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Embracing Your Power: A Woman’s Path to Authentic Leadership and Meaningful Relationships

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Would you like to discover your most authentic, powerful leadership self? Would you like to define success based on your own terms? 

When women readers finish Embracing Your Power, they will feel confident, supported, and seen. They will think, I am enough; I’ve got this. Focusing on greater self-awareness as a woman, a leader, and as a powerful and authentic woman leader, Marsha Clark also explores building interpersonal relationships based on a foundation of mutual trust, setting and maintaining boundaries, and managing conflict. 

Embracing Your Power is a leadership book targeted to professionally minded women across all sectors. Women in for-profit, non-profit, education, healthcare, the military, religion, government—and homemakers—will benefit from Clark’s unique advice. Because many of her valuable tools and resources are gender-neutral, male readers will also learn how to better work with and for women.

Clark doesn’t just tell us what to do: She effectively shows us how and provides tools and language for practical applications with research, stories, and practice, including reflection questions and exercises. The book provides guidance and a structure for women to develop a vision statement that encompasses both their personal and professional lives. With this toolkit, women will become more effective leaders, and they will be able to lead from their best, most authentic place. They will also be able to live their best lives and pay it forward.

Embracing Your Power can be used by an individual, a book club, mentoring circles, organizational resource groups (focused on women) and potentially even at the organization level to develop curriculum (in conjunction with a membership service with tool availability).  

Marsha Clark was a corporate officer in a Fortune 50 company and has spent over twenty years supporting women around the world through coaching and leadership development programs. She brings research, anecdotal experience, real-life stories, and practical application to all her work.

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2021

16 people are currently reading
1074 people want to read

About the author

Marsha L. Clark

5 books5 followers

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5 stars
24 (35%)
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22 (32%)
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17 (25%)
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Jennifer.
11 reviews1 follower
November 16, 2021
A Great Read for Any Woman!

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. As a shy and often very quiet woman, I’ve often felt like I am not and cannot be powerful. This book opened my mind in many ways to allow me to see myself in a different light and challenge my innate views of what it means to be powerful in todays society. Lots of quotes throughout that I highlighted that I liked a lot.
I loved the activities and reflection questions throughout. I found those questions surprisingly helpful for me realize where I am at in how I view power, and how I can challenge and expand those views. This helped me see where I was at, what I was already doing that I liked, and helped highlight other areas that I wanted to improve on.
Concise, to the point, interesting research written in a way that was easy to understand.
Profile Image for Sheila.
3,162 reviews128 followers
September 23, 2021
I received an advance copy of, Embracing your Power, by Marsha L. Clark. This is a great book for women and girls. There is a lot of discussion questions, activities, and reflections, among others. This has great information to make you think, and start creating your dreams.
Profile Image for L E.
274 reviews14 followers
February 5, 2022
Thank you Goodreads for the giveaway copy. The book has some interesting tidbits, but just wasn't quite my cup of tea.
Profile Image for Tiffany Guthrie.
308 reviews6 followers
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January 20, 2022
Very motivating and helps you embrace being a woman while crushing your goals.
Profile Image for Jessica.
46 reviews2 followers
August 12, 2023
-Types of power: positional, relational, personal
-There are inherent differences between men and women that are apparent in the first 24 hours of a child's life. Boy babies notice noise, sound, and movement while girls look at their care-givers' faces, particularly the eyes and mouth.
-Women tend to approach new situations by calling attention to what they don't know. "For women, its a matter of fairness and honesty...for men, it's a matter of adventure."
-Linguistic patterns that women often use that can lead to misinterpretations: Disclaimers, Hedges, Tag Questions, I'm Sorry, Sould, Sacrifice vs. Choice, I Will vs. I Will Try
-"Should is could with shame on it."
-"When we take ourselves out of the success story, we're giving everyone else permission to do the same."
-Women who struggle with high imposter syndrome often believe:
1) Whatever I'm weak in is what constitutes real intelligence
2) Doing what I'm good at doesn't count. What counts is doing what I find difficult or challenging.
3) When I inevitably find something hard to accomplish, I have renewed proof of my lack of intelligence.
-"To build resilience, you must make mistakes!"
-Support systems can help re-establish competence, maintain high performance, gain new competencies, and achieve specific objectives. Individuals in your support network can serve in a single function or across multiple functions. (Ex: someone who challenges you could help you gain new competencies, but might not be a close friend.)
-"A mentor is someone who has knowledge and will share it with you (while) a sponsor is a person who has power and will use it for you...Research shows that women tend to be over-mentored and under-sponsored."
-Ladder of Inference - in seconds, human go through the following steps: I select what I see, I interpret what I see, I make assumptions, I draw conclusions, I take action
-Analogy of a schoolyard playground with and without a fence; which has more freedom? Children feel more free to play within a fenced playground; similarly, people prefer when clear expectations are set and communication aligns with those expectations.
-Before accepting commitments, ask yourself, "Can I continue to do this with love in my heart?"
-Avoid asking questions that start with "why?" It puts people on the defensive
Profile Image for Michelle Kidwell.
Author 36 books85 followers
March 12, 2022
Embracing Your Power
A Woman's Path to Authentic Leadership and Meaningful Relationships
by Marsha L. Clark
Pub Date 04 Jan 2022
Greenleaf Book Group
Business & Investing | Nonfiction (Adult) | Self-Help


I am reviewing Copy of Embracing Your Power:A Woman’s Path to Authentic Leadership and Meaningful Relations through Greenleaf Book Group:


If you’re looking for a book that asks What Power is and then breaks it down into easy to read categories, and breaks down the chapters with questions and reflections to help you think.


