New Book Serves as Surrogate Mentor Advising Women on Power, Progress and Priorities

SAN FRANCISCO, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- What is my next career move?  Am I settling?  How can I make the right choices between career and family?  Can I have it all?  

As women compose 57 percent of America's current college graduates, a growing number of women in the workforce are asking these questions.(1)  Yet as Mary Stutts shows, there is an unfortunate dearth of female mentors capable of providing counsel, guidance, and answers. In fact, according to a recent poll of women on LinkedIn®, 76 percent stated they do not have time to fully devote themselves to being a career mentor. Consequently, women who are trying to "have it all" are left on their own to navigate the pitfalls of balancing personal ambition, career development, relationships, marriage, home and family. This was precisely the reason why Stutts wrote her book.  As she explains, "I consistently heard from women that they craved the advice of and access to women in leadership positions." The Missing Mentor provides this advice to women who want a trusted mentor.

In her second book, The Missing Mentor: Women Advising Women on Power, Progress and Priorities (ISBN 0-9772730-9-1; Price $16.99; On-sale June 8, 2010; Publication Date June 22, 2010), Stutts shares her own experiences from her successful 30-year business career in the healthcare and communications industries.  She advises readers on how to increase their confidence, create a life plan, achieve self-awareness, maintain ethical and spiritual well-being, foster personal and professional relationships and define and achieve their own success in life.

As a seasoned executive who has helped to manage multi-billion dollar companies, thousands of employees and a busy family life, Stutts has plenty of important advice to offer. Through humorous vignettes, insightful stories and empowering words of wisdom, The Missing Mentor offers women the advice they need in order to chart a career path, make work-life choices and achieve the success they crave.

Through chapters such as "How to Avoid Getting Derailed" and "Work-Life Choices," Stutts shows her readers how to evaluate opportunities, make the most out of the chances they are given and to recognize potential in their personal and professional lives.  In addition to Stutts' own tips and real-life examples on how to prioritize and keep moving forward in life, each chapter also provides a motivational "Power Up!" interview with successful women in various career paths who offer their own inspirational advice.

The Missing Mentor features several empowering and influential women who offer valuable career insight and advice. Dr. Marianne J. Legato, F.A.C.P., an internationally known academic physician, author, lecturer and specialist in women's health, imparts knowledge and advice from her life experience in the book. Several other notable female contributors include Dr. Beverly Tatum, President of Spelman College in Atlanta and Mara Aspinall, President & CEO of On-Q-ity in Waltham, Massachusetts. These powerful and influential women offer mentoring advice and direction on how women can make career and life choices even if they lack access to a formal mentoring program. Also included in the book are: Catherine Arnold, Managing Director and U.S., Healthcare Sector Leader at Credit Suisse; recently named California Antitrust Lawyer of the Year, Mary Cranston, Firm Senior Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in San Francisco; Evelyn Dilsaver, former Executive Vice President at Charles Schwab and board member, Aeropostale, and Tempur-Pedic; Kim Thiboldeaux, President and CEO of The Cancer Support Community in Washington, D.C. and author of The Total Cancer Wellness Guide; Eunice Azzani, CEO of Azzani Search and former Principle Partner at Korn-Ferry Executive Recruiting in San Francisco; Julie Abrams, CEO of Women's Initiative in San Francisco; and, Nola E. Masterson, M.S., Chairman of the Board at Repros Therapeutics, Inc. in The Woodlands, Texas.

As a long-term speaker on career advancement, women in leadership and work and life choices, Stutts is sensitive to the myriad of desires, problems and concerns felt by professional women.  Together with this understanding, Stutts’ down-to-earth, no-nonsense writing style allows her to quickly forge a connection with her readers.  She offers generous insight into how she learned to “have it all” as a successful executive, mother and a driven individual without ever “talking down” to her audience.  While encouraging women to take advantage of mentoring from men as well as women just as she did in her career, Stutts wrote the book because of ongoing requests from women for female mentorship.  Each chapter provides a case study “Ask Mary” section answering specific questions from women to women.  She acknowledges the value of mentoring that she received from two women in her own life:  Dr. Susan Desmond Hellmann and Myrtle Potter.  Her book seeks to pass on the lessons she learned from these mentors and from her own experience to other women seeking guidance.

Whether just starting out in the workforce, looking to make a career move, or striving to climb the corporate ladder, The Missing Mentor is a useful tool for helping women to realize their full strength and potential.  It is an important book for any woman interested in achieving confidence, power, focus and balance in a competitive, fast-paced and increasingly demanding world.

Visit www.marystutts.com for more information and the Author Tour Schedule.

Advanced Praise for The Missing Mentor:

"Dynamic, Liberating and Powerful!  This book is what every young female professional or entrepreneur needs before getting started: to learn from those who are successful in business."

-- Bernard Bronner, President and CEO of Upscale Magazine

"So much has been said of the need for female mentors and finally, Mary's book captures many of the thoughts, secrets and experiences of successful women and their advice to others. A must read for all."

-- Jennifer Augustine author of Adam in the Kitchen

About the Author:

A seasoned executive, Mary Stutts has worked for more than 25 years in the healthcare and communications industries and is currently the Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations at Elan Pharmaceuticals. She is responsible for global oversight of the company's marketed and pipeline product communications, patient advocacy, public relations, internal communications, philanthropy, public affairs and corporate branding while also providing strategic counsel and direction to senior management and the board of directors.  Over the course of her career, Stutts has helped to manage multi-billion dollar companies with thousands of employees while also enjoying her life as a wife, mother and mentor to other professional women.

A graduate in Communications Management at the University of Louisiana, Stutts earned a Master of Health Administration degree at the University of Southern California.  She also completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program on Organization and Strategy. Stutts is a member of numerous professional and community organizations and serves on the National Board of Directors of The Wellness Community/Gilda's Club Worldwide.  She is also a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the Arthur Page Society and the Advisory Board of the Hudson Union Society.  

Stutts' first book, Ten Keys to Overcoming Disappointment was released in 2005, and is now in its second printing.  The Missing Mentor is her second book.  As a foster child from the age of five, Stutts plans to donate a portion of her proceeds from The Missing Mentor to CASA, a national non-profit organization that advocates for foster children in the court system.    

(1)  Source: Eleanor Mills. The Sunday Times, London, February 2, 2010; number of college graduates

SOURCE Household Publishing