BREAKING THROUGH BIAS

Co-authors Andrea S. Kramer and Alton B. Harris provide verbal and behavioral strategies to help women overcome gender discrimination in the workplace. They also give an overview of steps that men can take to recognize and reverse their own (often unintentional) gender bias.

Breaking Through Bias poses a convincing argument that the main barrier to women's career achievement is not the practices and policies of the organizations that they work for, nor a lack of ambition, confidence, or focus. Instead, the disparity in career success is due to broadly held societal assumptions and expectations about what women can and should achieve in the workplace, and the discriminatory biases that flow from them.

The book provides practical, timely, effective, and original advice as to how women can communicate in ways that:
•Allow them to avoid or overcome discriminatory gender biases
•Present themselves as competent and confident leaders
•Promote themselves, their talents, and achievements effectively without stereotype backlash
•Strengthen and display the key attitudes necessary for career success

Kramer and Harris are married, highly successful lawyers who have both worked extensively in male-dominated fields and devoted much of their time to mentoring and advising professional women. The collaboration of these authors gives Breaking Through Bias a voice that is unique among other similar titles, because it combines their respective male and female perspectives and experiences. Thanks to that combination, the book is highly relatable and useful for both male and female readers.

Since its publication in May, Breaking Through Biashas been named one of the Times Union Women at Work Best Business Books of 2016 and a Hot New Release on Amazon, and received an excellent review from Publisher's Weekly. Kramer and Harris appeared in Egon Zehnder's global Leaders & Daughters event on March 8, and are getting significant traction with an article they published yesterday on the Harvard Business Review.


Andrea S. Kramer (“Andie”) and Alton B. Harris (“Al”) are married and former law partners. They are accomplished experts in their respective fields of law and are adjunct professors at Northwestern University School of Law. Andie and Al have both served in senior management positions and have in-depth experience with all aspects of personnel management including recruiting, hiring and firing, individual and team supervision, compensation, and promotion. For more than 30 years they have worked to promote gender equality in the workplace, mentoring literally thousands of women, and serving as sounding boards for each other’s ideas. They have jointly written more than 30 professional and gender related articles and book chapters, collaborated in presenting many workshops, and spoken together to a variety of business groups. Andie and Al live in Chicago. They have a daughter in medical school, three rescue dogs, and four rescue cats.