Embracing Your Power is a leadership book targeted to professionally minded women across all sectors. Women in for-profit, non-profit, education, healthcare, the military, religion, government—and homemakers—will benefit from Clark’s unique advice. Because many of the valuable tools and resources are gender-neutral, male readers will also learn how to better work with and for women.



Clark doesn’t just tell us what to do: She effectively shows us how and provides tools and language for practical applications with research, stories, and practice, including reflection questions and exercises. The book provides guidance and a structure for women to develop a vision statement that encompasses both their personal and professional lives. With this toolkit, women will become more effective leaders, and they will be able to lead from their best, most authentic place. They will also be able to live their best lives and pay it forward.


The categories of Power in this book include Positional Power hierarchical in nature, refers to a level or title in an organizational or instructional structure!


Relational Power-This kind of power requires two people at least.


Personal Power-When we make our own intentional choices…


The activities in this book help you to think about times you gave your personal power away, as well as times you felt powerful.


The reflections help us to think about how our lives differ from our parents as well as our grandparents, including the stereotypes that existed for them.



I give Embracing Your Power four out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Profile Image for Audrey  Stars in Her Eye.
1,269 reviews11 followers
February 18, 2022
Embracing Your Power by Marsha L. Clark is both self-help book and workbook. This is the perfect book for the Women's Book Club that wants to harness its power as a woman.

Focusing on greater self-awareness as a woman, a leader, and as a powerful and authentic woman leader, Marsha Clark also explores building interpersonal relationships based on a foundation of mutual trust, setting and maintaining boundaries, and managing conflict. Embracing Your Power is a leadership book targeted to professionally minded women across all sectors. Women in for-profit, non-profit, religion to homemakers. The book provides guidance and a structure for women to develop a vision statement that encompasses both their personal and professional lives.

Clark gives readers the tools and language for practical applications. She blends anecdotes with academic research for a balanced approach. The best part is the exercises. They include reflection questions to examine your own thoughts and idea. My favorite ones are the guided exercises whose templates are in the book.

Because of the largess of her program, Clark is breaking the idea into three books focusing in-depth on the first two tenets. The other steps are overviewed as well and readers do get something out of these abbreviated chapters.

This is a great book club for women to work on together. You have a natural support system to keep you motivated and held accountable. Have a male in the group? That's OK too. They can use this as a learning tool to help their fellow women.

I would recommend this powerful self-help book to any woman.


I received a book for review from the publisher; all opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Brigitte Ayerves Valderas.
57 reviews3 followers
August 27, 2022
Embracing Your Power contains a chock-full of helpful information to develop readers' skillsets as a leader. It can be read individually or in a book club. Marsha L. Clark, formerly a corporate vice president, wrote this book to support women with the critical message of finding and embracing their power when encountering challenging work situations. It encourages personal growth as a leader by laying out strategies like time management and deadlines, setting boundaries, delegating projects, and conflict management. I would advise either listening to or reading this book in small portions. Doing this allows you to reflect on the concepts so you can relate them to your current, past, or future roles.

I feel like this is a book that keeps on giving. You can read it on your own and do the exercises, and you can read this with a group and get even more insightful and helpful perspectives. I kept stopping the audiobook to bookmark a section until I finally concluded that I would purchase the hard copy, so I can capture the nuggets of wisdom shared, participate in the exercises, and gather all the tools she suggests. If you just want to find a common topic that you are working on like hiring or negotiating, Clark organized the book so you can easily locate that subject.

Ultimately, this is a practical book for people in leadership positions and those individuals entering the workforce.
Profile Image for Kelly Dries.
43 reviews7 followers
April 4, 2022
In the very beginning of her book, “Embracing Your Power: A Woman's Path to Authentic and Meaningful Relationships”, Clark shares how great leaders have a toolkit and know what tool to rely on when. What I really appreciate about this book is that there are several opportunities to enhance what already exists in your toolkit, and add new things to it. Clark delivers in this book, which is chock full of tools to use as you build your toolkit, and enhance your knowledge of what to use when. There are numerous activities to reflect, and with each activity, even when I thought to myself, “do I really need to write this down,” I found myself opening my eyes to something I hadn’t realized about my own perceptions, thoughts, or beliefs about myself, my relationships, and my leadership. This book is full of practical tips for women leaders. After I finished reading this book, I took a deep glance at my calendar, and spend time thinking intently about where I was spending my time, ensuring to build in strategy time to focus on my vision for what’s ahead for our team, and delegating things that truly didn’t need to be on my plate.

