"One Woman's Journey To The Top Of Corporate America"

Although over one half of the labor force in corporate America is made up of women, there is still a very small percentage that makes it to the top as CEO or President. It is with this theme in mind, that author Patricia E. Gitt focuses her debut fictional novel, CEO.

Gitt has created a character, Melissa Lyn Horn (known as ML to her colleagues), who becomes CEO of United Chemicals Corporation (UCC) that until the very last page remains something of an enigma. We are not quite sure who is the real Ms. Horn. Is she the tough uncompassionate woman who will walk over dead bodies to achieve her goals, or is she someone who is a puppet of her mentor and chairman of the board of UCC, E.F.Haynes? Even Ms. Horn is not quite sure of her talents, as she self-questions if she could have risen to the rank of CEO without Haynes, who had placed her in most of her jobs along the way.

As the story opens, readers are apprised of the fact that Pamela Green, a reporter for Economics World Magazine, has secured the plum task of writing the biography of Ms. Horn. As Green takes on the role of Horn's shadow following her around within the walls of the company as well as to various social functions, we learn of the inner workings and politics of UCC. We also learn that UCC is in the process of acquiring a biotech company that will keep the company profitable and maintain its dominant position within its industry. Apparently, it was the plan to acquire this company that catapulted Ms. Horn as the ultimate choice of the Board of Directors in appointing her as CEO.

However, we also learn that Ms. Horn has made some malicious enemies along her path to the upper echelons of corporate America, namely, her nemesis William Smythe Foley. Foley is the company's corporate counsel, who believes that he was unjustly slighted in favor of Ms. Horn.

The story is a griping read due to Gitt's sharp eye pertaining to backroom shenanigans so prevalent in corporate America, particularly when it comes to accepting a woman as a CEO.

Although some of the characters are not completely convincing, this does not distract from the novel's entertaining quality as a good bedtime read.

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookpleasures
Posted December 28, 2003

Summary

Melissa Lynn Horn, ML to her peers, has honed her executive and leadership skills as Vice President of Haynes Associates, a private management consultant firm, where she was the disciple of EF Haynes. Mr. Haynes is a man of power and influence and also Chairman of the Board of United Chemicals Corporation (UCC). It was EF who placed ML's name into play for CEO, at a time when the Board was searching for a new chief executive to revitalize the corporation and lead it into the 21st Century. Plucky Pamela Green, is a columnist for Economic World magazine. She plans to write a biography of ML Horn however she cannot get a book deal unless the biography is authorized. Pamela gets approval to shadow ML as she goes about her introduction to the corporate insiders, their customers and select government officials. The reporter gets to observe the insider's game of power as ML gains control of her male peers. The reader will follow the single mindedness of a career driven! woman as she scales the corporate heights, fights off a usurper for her title and an enemy out to destroy UCC. They will see the insecurities of a woman who has never been in a successful relationship, as she learns from a special man, what it is to receive and give love. CEO is a corporate page-turner complete with ambition, betrayal, romance and greed. It is a slice of corporate life, from the viewpoint of the first woman to be appointed CEO of an industrial corporation. CEO is real life upped in pace, color, flavor and tempo. Possessing the ambition that is comparable to that of a man, ML attacks her responsibilities with the zeal of a competitor. The only acceptable outcome is to win! In the end, does the woman make the CEO -- or does being CEO force the executive to become a woman?