Author Mika Brzezinski and "Knowing Your Value"--Do You Know Your Worth?

Before racing into details of Knowing Your Value--Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth, it's beneficial to know more about author and journalist, Mika Brzezinski. My first experience with Mika was in front of a television. She co-anchors Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough on MSNBC every weekday morning (6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time). She is a down to earth television journalist with an occasional display of spunk and some of us are happier fans when Joe's on vacation so she has more voice time. She is liberal and Joe is conservative. It is a well-balanced show when you compare it to the ultra-left or ultra-right slanted news programming on other cable networks.

Mika must have had the kind of upbringing which contributed to her lessons to know her own value because of the values of parents who brought her into this world. Mika’s father and an occasional guest on Morning Joe is Zbigniew Brzezinski who is introduced as a foreign policy expert and former National Security Advisor. Her mother is Emilie Anna Benešová who is a sculptor and also a grandniece of Edvard Beneš, a former president of Czechoslovakia.

Mika began a journalism career in 1990 and worked at CBS prior to landing on the set of Morning Joe. In 1993, she married James Hoffer who is also a news reporter and they raise two daughters with a mutual respect of sharing responsibilities. She revisits her career role experiences and their economic effects in Knowing Your Value.

Reading the words "knowing your value" brings a few ideas to your mind as a woman. It emphasizes reflection on self-worth and in the various types of roles women hold as wage earners. Mika's book, however, is about a woman's role in her job and how much she just settles for what she earns even if she has a greater earning capacity. She also points out that some of the same principles discussed can be applied to personal relationships.

While Mika has a high profile position, her advice and advice of others through her interviews is worthy of consideration, which largely is all about learning how to be more assertive to get what you want from your employer. How do you communicate you want a raise? You work hard and you don't push for what you want. If you do push, what behavior and style of communication do you feel is more effective? Do you attempt to manage yourself like your male co-worker? She lends her personal experience once joining MSNBC's Morning Joe, a job in which she discovered she was greatly undervalued based on her earnings. She tells her readers her thoughts, methods, and strategy she employed to change her economic status. She incorporates views from other successful figures (chiefly women) to establish a sense of commonality concerning the same issue women face in trying to attract the salary that is deserved and well-earned. How do you get that raise you need, better yet want? How do you put an end to not giving yourself the value you deserve and have earned? More importantly, how do women stop the pattern of behavior of undervaluing themselves? Mika posed her questions to women figures we are familiar with, namely Arianna Huffington, Suze Orman, author Nora Ephron, Joy Behar and Senator Claire McCaskill. Through her effective interviewing style, she pulled on the insights of women in strong roles to learn of their struggles, advice, and successes. Why are we afraid to ask for what we want and why do we apologize for wanting more? We, as women, can be our own worst enemy.

Knowing Your Value is a reminder not to be ashamed of who you are and that you are worth every penny and dime you strive for. Never underestimate your worth. You should never experience self-imposed feelings of guilt or fear because asking for what you want or need is really just that--asking for what you want and need. You should never feel guilty if you become pregnant and want to raise a family. You should never underestimate your value whether you have children or not.

Knowing Your Value will, if anything, show women what behavior traits they display when reaching for what they want in a male dominated working environment. The book discusses working environments which are "family friendly" making allowances for raising children and meeting job expectations. It also serves as a reminder that sometimes when we women feel as though we're being held back, whether it's a working or personal relationship, we have no one else to blame but ourselves. This book reinforced some thoughts I already embrace and it also reminded me to keep reaching.