Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don't

No one hands women the rule book.

You're expected to build a career, manage relationships, negotiate your salary, navigate sexism, handle your health, care for everyone else, avoid burnout, and somehow have all the answers along the way.

Yet many of the challenges women face every day are the very things nobody talks about.

In Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don't, executive and leadership coach Nicole Johnston tackles the subjects most women are forced to figure out on their own. With humor, honesty, research, and refreshingly direct insight, she shares the career advice and life lessons she wishes someone had given her earlier-and that many women are still left to figure out alone.

From perfectionism, self-sabotage, and gender bias to salaries, self-care, motherhood, and the pressure to be everything to everyone, this book shines a light on the mental load that shapes women's lives and careers but rarely gets discussed openly. Whatever the topic, for so long the message to women has often been the same: Figure it out yourself, and don't make anyone uncomfortable in the process.

Until now. Inside, you'll learn how to:

• Stop overworking to prove your worth and start advocating for yourself
• Recognize invisible labor and protect your time, energy, and ambition
• Handle workplace bias, difficult feedback, and unfair expectations without losing yourself in the process
• Make informed decisions about money, career growth, and personal priorities
• Challenge limiting beliefs that keep you playing smaller than you should

Written like advice from the mentor every woman deserves, Taboo Topics offers the guidance for the situations nobody prepares you for. Whether you're entering the workforce, building your professional career, or helping guide the next generation of women, this book helps you speak up, ask for more, and stop carrying burdens that were never yours to begin with.

Because the topics women are told not to talk about are often the ones that matter most.

"Taboo Topics couldn't be more timely. Essential reading for any businesswoman, manager, or emerging leader ready to communicate with confidence, set boundaries at work, and step fully into her power."

-Sage Lavine, Best-Selling Author of Women Rocking Business

"A practical and thought-provoking exploration of the often-unspoken challenges women navigate in their daily lives. The clarity, accessibility, and practicality of the advice make it a valuable read. I would recommend this book to women seeking to better understand and navigate the often-invisible demands placed upon them, particularly those striving to balance multiple roles and responsibilities."

-NetGalley Review

"This book is really good for career women who feel stuck or tired at work. It gives real tips like how to protect your energy, stop doing too much extra work, and deal with unfair feedback. If you're a woman who wants to grow in your career, this book is worth reading."

-NetGalley Review

"Johnston has spent years in corporate leadership and executive coaching, and the book bears the mark of that background. She writes as someone who has been in the room. She knows the language of organizations, but she also knows the language of female exasperation. Johnston is writing for women in the thick of things - women who are senior enough to know the workplace is not neutral, tired enough to know the body keeps score, and busy enough to appreciate a sentence that gets to the point. An ambitious, humane and genuinely serviceable book whose reach occasionally exceeds its formal grip, but whose best pages make the hidden architecture of women's exhaustion visible with force, warmth and hard-won authority."

-NetGalley Review