DROP THE BALL
Achieving More by Doing Less
A bold and inspiring memoir and manifesto from a renowned voice in the women’s leadership movement who shows women how to cultivate the single skill they really need in order to thrive: the ability to let go.
Once the poster girl for doing it all, after she had her first child, Tiffany Dufu struggled to accomplish everything she thought she needed to in order to succeed. Like so many driven and talented women who have been brought up to believe that to have it all, they must do it all, Dufu began to feel that achieving her career and personal goals was an impossibility.
A bold and inspiring memoir and manifesto from a renowned voice in the women’s leadership movement who shows women how to cultivate the single skill they really need in order to thrive: the ability to let go.
Once the poster girl for doing it all, after she had her first child, Tiffany Dufu struggled to accomplish everything she thought she needed to in order to succeed. Like so many driven and talented women who have been brought up to believe that to have it all, they must do it all, Dufu began to feel that achieving her career and personal goals was an impossibility. Eventually, she discovered the solution: letting go. In Drop the Ball, Dufu recounts how she learned to reevaluate expectations, shrink her to-do list, and meaningfully engage the assistance of others—freeing the space she needed to flourish at work and to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships at home.
Even though women are half the workforce, they still represent only eighteen per cent of the highest level leaders. The reasons are obvious: just as women reach middle management they are also starting families. Mounting responsibilities at work and home leave them with no bandwidth to do what will most lead to their success. Offering new perspective on why the women’s leadership movement has stalled, and packed with actionable advice, Tiffany Dufu’s Drop the Ball urges women to embrace imperfection, to expect less of themselves and more from others—only then can they focus on what they truly care about, devote the necessary energy to achieving their real goals, and create the type of rich, rewarding life we all desire.
- Flatiron Books
- Hardcover
- February 2017
- 304 Pages
- 9781250071736
Buy the Book
$25.99
About Tiffany Dufu
Named to Fast Company’s League of Extraordinary Women, Tiffany Dufu was a launch team member to Lean In and is Chief Leadership Officer to Levo, the fastest growing millennial professional network. She’s been featured in The New York Times, ESSENCE, O, The Oprah Magazine, and on NPR. She is a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, a sought after speaker on women’s leadership, and has presented at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, MAKERS, and TEDWomen. She earned a BA and an MA in English from the University of Washington. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
Praise
“There are two ways that a system of power stays in power. The first is obvious–unequal laws, unequal opportunity, very unequal money, and violence or the threat of violence–the second is more internal and difficult to uproot. Tiffany Dufu’s Drop the Ball is crucial because it takes on that deeper system. She is the right author for this important moment in time. She offers actionable wisdom to pass from one woman to another, from her family to yours. She not only shows that we all gain when women become part of, contribute our talents to, and are ourselves changed by the world outside the home, but also how we will gain when men become part of, contribute their talents to, and are themselves changed by the world inside the home. We need women and men who lead by example, as Tiffany Dufu does for readers on these pages.“—From the Foreword by Gloria Steinem
“We won’t reach equality in the workplace without equality in the home. Drop the Ball shows how everyone benefits when men work towards equality — and how our relationships and our lives are richer when we lean in together.”—Sheryl Sandberg, New York Times bestselling author of Lean In
“If you could follow a path to a stronger marriage, a happier family, and greater economic and emotional security, would you be interested? I thought so. Tiffany Dufu’s Drop The Ball is that path. And she’s awfully good company along the way.”—Susan Cain, co-founder of Quiet Revolution and New York Times bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
Discussion Questions
1. Tiffany Dufu describes the feelings of guilt that plague so many working mothers. Why do you think we feel guilty when we aren’t able to prioritize our families? Does the statistic that only 10% of working mothers give themselves high rankings for parenting feel true to you? What is guilt and when do you feel most and least guilty?
2. Tiffany describes an exercise in which women are asked to write down everything they want to accomplish in a twenty-four hour period. Try it—and don’t forget to include sleeping on the list! Is is humanly possible to do everything you put on that list? Using the “law of comparative advantage” (see page 94), what could you delegate and what must you keep on your list?
3. Tiffany describes the four Go-Tos (page 225) that are necessary for building a successful, rewarding, healthy life. Which of these Go-Tos would you like to focus on incorporating into your routine more deliberately? Why? How will you do it?