#GIRLBOSS

This is one of the better business rags to riches books I have recently ready.  Sophia Amorus is the founder and CEO of Nasty Gal.  There are two important points for engineers regarding this book: (1.) Read about organizations and businesses outside of your own - you can learn something, and (2.) Read what the "Girl Boss" is thinking and why - especially in a profession like engineering where more females are moving into higher and higher positions (Quiz - who is the CEO of Ch2m-Hill).  We get lecture after lecture on the importance of good mentoring and coaching.  But equally important is the employee and future leader focused on self-improvement - - more self-motivation and drive that no amount of coaching or mentoring can duplicate or pull out from an individual.

The Amorus story is old yet powerful.  Amorus, like a Lincoln, felt her condition or mind was capable of improvement.  As with Lincoln, it is story of escape, remarkable energy, and tenacity.  It is a historical story that needs to be duplicated in the future.

From the book and why we mess a bunch of kids up early with a focus on performance and not potential:

"I'm telling my story to remind you that the straight and narrow is not the only path to success.  As you'll see in the rest of this book, I didn't earn many accolades growing up.  I've been a dropout, a nomad, a thief, a shitty student, and a lazy employee.  I was always in trouble as a kid.  From punching my best friend in the stomach when she dropped my Play-Doh (I was four) to getting ratted out for lighting hairspray on fire at a family gathering (guilty).  I was regularly the bad example.  As a teen, I was angst on wheels, and as an adult, I'm essentially a young, half-Geek Larry David in heels - incapable of hiding discomfort, dissatisfaction, or doubt, inescapably myself and often honest to a fault."

On introverts (engineering is the Holy Gail of introverts): 

"Much of the world, from school to the workplace, is set up to reward extroverts, and therefore it can be easier for introverts to feel overlooked or as if they don't measure up.  For instance, even if you know all the answers but don't want to call attention to yourself by raising your hand, you might end up feeling, or being perceived as, less smart than the kids flailing their arms to get the teacher's attention.  Same goes for work.  Just remember, as Susan Cain writes in Quiet, "There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas."

On introverts and social media:

In business, a disproportionate amount of importance is placed on the ability to network.  If you don't thrive on going out and meeting a million people, you might end up feeling that you have less of a chance of getting ahead in your career.  Also, introverts might hand back in meeting and thus not be perceived as "leadership material," even though introverted people frequently make more empathetic managers.  As I've said before, part of the reason that I started Nasty Girl was that I wanted a job where I could be by myself and not have to deal with people.  I wasn't great at in-person customer service, because I can't fake a smile to save my life, but it turned out that I was really good at it electronically.  Over e-mail, eBay, and MySpace, I was a customer service queen - able to respond to people politely and genuinely, infusing everything with a digital smile.  Psychologists now believe that social media is really valuable tool for introverts, because it allows them to communicate and even network on their own terms."

On why should successful people care about yacht security:

"Once at a meeting with my bank, they gave me a gift.  It was a book called Silent Safety: Best Practices for Protecting the Affluent.  The book had chapters with titles such as "Yacht Security" and "Surviving a Hostage Situation."  I thought it was absurd, until it began to terrify me.  Holy shit, is this the way I'm supposed to live my life now?"

On why hire for good writing skills:

"In Jason Fried's book Rework, he writes that one of the smartest investments a business can make is in hiring great writers, and I completely agree.  No matter what you are hired to do, you will be infinitely better off if you are able to clearly communicate your ideas."

On why the Internet and Google as a verb generation is made for the motivated and motivating:

"I didn't know anybody to turn to for business advice, and because of this, people ask me all the time how I figured it out.  Well, I figured it out by doing what I think is one of the best strategies for learning anything anywhere: I Googled it.  There is a whole wide world of free education out there for anyone who wishes to take advantage of it.  Granted, a book might cost you $13, but that's pennies compared with college tuition.  When I needed to know what kinds of shelving to buy for the warehouse, I Google Image-searched "warehouse shelving" until I figured out which one would be best for our needs."

On why MOOC online learning platforms are the real deal:

"I turned to YouTube to watch experts speak at conferences I wouldn't have been invited to even if I had been able to afford to attend.  I learned a ton about how to structure Nasty Gal by looking at similar businesses to see who they had hired and were hiring.  I then viewed those people's profiles on LinkedIn to see what type of experience it takes to do that job successfully.  And while I took it all with grain of salt, it got me far."

On the five key attributes for investing in a company:

I lover her list of business "turn-ons" - good people, scalability, evidence of demand, outside validation, and uniqueness.