Book Review: An indispensable accessory for the modern working woman

From practical suggestions on how to write the perfect email to why dressing up for the job is important — without reading like a lookist rant — the Little Black Book has it all. It also touches upon the importance of networking, using social media to build your personal brand and, most importantly, knowing your worth — mostly in the ticklish business of negotiating a salary. It tells you to find your voice to get ahead of others. 

To be yourself and build on it. And perhaps, it comes from personal experiences. When Uwagba wanted to write this book, she went ahead and self-published it. She was later approached by 4th Estate. 

Honestly, the book doesn’t have anything we already don’t know, but in the busy schedule of our eight-hour shifts, we tend to lose sight of who we are and what we set out to achieve. And that’s why we need books like these — to remind us who we really are and how important it is to retain this sentiment. 

Take social media for instance. The temptation to look at your phone every time a notification pops up isn’t just a distraction, but it actually affects your productivity. “Frequently interrupting your work to check or respond to messages stops you from getting properly immersed in it, as it takes the average person around 25 minutes to get back into the swing of things after a distraction,” warns Uwagba. 

Or that “perfectionism is very often the enemy of progress”. We all strive for it, but as the book tells you, “Recognise where to draw the line and put your work out into the world. After all, if no one ever sees your work, then it doesn’t really exist, does it?” 

The book is also important because unlike career guides by Indian writers — which usually dwell upon the stories of successful women, how they became what they became and how to replicate their success — this book doesn’t take this well-trodden path. Because, no two women have similar lives and similar sets of problems, one woman’s fight to the top hardly means anything to a reader sitting a million miles away. When we pick up a book like this, we need real, relatable tips that will actually help us in day-to-day life. And this little book has them all.

Title: Little Black Book 

Author: Otegha Uwagba 

Publisher: 4th Estate/Harper Collins 

Pages: 128 

Price: Rs 299