Author: Liz Dimarco Weinmann, MBA
Publisher: DARE-Force Corporation. 286 pages
Book Review by Nano Khilnani
The full subtitle of this book is: 12 Principles and Practices for Women over 40 to Take Stock, Take Action, and Take Charge for the Rest of Their Lives.
DARE is an acronym developed by Liz Weinmann that stands for Drive, Advance, Rule and Express.
She writes that the book seeks to provide four Es: enlightenment, encouragement, engagement and empowerment.
This book is directed to women over 40 who feel unfulfilled. It is for those who want to make the “second part of their lives” better than the first one. For those who are for example, thinking about going back to college to get their degree, this is the book for them to challenge and motivate them.
This book is also for those women who are homemakers who did not go out and get a job or start a career. It is for people who simply want a change in their lives, which may be to enter into a certain industry, engage their passion and develop it into a full-time livelihood or occupation, or a profitable business. It could be anything inside them that has become a hankering, like moving into a new city or country, for example.
For women who nurse ambitions and hold dreams seeking realization, this is truly and inspiring book. But more than inspiration, it is a very useful one, as Liz provides tools, steps, and a structured strategy for fulfillment of their deepest or strongest desires.
The book is divided into four parts, each part having three principles. With a description of each principle, Liz provides a utilitarian approach to action on each. She gives a personal anecdote, a justification, and ideas and exploratory exercises for each of the 12 principles. She even provides the reader a journal for notes to jot down impressions, insights, questions and action items on the content of each chapter, with the heading: “We dare you!”
She challenges the reader: For example, in chapter 9 in part three, her heading is: Rant, Rave, Rebel, and Roar – over 40! She quotes Susan B. Anthony: Forget conventionalisms; forget what the world will say, whether you are in your place or out of your place; think your best thoughts, speak your best words, do your best works, looking to your own conscience for approval.
Liz writes: “It’s a fact that men tend to seek and indulge their inner rebels when they’re young, usually before they “settle down.” In contrast, women who rebel don’t seem to find the courage or the freedom to release their inner roars until later in life. As most women over 40 know, this is precisely when life hurls at us the crap that makes us rant, rave, rebel and roar in the middle of the night.
The appendix carries names of numerous successful women categorized as Drivers, Advancers, Rulers and Expressers, with inspiring descriptions of what they accomplished.
All in all, this is a highly inspiring book. For women who are stuck in neutral and want to move forward in their lives, this is the book to read because Liz Weinmann can motivate you and show you how.
