A Must for Every Ambitious Professional

Shellye's story is a compelling one. Going from a shy, often bullied, only black girl in a California school to the CEO of a venture-backed (Kleiner Perkins, no less!) company. It is especially timely because it shows one can still succeed in an unjust system, with careful planning, preparation and being unapologetically ambitious--setting high goals and sharing them with everyone, to garner support.

Some of us have been told not to wear our ambitions on our sleeves or that the nail that stands out gets hammered, but Shellye challenges this notion. She brought up her goals frequently with her managers and wasn't afraid to leave situations that were comfortable but unlikely to lead to the next milestone.

I liked the story about her assignment in Japan, a highly patriarchal society that only respects people with two key qualities she lacked: maleness and advanced age. In her first presentation to her new team, she did something that seemed obvious to her but that no one else had ever thought of doing: She had the slides translated into Japanese, which got her instant respect and admiration! Shellye credits her experience as an outsider in most past environments, for that insight. Lesson: minorities and women can often see things others do not simply by virtue of being an outsider.

If Blockbuster video had been open to Shellye's vision, perhaps the company might still exist today. As the president of Blockbuster online based in Dallas, she negotiated a partnership with Netflix to join forces and own the online movie market. Unfortunately, the board rejected the proposal. Lesson: One can have the right vision but without support you are stuck. Leave, and got to a place where people see the vision (for online commerce). Shellye left for Silicon Valley soon after and has never looked back.

I would have liked it if Shellye talked more about how to not come across as abrasive or bossy and rub people the wrong way, while being unapologetically ambitious. I've seen too many people (especially minorities and women) rejected or seen as "angry black men" when they tried to adopt a white male mentor's style!

Lastly, Shellye was incredibly lucky in finding a supportive spouse--one who agreed to sacrifice his career and be a stay at home dad, to support Shellye's ambition to become an executive by 30 and CEO by 40. Few men I know would take this deal!

Overall a good read and should be a part of every ambitious professional's tool kit.

5 people found this helpful

Required Read for Any Woman in Position to Lead

If you were to ask me what is the most practical, transformative, and impactful book that I’ve read this year, I would say it’s Shellye Archambeau’s Unapologetically Ambitious.

While I am incredibly grateful for my journey to date, having founded companies in both Canada and the United States, I did it without a blueprint and a handful of mentors. A book like Unapologetically Ambitious would have helped me to reduce my learning curve tremendously. Not just in business, but also in my personal development.

The lessons and examples that Archambeau shares with us in her book go beyond the workplace and business. She gives us insights into family life, partnerships, and how to blaze your own trail.

This is the book that I should have read 20 years ago, but I’m happy to have read it now. Do you consider yourself to be a driven or an ambitious woman? Whether you’re at the beginning of or mid-career, do yourself a favo(u)r and grab this book for yourself. You will be glad you did.

2 people found this helpful

Planned Ambition

Great inspirational story of true grit and determination. I say grit and determination because, even though it was planned and Shellye made it sound somewhat easy, she had to overcome many systemic corporate America racial and in equality issues. The joy of this book is to see the tremendous success the Shellye attained in conjunction with raising a strong family. I also loved the concept of work-life integration versus work-life balance. Balance insinuates that there are equal parts work and equal parts life, if that was the case then we should only be working 3.5 days a week. Work is often the life experience that helps you build a healthy balance with the rest of your world, so embrace it and enjoy the whole cycle.

1 person found this helpful

Craft the Life You Want for Yourself

This is a beautiful autobiography about an intelligent, thrifty, driven woman who knows exactly what she wants. Shellye Archambeau eloquently tells her life story and chronicles how her upbringing and life choices allowed her to accomplish her dreams: becoming a CEO, having a loving husband and family and keeping the home temperature at 72 degrees.

Whether you are a senior in high school, senior in college or a senior executive, you will learn from Shellye. If you are not very driven, you may laugh at some of Shellye’s suggestions. If you are a CEO or want to become one, like me, you will relate to the road blocks and choices Shellye made in her life.

I love this audible book. Shellye reads it herself, exposing her challenges, passions and fun sense of humor.

1 person found this helpful

Truly inspiring!

I loved this book - it was wonderful! It was even more impactful for me as I had the incredible opportunity to work at MetricStream while Shellye was CEO. Not only did have the pleasure of hearing her speak at many events during my time there, I was also fortunate enough to have her accompany me for a meeting with one of my top clients. I’ve always been so impressed by her and all of her accomplishments. She is truly an inspiration - I will forever be grateful for the time I spent under her leadership!

1 person found this helpful

Touching and inspirational

This is my first book review. This books was so inspirational and also had actionable tips I can implement right away. I hope there are more books by the author as now I’m a huge fan!

Awesome story and Awesome lessons on a life with a plan!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the lessons!! This has given me so many blessing even though my path was and is different. I took what I needed to grow from where I am. Thank you Shelley Archambeau that was well put together!!!

It’s like having your very own personal CEO mentor

This book was gifted to me by an executive at the company I work for, and I’m so happy he gifted a copy to me. It is filled with powerful career and life strategies that you can implement right away to accelerate your career. Unlike other business books, this book shared so many relevant and easy to implement growth strategies like:

-The secret way to get mentors (this advice alone is worth a whole lot more than the price of this book)
-Career mapping and growth strategies
-How to plan and go after what you want in life
-Picking the right industry to work in
-How to plan your life and finances
-How to fight and overcome bias in the workplace
-Why it is important to let everyone know what you goals and aspirations are

I found the Audible narration by the author to be engaging and easy to listen to.

I highly recommend you get the hard copy and Audible version. There is so much unconventional wisdom on life, marriage, finance and career packed into it.

Thank you

Thank you for your honesty and encouragement.
You are right about how the world see us as Women. Particularly women of color. I continue to push in my career. I come up against questions regarding my commitment inability to give fully to the organization and the higher role. However I am unapologetically ambitious and I will continue until I’ve reached my goals.

Inspiring Story

The story is inspiring, if I want to say good this book is planning. The rest is just story.