‘I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This’ Review: Kate White Success Secrets

Kathie Lee & Hoda: Kate White Interview

Kate White quickly rose through the ranks of the magazine world, quickly going from an editorial assistant to a columnist and eventually to Editor-In-Chief of Cosmopolitan Magazine. After 14 years at the helm there, she made the hard decision to leave and she is telling you the secrets to her strategies for making it big in her new book, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This. Kathie Lee and Hoda were joined by Kate, who discussed her book and life after Cosmopolitan.

Kate White: Leaving Cosmopolitan

She said she loved it, but she said if you can do the math sometimes and see there is a window of opportunity for you to leave on your own terms and do something else, it is great. She thought she is in her early 60s, so if she is going to do it she must do it now.

Kathie Lee & Hoda: Following Your Dreams

Kathie Lee said so many women want to change their lives, but there is that fear factor and financial worries. Kate said if you are going back into the workplace, it is scary but once you get the ball rolling opportunities start to emerge. She said one of the key things is to understand the traditional ways to get a job: throw your resume out there, network, volunteer work. She said to focus on certain things that can help you and segue you back into the workforce.

Kate White: Get In Touch with Your Bitch Envy

Kate said we have all had moments where you look at another women in the workplace and she annoys the heck out of you. She’s always brown-nosing the boss or bragging about what she is doing. She said part of the reason why you think she is such a bitch is because you want what she has. You need to turn the envy back to yourself and what is that saying about you. Maybe you should be doing more or taking on more stuff. Use it to motivate yourself, but not emulate that kind of behavior.

Today Show: Break The Rules

Kate said today it is not enough to do a job really well. She said to set yourself away from the pack, you have to do more than you are told to do. If your boss tells you to do a presentation just like you did last year, but instead you go in with something fresh and gutsy and new. Kate said it is so much easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

Kate White: Secrets at the Workplace

Hoda said you tell someone a supposed secret and somehow it gets around to everyone. Kate said there is absolutely no vault, so you have to know that loose lips sink ships and keep the secrets to yourself. She said when someone tells her a secret she tries to relish it and think that it is just for her to know and that helps her not want to divulge it.

Kathie Lee & Hoda: Don’t Vent At Work

Kate said we are always told to go home and vent to get it off your chest, but one of the things she learned was that maybe putting on some music, enjoying dinner and a glass of wine and not venting can help. She said venting can sometimes churn it up in a way that makes it worse.