The Mona Lisa Stratagem

Women seeking empowerment in the business world will get much food for thought in Harriet Rubin's best-selling The Princessa: Machiavelli For Women (1997).

Machiavelli's well known philosophy, set forth in The Prince, had powerful men engaging in ruthless conflict without conscience. Rubin's thesis has women solving conflict with compromise, cooperation and negotiation. The Prince was brutal. The Princessa needs subtle strategies and weapons. Rubin says, "For a woman to triumph, she cannot play by the rules of the game. They are not her rules, designed to enhance her strengths. She has to change the game."

Harriet Rubin's other writings include articles for Inc. magazine: The Art of Going Solo, an entertaining, insightful diary of her break from big business and Peter's Principles, a provocative interview with the distinguished Peter F. Drucker.

A 20-year veteran of corporate life, Rubin is familiar with women and power struggles in the workplace. She was a successful business book publisher for Doubleday/Currency for ten years but chose to leave to begin her own consultancy business in 1997.

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