Wolfpack
- Hallie Moberg Brauer
- Jul 18, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 19, 2024
Personal development is so important, but let’s be real -- it’s also so time consuming. There are hundreds (thousands??) of incredible books, articles, podcasts, and documentaries out there that would no doubt be beneficial to your professional and personal growth, but who has the time to research, read, and apply them all? No one! So let us do the work for you.
Introducing the Third Wheel Thursday Review - a short blog reviewing a popular book/podcast/article/movie. You’ll get a short synopsis, practical takeaways, and a good idea whether checking out the whole thing is a good use of your limited time and energy!
Title: Wolfpack
What is it? A book
Author: Abby Wambach, a retired soccer player, coach, two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women's World Cup champion.
Who should read it? Honestly, everyone! The book speaks specifically to women, but anyone would benefit from Abby’s ideas about the “new rules” that should govern our thinking and our interaction with the world around us.
Two Minute Skinny: In this book, Abby uses the analogy of wolves and packs of wolves (hence the title) to implore women to band together to disrupt the current world order and to create a newer, more inclusive system. The chapters are broken up into old rules versus new rules -- essentially status quo versus what we should all be striving for both as individuals and as a community.
The old/new rules are as follows:
Stay the path/Create your own path
Be grateful for what you have/Be grateful for what you have and demand what you deserve
Wait for permission to lead/Lead now - from wherever you are
Failure means you’re out of the game/Failure means you’re finally IN the game
Be against each other/Be FOR each other
Play it safe. Pass the ball./Believe in yourself. Demand the ball.
Lead with dominance. Create Followers./Lead with humanity. Cultivate Leaders
You’re on your own/You’re not alone. You’ve got your pack
Best Quote(s): “Leadership is volunteering at the local school, speaking encouraging words to a friend, and holding the hand of a dying parent. It’s tying dirty shoelaces and going to therapy and saying to our families and friends: No. We don’t do unkindness here. It’s signing up to run for the school board and it’s driving that single mom’s kid home from practice and it’s creating boundaries that prove to the world that you value yourself. Leadership is taking care of yourself and empowering others to do the same” (p. 41).
“Championing each other can be difficult for women because for so long we have been pitted against each other for a token seat at the table. Maintaining the illusion of scarcity is how power keeps women competing for the singular seat at the old table, instead of uniting and building a bigger, new table” (p. 58).
“We believe that love, justice, success, and power are infinite and meant to be accessible to all” (p. 59).
Rating/Is it worth your time?: Yes. The book is a 45-60 minute read, and it is POWERFUL. I am having my entire team at work read it, and I loaned it out to several of my friends who decided to read it as well (maybe so I would stop bugging them about reading it?).
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