In this spoken review, Nick Hutchison introduces Andy Simon’s book Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business, published by the female‑led Greenleaf Book Group. Hutchison begins by prompting listeners to picture a woman they admire, then cites a quote highlighting women’s achievements in longevity, education, and professional realms. He explains why the author’s background as a corporate anthropologist is compelling: anthropology studies what makes us human, and many leading companies now hire anthropologists to redesign culture and strategy. The book dismantles eleven pervasive myths about women; Hutchison spotlights Myth 4 – the belief that women are poor at managing money – and critiques the cultural narrative that ties male financial control to masculinity. He outlines the book’s structure: Part 1 explains how myths shape identity, the eleven myths are presented with stories of women who have shattered them, and the final section offers tools and frameworks for readers to rewrite their own narratives. Hutchison shares his personal revelation that many traits praised as “female leadership qualities” are also his own, underscoring the idea that strengths are not gender‑bound. He concludes with a strong recommendation for both men and women, suggesting the book can empower partners and spark broader cultural change.
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Hi everybody, I am reviewing a book that I thoroughly enjoyed, which is called Rethink by Andy Simon, and the subtitle is Smashing the Myths of Women in Business. I want to start off with one frame. So think about the most favorite women or woman in your entire life. This could be your best friend, your wife, your mother, your boss, your favorite teacher in 3rd grade. And now So get that frame of mind for a second. You're thinking about the favorite women or woman in your entire life. Now listen to this quote. Women live longer than men. They do better in this economy. More of them graduate from college. They go into space and they do everything that men do. And sometimes they do it a whole lot better. I'm thinking about some women right now and I could not agree more. I mean, hell, get out of the way. These females are gonna leave us males in the dust. Now I want to talk about why this book was so, so interesting to me, and it's because of the author actually. This book was written by Andy Simon and it was published by Greenleaf Book Group. Both— Greenleaf is an incredibly awesome female-led publishing publishing company, and Andy Simon is an anthropologist. So when I first picked up the book, I said, why would I want to learn from an anthropologist? In my mind, an anthropologist is someone— and this is completely wrong— but looks at tracks in the mud and says, where did that track come from? From what animal did that track come from? When did it appear? Why is it here? And so to dispel that belief, I decided to look the definition of anthropology, and the definition of anthropology is the study of what makes us human. Now, Microsoft and so many other very large companies are hiring anthropologists to go into their company, look at the way they're doing things, study it, and evolve it. And a lot of the businesses actually that are hiring anthropologists are the incredibly successful ones and also the ones that need change, and they're ready for change, and they're ready to give the keys to an anthropologist which has a long-held belief, I think, of like some kind of rogue career that doesn't have anything to do with business, giving them the keys to be able to transform the business. So the amazing thing about this book is that Andy has learned her whole life about how to systematically study humans and how much that applies to so many different areas of business and culture. The coolest thing, and that's why I loved it, so that's why I was skeptical at first, and that's why at the end I'm like, wow, not only is Andy incredible, but this book is so insightful. The book covers 11 myths, myths about women that are just totally bogus. And I want to share with you one of these myths because I want you to think about why it is. One of these myths, myth 4, is that women are poor at managing money and shouldn't have, you know, the handle on the finances, let's say, in the household. Why is that? Can we all— as a man, I can look in the mirror and I can say statistically Americans are terrible at managing their finances. And I also believe, whether it's right or wrong, that most of the time men, for whatever reason, tend to want to manage their finances. But if Americans are terrible and men are the ones who want to do it, why are men doing it? So that's one of the things I find super funny, and I think it has a lot to do with like this long, long-held belief system that if a man manages the money, then they're the woman's support system, and they feel better about themselves and are more of a man. And because of a belief like that, now all of a sudden you're dispelling all the credibility that a woman could have in the ability to manage the finances. And it's not even thought of just because this is a long ingrained aspect to our culture. And I don't want to make this book all about just the myths because yes, it's about the myths, but it's also like very positive in nature and showing the amazing evolution of both male and female belief systems as we progress as a society. We've been doing a pretty good job, but there's definitely some ways to go. Lastly, I want to read to you the beginning of the book and how it summarizes this book so you have a really good understanding of what you can expect. The table of contents, part 1, the reason for this book, how our myths and our stories shape who we are. That's essentially the self-fulfilling prophecy. Now, the myths and stories that we're familiar So they share 11 in this book. I think they're pretty hilarious and you would enjoy them if you dig in. And it talks about the women who smashed some of these myths. Lastly, it talks about the tools you can use to smash myths and create tomorrow. Think about tomorrow as a new set of myths and stories. Resources to help you rethink your own story. And that's what a lot of us have, our stories in our head, which is why I love that it's just continuing to pound on that in this book. And this book is just awesome. So the front cover says, Beyond the Glass Ceiling. More and more women today are challenging long-held beliefs about what they can and can't do. They are speaking up, stepping out, breaking through, and redefining what society has always told them to be true about their capabilities. Andy Simon tells a story stories of 11 women from different industries who opened up the possibilities for their professional careers and their personal lives by being authentic, taking risks, pushing past the obstacles that others have placed on them. These are stories that tell of innovation, show how women rise, and ignite change. And of course, Andy is a corporate anthropologist, but she's also an award-winning author. This is her first book, was one of the best business books a few years ago, and a entrepreneur who studies humans systematically. Lastly, in this book you'll learn tools and frameworks for questioning society's norms, challenging our current thinking, and smashing the preconceived notions about women that can be so often holding us back from realizing our goals and our dreams. And the funniest thing about this book to me is is that as I read this book as a man, I started out saying, okay, this is how I'm gonna rethink some of my thinking. And the funniest thing about this is that as I read these examples of women who were like leading as an example and why women are really good at leadership, even though we may not think that, I realized that those characteristics that women have that make them good at leadership are also characteristics that I have. And so I start to look at it as whether it's male or female, there are characteristics of certain aspects that people are just innately good at. And that's why I love these unicorns, right? Everyone is incredibly unique. And the whole perspective of it being like in the gene or in the DNA, you know, is something that I can't get down with because I think that all these female traits are actually my traits in a lot of way. And I'm looking at this camera saying I have And look like a man. So anyways, I really loved Andy's perspective shift. I think this is an incredible book for both men and women. Hopefully, maybe men, you could buy this for your wife, you can empower them. Or a woman, buy this for your wife, empower her, and eventually take a read yourself because there's a lot to be shared in here and it's really awesome. Thank you.
