How Women Decide

What’s True, What’s Not, and What Strategies Spark the Best Choices

An insightful playbook for women who want to make smarter choices in a world that still asks if we should really let men make the tough calls. 

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“One could imagine it becoming required reading on Wall Street.”

—New York Times Book Review

Every day, employees face an increasing number of hard decisions at work.

Should I point out a problem or stay quiet? What should our team’s strategy be given COVID-19 and this economy? Our success depends not just on the outcomes of our decisions, but on how we handle making hard choices and the serious scrutiny that comes with them.

But is a woman’s experience issuing a tough call any different from a man’s? Absolutely. From start to finish.

Men and women approach decisions differently, though not necessarily in the ways we expect. Stress? It actually makes women more focused. Confidence? A healthy dose of self-questioning leads to much stronger decisions. And despite popular misconceptions, women are just as decisive as men—though they may pay a price for it.

How Women Decide shatters myths about gender and decision-making. It delivers lively, engaging stories of real women and their experiences, as well as expert, accessible analysis of what the science has to say. This timely book opens up a conversation about how we can best shape our habits, perceptions, and strategies, so that we can reshape our culture and bring out the best decisions—regardless of who’s making them.

  • "Extraordinarily readable—and a profound supplement to Sandberg's Lean In."

    —Booklist

  • “An authoritative guide to help women navigate the workplace and their everyday life with greater success and impact”

    —Forbes

  • “I thought I had read everything I needed to read on gender differences, but, as a CEO, this book showed me a new and critically important area in which we need to be very aware of our biases and take the steps Huston recommends to address them.”

    —Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family and President and CEO of New America

  • "With verve, charm, and a ruthless reliance on data,...[Huston] builds a convincing case that if businesses, government, and other organizations want to improve their decision-making at the highest levels, they need to have more women in the boardroom”

    —Publishers Weekly

  • “Finally! A well-researched book that affirms the fact that, despite their self-doubts, women make great decision-makers. This book will help you to compete with your male counterparts with courage and confidence.”

    —Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office and See Jane Lead

  • “If you’re a woman, read it. If you’re a man, read it . . . Sometimes a book tells you something you really needed to know, whether you realized it or not, and How Women Decide is one of those books.”

    —The National