Unapologetically Ambitious

Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms

By: Shellye Archambeau, Ben Horowitz - foreword

Narrated by: Shellye Archambeau, Dan Triandiflou

Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Full of empowering wisdom from one of Silicon Valley's first female African American CEOs, this inspiring leadership book for fans of Dare to Lead and Start with Why offers a blueprint for how to achieve your personal and professional goals, drawn from the author's own compelling story of how she weathered life's difficulties to build massive success.

Shellye Archambeau recounts how she overcame the challenges she faced as a young black woman, wife, and mother, managing her personal and professional responsibilities while climbing the ranks at IBM and subsequently in her roles as CEO. Through the busts and booms of Silicon Valley in the early 2000s, this bold and inspiring book details the risks she took and the strategies she engaged to steer her family, her career, and her company MetricStream toward success.

Through her journey, Shellye discovered that ambition alone is not enough to achieve success. Here, she shares the practical strategies, tools, and approaches readers can employ right now, including concrete steps to most effectively:

• Dismantle impostor syndrome
• Capitalize on the power of planning
• Take risks
• Developing financial literacy
• Build your network
• Establish your reputation
• Take charge of your career
• Integrate work, marriage, parenthood, and self-care

Each chapter lays out key takeaways and actions to increase the odds of achieving your personal and professional goals. With relatable personal stories that ground her advice in the real world and a foreword by leading venture capitalist and New York Times best-selling author Ben Horowitz, Unapologetically Ambitious invites listeners to move beyond the solely supportive roles others expect them to fill, to learn how to carefully tread the thin line between assertive and aggressive, and to give themselves permission to strive for the top. Make no apologies for the height of your ambitions. Shellye Archambeau will show you how.

©2020 Shellye Archambeau (P)2020 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Shellye has achieved amazing success through a clear strategy of setting goals, making plans, and intelligent risk-taking. In this book, she's now sharing these strategies with us: why to set an ambitious plan and how to achieve it. Highly recommended." (Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn and number one New York Times best-selling author of The Start-Up of You)

"Unapologetically Ambitious is a treasure trove of strategic wisdom and practical tips, brought to life through amazing storytelling that will leave the reader inspired, empowered and appreciative. The book deals with the realities of setbacks, trade-offs and societal norms in an authentic way, while illustrating that strength and success often lie in mindset and the team you choose in life. The closing chapter serves as a master guide to navigating life, providing a penultimate takeaway for any reader early in their journey to put the wisdom and experience of the Archambeau's lessons learned into immediate action!" (Brad D. Smith, executive chairman of Intuit and Nordstrom)

"Shellye Archambeau is one of the most intelligent, hard-working and focused women I have met in my 40+ years of business. I was very pleased to have her join the Verizon board in 2013 and have watched her rise within the board to now head the Corporate Governance Committee. Her experience as an African American women rising through the ranks of both large global businesses and technology startups gives her a unique perspective to share with those entering the business world especially those people of color. Grab a pen a paper as you read this book. It is full of the guidance that will put you on a path to career success." (Lowell McAdam, former CEO of Verizon)

Truly inspiring!

I loved this book - it was wonderful! It was even more impactful for me as I had the incredible opportunity to work at MetricStream while Shellye was CEO. Not only did have the pleasure of hearing her speak at many events during my time there, I was also fortunate enough to have her accompany me for a meeting with one of my top clients. I’ve always been so impressed by her and all of her accomplishments. She is truly an inspiration - I will forever be grateful for the time I spent under her leadership!

Thoroughly Enjoyed

Easy read I could not put down. Implemented some recommendations mid book with success. Helped rekindle practices I use to have and are now externally validated.

On the way to burn out & need inspiration? Look no further!

I am a mid/senior level professional who has worked in the tech-start up space. I have been feeling lost in my career and have followed Shellye for inspiration my whole career (I too am a woman in Tech)

Amazing book! Many ah-ha moments I hope connect with you as well!

Very Inspiring!!

The stories and advice have changed my outlook on my journey and next steps.

Be Intentional

Great story about being intentional with your decisions. It’s refreshing to hear Shellye talk in detail about the intentionality, planning and choices she made to live the life she wanted.

Thank you!

Shelley- thank you so much for sharing your story, I listened to it while walking (of course!). My client and friend, Michael Carter recommend it to me and it really resonated- I got a lot out of it and I can't wait to share some of the lessons with my daughter. I will also definitely be recommending it to my women's networking group.

Loved her stories

I really enjoyed this book. It was very engaging given that she shared so many of her personal stories. I believe this part is what makes the book unique. All of her advise and tips for success are followed by a great story to demonstrate the tip. I highly recommend this book for inspiration and motivation to stay on course with your aspirations.

Archembeau inspires

Awesomely narrated book with relevant content. As A young, ambitious, black female, this book spoke volumes to me on my journey to go from an EA to a CEO to my goal of becoming a COO

Very inspirational book

I enjoyed this book a lot, as a woman of color I could relate with the author as I had experienced similar situations as she did. I listened to the Audible and the authors voice was warm and inspirational.

I wish the author shared more about her bad professional experiences in detailed and how best she handle those. Overall, I am inspired.

Thank you for writing this book. I feel like you wrote it for me.

Very inspirational :)

Well written and inspirational. I’m in my 50’s, and have fallen into a routine in terms of my career. This book has now inspired me to push, and seek more before I retire! :)