Lady you're not a man: The adventures of a woman at work by Apurva Purohit

Book Summary

Lady, You’re Not a Man! is a non-fiction book that addresses the challenges Indian professional women often face in balancing work and home, and provides both insight and practical advice on how to accept, adapt, and achieve in both spheres.

The structure of the book is built around three phases:

1. Acceptance — Understanding that many of the challenges (guilt, unfair expectations, bias at home and work) are common, not unique. Recognising and accepting them is the first step. 

2. Adapting — Learning how to change perspective, behaviour and environment: prioritising, asking for help, managing household and professional demands, training those around you (family, colleagues), and developing a network

3. Achievement — Going beyond balance, taking control, shaping one’s career, raising one’s visibility, mentoring others, challenging status quos, building reputation, and pushing for what one deserves. 

Through real-life stories, humour, anecdotes, the author discusses issues like coping with in-laws, managing motherhood, workplace stereotypes, negotiating authority, dealing with male subordinates (or bosses), and coping with the emotional burden of trying to do “everything”. She urges women to recognise internal obstacles (e.g. guilt, imposter syndrome) as well as external ones, and gives tips (some humorous, some serious) to deal with them in constructive ways. Overall, the book is empowering: it argues that women need not (and should not) try to act like men, but rather make use of their strengths, resist being type-cast, and define success on their own terms. 

About the Author — 

Apurva Purohit is a prominent Indian businesswoman, media executive, and author. Born in 1966, she studied physics in college (Stella Maris College, Chennai), then earned her MBA (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. She has over three decades of experience in the corporate and media world. Some of her roles include: CEO of Radio City (an FM radio network), President of Jagran Group, and various senior leadership positions in media (television, print, digital). She has also been involved in building up businesses (start-ups, turnarounds). 

Her work is also deeply involved with gender diversity (DEI), leadership in business, mentoring, etc. She co-founded Aazol Ventures, a company that connects rural producers/self-help groups with urban markets for traditional food items. 

She has written at least two bestselling books on women at work: Lady, You’re Not a Man! and Lady, You’re the Boss! — The Adventures of a Woman at Work Part 2

Apurva Purohit is known for being candid, approachable, with a sense of humour, and for combining the professional with the personal in her writing: sharing her own struggles (e.g. balancing motherhood, work, domestic expectations) to help others.