Published by Moody Publishers on April 2, 2024
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life, Work
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It’s possible for women to be strong Christians and confident leaders.
There are more female professionals in the workforce than ever. But working women are also time-starved, stressed, and tired. And they often feel alone in their professional struggles.
If you’re trying to do a million things at once and feel like you’re not doing any of them well, you’re not alone. Mentor and longtime corporate leader Peggy Bodde views work as sacred and has invested her life in showing women how to thrive in the workplace. In Sacred Work, Peggy provides an invaluable and practical resource that answers all your leadership challenges and questions.
With business and biblical savvy, you’ll learn how to:
Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Make Difficult Decisions
Manage Workplace Conflict
Promote Yourself with Confidence
Negotiate to WinYou’ll also learn about what to do:
When You Fail
When You and Your Boss Disagree
When Peers Disappoint
When You’re Passed Over for a Promotion
When You Need to Address Performance . . . and so much more!Women bring unique talents to the workplace, and they face specific challenges. Friend and mentor Peggy Bodde walks beside Christian women providing scriptural truth, personal examples, and practical teaching, equipping us to lead with wisdom and strength.
This book is full of practical, helpful advice for Christian women in corporate leadership positions. As Peggy Bodde explains at the beginning, it is rare for these leaders to get the support that they need, since most Christian leadership books written for women focus on the nonprofit sector. Bodde encourages women in the corporate marketplace to believe that God cares about their jobs, and to know that they can glorify God and serve others within their vocational callings. Throughout this book, she shares encouragement and practical advice, and her writing is very succinct and clear. This book is just over 200 pages long, but it is very thorough, and is full of information, advice, and helpful action points.
Bodde shares stories and helpful perspectives based on her own and others’ leadership experiences, and she includes clear reflection questions and action points for dealing with complex situations. She also delves into a Bible passage at the end of each chapter, exploring its implications for that chapter’s theme. Overall, this book is highly readable and very practical, and in addition to covering age-old leadership topics, this book includes helpful perspectives on new challenges, such post-pandemic changes in the workplace. I especially liked the author’s thoughtful, nuanced take about how to handle team dynamics when employees are working a mix of in-person, remote, and hybrid schedules.
Many chapters in this book focus on general leadership topics, such as dealing with conflict in the workplace, leading through crisis and change, dealing with disagreements with your boss, addressing performance issues among the people you supervise, and building a great work culture. Other chapters are more directly tailored to women, as Bodde writes about leading in a male-dominated industry and overcoming gendered socialization to promote yourself well and become a bold negotiator. The one thing that I found surprising and disappointing is that even though Bodde writes about confronting casual sexism in the workplace, she does not address the topic of sexual harassment. Of course, she isn’t in the position to give legal counsel, and HR policies will differ, but I wish that she had shared general advice for how leaders can navigate this complicated issue for themselves or on someone else’s behalf.
Sacred Work: A Christian Woman’s Guide to Leadership in the Marketplace is a thoughtful, practical book that is full of wisdom for Christian women in corporate leadership positions. It can also be encouraging and helpful for women who aren’t in management, but who want to better understand workplace challenges and better advocate for themselves with their leaders. I would also recommend this book to men who want to better understand the challenges that their female colleagues face, or who simply want to benefit from the book’s practical, biblical advice for a variety of circumstances. Even though the author wrote this book specifically for women, so much of the advice is generally applicable that I would recommend this to anyone looking for a solid, up-to-date Christian resource about navigating leadership challenges at work.