Here are the top 6 questions Claire and Audrey receive about
Code Switching: How to Talk So Men Will Listen

Q: What makes your book different from others that address communication between the sexes?
Code Switching: How to Talk So Men Will Listen is not a book that addresses simple gender communication or daily communication between the sexes. It’s not a date book with how-to steps on seducing the opposite sex. It’s not about what planet you’re from or how to improve your marriage.
Our book focuses on women in the workplace and how they can best communicate to get their message across to the people they work with. By “people” we mean the men they work with. It’s a statistical fact that men the majority of CEOs and executives holding the power and making the key decisions that impact careers, companies, and corporations. Our book provides discussion, examples, and skills to help women improve their business communication, which will lead to their strengthened credibility and potential career advancement. Women deserve to take their place as leaders in businesses and this book supports them in bringing their leadership skills to the forefront.

Q: What do you mean by code switching?
Code switching is the ability to use your knowledge of two or more cultures or languages and switch between them, depending on the situation, to best communicate your message. For businesswomen code switching is the ability to use their knowledge of men’s and women’s styles of communication and select and use the best style or combination of styles to get their voices heard and leadership recognized.

Q: How does your book teach women to improve their communication skills at work?
This book is a practical resource with how-to steps to help businesswomen conquer the communication nuances between men and women in the workplace. Our book examines different workplace communication situations such as conflicts, interruptions, bullying, mentoring, networking, listening skills, addressing harassment, and managing your career. Using true stories and case studies, it teaches and provides valuable code-switching tips to help women gain and strengthen credibility, and make a greater impact in the workplace. Readers can practice these easy tips to develop their communication skills.

Q: Why is the ability to Code Switch seen as a critical skill for successful working women?
By gaining insight into men's and women's communication styles, women create an awareness of our communication choices. It's about consciously mixing it up using both the male and female communication styles to produce an overall androgynous, synergistic approach. This blend makes things happen. Some argue, and statistics support for many that the workplace is still a man’s world. If a woman is talking at work, there's a high probability that a man is on the receiving end and making a career-impacting decision for her based on what she just said. Our goal is to make women more aware of their communication strategies. Based on their goals, women with knowledge of both styles of communication can intentionally switch between the two. With a few code switching tips, they can increase their clout and potential careers.

Q: Isn’t that sexist to make women change their communication style to adapt to men? Why don’t you teach men how to listen to women?
We’d love to teach men how to listen at work (and we do teach men and women in our "communication between the sexes" training seminars). But let’s face it. In most workplaces, men have the power and that’s the foundation on which the U.S. business world (and many around the globe) has been built. Most businessmen don’t have any incentive to change. Now you may argue that the world is changing, the world is more diverse, there are more and more women in the workplace, more women than men are graduating college in the U.S., and more women are receiving medical and law degrees. However the workplace is still slow to change to accept and fully utilize women’s full potential. Disagree? Then look at all the lawsuits that continue in terms of equal pay for women, sex discrimination, and sexual harassment. We’re not male-bashing. We’re not asking women to act like men. We’re providing communication choices that can help women succeed in the workplace.

Q: Does Code Switching only apply to the workplace?
Women can use code switching beyond the workplace. Understanding the differences in men’s and women’s styles of communication, and how women can best communicate a message to men, applies everywhere men and women exist. Our book arms women with the knowledge necessary to code switch when they feel the need and get their messages heard. For instance, it could be at a parent-teacher meeting, at the motor vehicles office, to filing a complaint with the cable company, or on the home front. Any place where women and men are talking with each other, code switching will come in handy.