By Alice Hafer
For decades, women have been told to “lean in,” and “girlboss” their way to the top. Yet despite progress, many still feel stalled, overlooked, or undervalued in the modern workplace. The problem, says Dr. Lois Frankel, isn’t just bias from others—it’s the habits women unknowingly cultivate themselves.
In the newly revised third edition of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, Frankel, an executive coach to Fortune 500 leaders, exposes 100 self-sabotaging behaviors that quietly derail women’ s careers. From undervaluing your worth to avoiding office politics, these mistakes are subtle, pervasive, and often invisible—even to the women committing them.
“The rules keep changing,” Frankel says. “We’ve worked hard to gain ground, but the modern workplace has shifted in ways that make women’s advancement more complex. Being ‘nice’ isn’t enough anymore.”
Her book tackles tough situations from microaggressions and mansplaining to remote work challenges, the dismantling of DEI programs, and even the erosion of reproductive rights that can impact professional opportunities. Frankel’s book uses relatable examples and practical exercises to help women recognize these patterns, reclaim their power, and strategically navigate their careers.
The stakes are high. Subtle forms of discrimination persist alongside the 100 habits women internalize, like letting fear eclipse ambition, avoiding visibility, or failing to build a memorable professional brand. “Nice is necessary, but not sufficient,” Frankel writes. “You can take control of your career without being controlling, speak your mind while remaining respectful, and pursue your ambitions without fear or shame.”
Her insights resonate not only because they are actionable, but because they reflect a truth many women feel but rarely see articulated: progress is real, but fraught. Workplaces promote equality in theory, but cultural and systemic barriers continue to stall women’s advancement, including those invisible self-sabotaging habits upheld by women themselves.
Frankel’s updated edition serves as both a wake-up call and a roadmap that helps women find success with awareness, strategy, and the encouragement to break old patterns and get that promotion.
Where to Buy
Details: Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers (Revised 3rd Edition) is published by Balance, an imprint of Hachette Book Group USA.
Available from Amazon.
