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We're Gonna Need Cake
Life is messy. You know it and your employees know it. But the unspoken rules of professionalism dictate that we don’t talk about it. However, what if trying to keep your real, messy life compartmentalized from your work life isn’t doing you any favours? What if, instead, the opposite is true? In We’re Gonna Need Cake, speaker and consultant Valerie Garcia draws on her research, along with lessons she’s learned over decades working in business, to demonstrate how bringing your whole self to work strengthens your leadership and propels your career forward. Guided by The Authenticity Map, Garcia provides you with a blueprint to navigate the messiness of life and learn how to bring real emotions into the workplace in a productive way. Written with honesty and humor, this guide is for the modern-day leader who appreciates that authentic leadership is the best way forward.
Reviews
This sweet debut from Garcia imparts lessons from the corporate trenches on how to nurture authentic leadership—the foremost of which is negating the common professional myth that we must keep our emotions out of work. Garcia starts with her own career, sharing how her personal life crumbled just when her professional life started to excel, and identifies that success has more to do with feelings about oneself than the size of a paycheck. The crux of this guide, she writes, is how to harness “the totally normal and natural human emotions that we all feel every day… they are actually our superpower and not our downfall.”

Garcia’s direct style is refreshingly honest, and she acknowledges early on that it’s not easy to lead, urging readers to “experience the relief that will come from getting real with the people you serve.” Her own personal catharsis—which she admits was a long overdue turning point in her life—served as a springboard, leading her to develop an “authenticity map,” outlined in the guide, to help readers “navigate through the mess” that comes with life’s ups and downs. Garcia also forays into handling rejection and rightly describes the harmful effects sexism, discrimination, and out-of-control egos can have on organizations and the individuals working for them.

The bulk of the guide draws from Garcia’s personal experiences, with several eye-opening statistics sprinkled throughout, building a somewhat intimate framework that allows her to explore weighty topics in a companionable manner. She addresses the idea of “quiet quitting,” includes self-assessment sections at the end of each chapter, and shares her personal recipe for resolving the shame (“remove the secrecy, silence, and judgment”) that can accompany failure. “You will never not be messy,” Garcia writes, but that’s part of the journey—one that, once undertaken, deserves celebrating.

Takeaway: Uplifting guide to mastering—and celebrating—life’s messy moments.

Comparable Titles: Paula Caligiuri and Andy Palmer’s Live for a Living, Karla McLaren’s The Power of Emotions at Work.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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