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Expert Reveals 100 Self Sabotaging Habits Holding Women Back and How to Overcome Them

While most salon owners build their own offices, Beauty is still an industry dominated by woman. We thought Dr. Lois Frankel's book about the ways women sabotage themselves in business would offer some jewels of wisdom.

Stacey Soble
Stacey SobleDirector of Brand Content Strategy
Read Stacey's Posts
April 7, 2026
The book cover of Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office

Frankel's book is written in a conversational tone short on unnecessary theory and long on actionable tips. 

2 min to read


Dr. Lois Frankel, author of Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office

Dr. Lois Frankel, author of "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office" addresses some of the cultural shifts that impact women at work. "Nice is necessary, but not sufficient," she says. 

Despite decades of progress, women are still navigating sometimes subtle and other times blatant barriers at
work — and too often women tolerate those barriers, making them ingrained and self-reinforcing.

Internationally recognized executive coach and leadership expert Dr. Lois Frankel says that the current social and political climate makes it clear that “our work ensuring an even playing field isn’t done.”

“We’ve leaned in, we’ve girl bossed, we’ve untamed, and it’s still challenging to be a woman at work,” Frankel said. “If anything, we’re seeing a disturbing amount of stagnation, backsliding and backlash related to women’s rights and their rightful place in the world.”

While overt discrimination may be less common than it once was, the modern workplace is riddled with microaggressions like mansplaining and gaslighting, as well as deeply conditioned behaviors that can derail
careers. The barriers may be subtler today, but they’re no less costly. And now, Frankel says, she’s taken off the nice girl gloves and is calling out bias in what she describes as the “bro-ocracy.”


In the newly updated 3rd edition of her bestselling business classic, Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, Frankel delivers a direct, unfiltered playbook for women who are ready to stop self-sabotaging and start getting the success they’ve earned and the respect they deserve.

Using relatable examples and self-assessment tools, Frankel empowers women with the same wisdom and guidance she has provided to Fortune 500 executives. She shows readers how to eliminate 100 career-limiting mistakes, such as:

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  • Buying Into Gaslighting

  • Avoiding Office Politics

  • Failing to Create a Memorable Brand

  • Undervaluing Your Worth

  • Letting Fear Eclipse Your Choices

Written in a conversational tone short on unnecessary theory and long on actionable tips, Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office addresses today’s cultural shifts that impact women at work — including the Me Too movement, gender fluidity, the shift to remote work, the dismantling of DEI programs, and the erosion of women’s reproductive rights, to name a few — leaving women with clear guidance on identifying and
overcoming today’s most pressing challenges.

“Nice is necessary, but not sufficient,” Frankel said. “You have the power to take control of your career without being controlling, to speak your mind while still being respectful, and to chase your ambitions without fear or shame.”

The revised third edition of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women
Make that Sabotage Their Careers is available from the publisher Balance (An Imprint of Hachette Book Group USA), and can be purchased here

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