book cover
Buy The Book

THE DISCREET GUIDE

Inspired to extend a helping hand to ambitious women working in corporate America, a veteran executive offers honest, practical, slightly irreverent advice about navigating companies that are run and populated predominately by men: how to interpret their sometimes surprising behavior, avoid common mistakes, flourish with the good guys, deal with the bad guys, and nurture a wonderful, satisfying career in a non-traditional role.

Learn how to:
–build relationships with men one-on-one, in meetings, and after hours
–work a difficult room full of men and shine in the eyes of your male managers
–identify gentlemen, bullies, liars, and predators
–detect a glass ceiling and sidestep a misogynist backlash
–get noticed for your courage and common sense and be heard
–avoid classic pitfalls related to conflict, emotional behavior, and sex

The Discreet Guide for Executive Women is the “owner’s manual” professional business women have been waiting for, and it was well worth the wait! Jennifer provides the key ingredients business women at all levels need to build a career they are proud of personally and professionally.
–Megan Ahn, President, Accountants Direct, LLC

Well-written, loved the tone, and I learned things even after so many years of being that lone senior woman and mentoring others…
–Katherine White, former VP of Operations, Qualcomm, Inc.

FROM THE AUTHOR: This book is my way to reach women whom I haven’t had the privilege of meeting, in an attempt to make their corporate experience lighter and brighter. As each of us become more comfortable and confident working in a man’s world, we pave the way for the women who come after us. I am passionate about improving the success rates of women in corporate America, not only to increase the number of women in senior leadership roles, but to make the work life for each one a little happier. If I can help one, just one fainting sparrow, this book will be a success.

Custom Text - Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum
author Image
JENNIFER K. CRITTENDEN Raised on a farm in southern Indiana by an idealist professor and a feminist homemaker, and following language and film studies in Europe, Jennifer was an unlikely candidate to graduate with an MBA from the Kelley School of Business and enter corporate America. To her surprise, she excelled in her new world and spent the next twenty years building a scintillating career, rising from Financial Analyst to Chief Financial Officer, working for big pharma and biotech companies in the US, Europe, and the UK. She saw other women enter this male-dominated world and stumble, lose their upward mobility, get discouraged, and drop out. Jennifer was disappointed to find herself too often the only woman in the boardroom and the executive suite. A devoted manager, she mentored a number of young women and learned that honest, straight talk was the best way to communicate the do's and don'ts of working with men. Now she has now come full circle, returning from numbers and technology, to her love of words by putting her passion to print to extend a helping hand to all aspiring business women.