn when and how to say no, and should be a wakeup call to management: give every man a yellow pad and tell them to learn to take notes. Better yet, change the way that work is allocated and rewarded.”
—Richard Thaler, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics and New York Times bestselling coauthor of Nudge
"Unfair treatment of women in the workplace has been well-reported, but there’s a lack of available literature on what women are actually supposed to do about it. The No Club is the answer we’ve been waiting for—these experts and researchers explain what to look for, how to advocate for yourself, and how to empower others to do the same. This is an achievable and overdue call to action for the system to change.”
—Emily Chang, bestselling author of Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley
"This is a critical read for women who inevitably find themselves balancing their personal goals with endless dead-end tasks in the workplace. This book not only gives women validation to say ‘no’ to tedious work, but clearly lays out how caving to these pressures only serves to derail their full potential.”
—Ana Kasparian, executive producer and host of The Young Turks
"I am in a No Club inspired by the authors of this amazing book! Now, all of us can go behind the scenes of their journey, which will leave you feeling seen and guided. The No Club is packed with examples, advice, and research. I'll be recommending it as essential reading to colleagues, students, and friends."
—Dolly Chugh, author of The Person You Mean to Be and professor at the NYU Stern School of Business
"A guide for achieving balance and equity in the workplace…[Readers] will learn valuable tips for changing the status quo, including how to craft an effective ‘no’ and aviod the traps that lead to ‘yes.’ Sound guidance for sparking change in organizations."
—Kirkus Review
“Outstanding…the advice proffered here will last a work-time.”
—Booklist
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): The No Club eBook 9781982152352
- Author Photo (jpg): Linda Babcock Sally Maxson/Carnegie Mellon University(0.1 MB)
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