JOANNE GORDON is a contributing editor for Forbes where she was a reporter and writer for five years. She has also written about management, career, and workplace issues for Boston magazine, Working Mother, CosmoGIRL, and the Chicago Tribune. Before following her dream to become a writer, she spent six years in marketing and public relations. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, and is the co-author with Mike Marriner and Nathan Gebhard, of Roadtrip Nation. She lives in New York City. [Edit review] [Delete review]

Meet Leslie, a gallery owner in New York City; Donna, a pharmaceutical sales manager in Texas; Lynne, an animal trainer in Utah; and Betsy, a CEO in California. These women and ninety-six others are members of The Happy 100, a diverse group of women who love their jobs unequivocally. While many workers across America feel bored, unrecognized, and unchallenged, these women greet each new workday with pleasure and a sense of anticipation.

What’s their secret? There are concrete connections between each woman’s job and her unique combination of skills, character, and personality, and Be Happy at Work highlights them through candid snapshots of their working lives and career journeys. Author Joanne Gordon has identified three universal themes and ten categories of happy working women, demonstrating the core reasons of their fulfillment. There are The Lovers, women whose work champions a personal passion; The Thinkers, who thrive on intellectual challenge; The... [More...] [Edit review] [Delete review]

Advance praise for Be Happy at Work

“Finally a book that celebrates the joys of women and work. A perfect antidote to all of the depressing talk about women not having it their way. If you want to feel great about your work life, let these women empower you.”
–Gail Evans, author of She Wins, You Win and Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman

“You can go through your working life frustrated or you can rekindle your career enthusiasm. The key is being open to the proactive thinking and advice Joanne Gordon offers.”
–Florence Stone, editorial director, American Management Association

“Don’t remain trapped in the awful cycle of hating your job. Joanne Gordon’s sound advice and the inspiring stories make Be Happy at Work an important book for any woman who wants to do good–for herself, her family, and her employer.”
–Tory Johnson, co-author of Women for Hire: The Ultimate Guide to Getting a... [More...] [Edit review] [Delete review]

Chapter One

The Lovers

Movie music supervisor, tour guide and nude model, librarian, airplane mechanic, day camp director, ergonomist, pet magazine founder and editor, animal trainer, boutique owner, songwriter, and NASCAR travel coordinator.

The most common career advice, “follow your passion,” is dramatically overused and often misapplied. What if you don’t know what your passion is? And if you do, not all passions translate obviously into jobs, which is one reason many women relegate their passion—their joy, their interest, their love—to the status of a hobby. This first group of Happy 100 women, the Lovers, can help you answer those two questions for yourself because each woman has identified her own passion and built a working life around it.

Specifically, Lovers are women who love some thing—airplanes, art, animals, music—and who have found a way to channel that love into a paying venture. Rarely are... [More...] [Edit review] [Delete review]