I recommend this book for women leaders at any stage of their career. I think everyone will find some tools to sharpen or add to their toolbox!
764 reviews11 followers
November 15, 2021
This book was AMAZING and so empowering for women in the workplace. I loved hearing the differences between men and women in the workplace. That was so helpful. One thing I learned from this book is that I apologize way too often for things that are not my fault. I have also noticed that the men in my workplace almost never apologize. That was completely eye opening. This is something I am aware of and really working on. I also know that I have imposter syndrome. The segment on that was incredibly helpful. In fact, the author had a lot of helpful advice and suggestions that I plan to use in the workplace. I also really liked the narrator. I am so excited that this is a series. I can't wait to listen to the next one.
Profile Image for Beth.
1,190 reviews30 followers
February 22, 2022
Common sense advice for women navigating the workplace - which is useful, but also not groundbreaking. If you've read any books in this space before, or worked for any length of time, you've traveled most of the ground covered here. I won't say Clark's wisdom is useLESS, as that's definitely not the case, and it's always nice to have reminders and refreshers of things we know but may lose sight of during our busy day to day lives. But if you're hoping for new or fresh perspectives, look elsewhere.
Profile Image for Gina Heron.
Author 3 books51 followers
December 18, 2021
I really enjoyed listening to this book and found myself stopping to make notes many times! Covering topics like imposter phenomenon, conflict response modes, and inquiring vs. advocating, EMBRACING YOUR POWER gives sound guidance on how women can embracing their innate strengths to successfully lead. I'll be picking up a hard copy of this when it releases!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the audio ARC.
Profile Image for Patricia Bello.
1,147 reviews2 followers
April 14, 2022
:

3.5 stars. This was a surprisingly good listen. Not at all boring and made me wish to have the workbook/book on hand too to do the exercises better. Packed with strategies on how to be a better authentic leader. Definite learned some strategies that I can use at work.

Narrator was pretty good too. Her voice was pleasant to listen to and made the commute to and from work pass by.

Thanks so much Greenleaf Book Group Press for the arc! Thanks to @netgalley too.
Profile Image for Andrea Wenger.
Author 4 books39 followers
December 29, 2021
This is a good workbook for women who want to learn the basics of taking back their power. If you're more interested in theory rather than doing exercises, or if you're already comfortable with your own power, this book is probably not for you.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Profile Image for Lacepaperlife .
823 reviews21 followers
January 2, 2022
This book is very upbeat and motivational however I disagreed with a lot of the philosophies behind the narrators writing and so… It just wasn’t a good fit for me! I can’t think of anyone I personally would recommend this book to as I feel like it might lead them down the wrong path and Make feel bad about the choices they have made in the past so for me it’s a two star.
Profile Image for Jessica.
93 reviews
March 6, 2022
I loved the new perspective this book gave to me at just the right time. I won this book just as I started a new job and reading the part about the imposter phenomenon blew me away. It was almost word for word the kinds of things I was telling my husband! I also loved the questions within the chapters. Really made me think and analyze both work and life decisions.
40 reviews2 followers
May 12, 2022
This was good. I recommend the career / values exercises in here for men and women, especially in their 20s or younger. Much more concrete and practical than Lean In, etc.

(Really generic / vague title though; I thought it was going to be a terrible self-help book when I picked it up from the Staff Picks section of the library!)
Profile Image for Kelli.
34 reviews2 followers
January 10, 2022
I received this book from the publisher as a promo and I'm sure glad I did. What a wonderful, empowering book for all women, a must read. I enjoyed reading Clark's insight on how to unleash our power and build relationships.
Profile Image for Mary.
216 reviews17 followers
January 17, 2022
I just didn’t take much away from this book. There were tips and exercises but none that helpful or memorable to me. The ideas and information seemed a bit dated. The audiobook voice had a computerized tone and was difficult to listen to. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book.
Profile Image for Sarah K..
Author 2 books11 followers
September 3, 2022
Clark has spent YEARS researching women in the workplace and how women can support other women. She breaks down boundaries, intuition, getting past bias and learning to ask for what you want. This book is a must read for ambitious women looking to navigate a man's world!
Profile Image for Stephanie.
154 reviews1 follower
November 1, 2021
Thanks #netgallery for this book. Enjoyed each characters story and conflicts. 100% recommended
2,284 reviews50 followers
January 4, 2022
A terrific guide for women of all ages.Learning to be strong stand in our own power.Steps to take great suggestions a book women will learn much from& gain strength and power.
48 reviews1 follower
January 25, 2022
A self-help book that states exactly what it does - promoting strategies and solutions to help encourage leadership and relationships in both the workplace and in life. Although the author intends it to be set for women, as a reader, this book could be applied to anyone - no matter with whom they identify. The statistics and thorough research helps readers navigate through challenges and encourages new perspectives on obstacles that many people encounter every day. As a reader, this book is reinforced by the author's own experiences to help readers relate and see how all of these step-by-step strategies are applicable.
Profile Image for Mandy Hazen.
1,399 reviews
November 12, 2021
This book takes an empathetic approach and gives bite size approaches and allows you to have kindness and patience with yourself when dealing with life. This is so necessary for everyone to read in life. Highly recommend. Especially loved the reflection to true life to humanize my feelings and relate. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews

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