The No Club

The No Club started when four women, crushed by endless to-do lists, banded together over $10 bottles of wine to get their work lives under control. Running faster 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. This book reveals how their subsequent groundbreaking research uncovered 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, attending to that time-consuming client, or simply helping others. In study upon study, professors Linda Babcock, Brenda Peyser, Lise Vesterlund, and Laurie Weingart—the original “No Club”—document that women are disproportionately asked and expected to take on these tasks that inevitably go unrewarded, leaving women overcommitted and underutilized as companies forfeit revenue, productivity, and top talent.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work walks you through how to make small, yet significant, changes and empowers women to make savvy decisions about the work they take on. At the same time, the authors illuminate how lasting change calls for organizations to reassess how they assign and reward work.

With hard data, personal anecdotes, self- and workplace-assessments for immediate use, and innovative advice, this book will forever change the conversation about how we advance women’s careers and achieve equity in the 21st century. [Read more]

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

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

Outstanding…the advice proffered here will last a work-time.

—Booklist