The first boss I had in my professional life called me. We chat now and then and exchange thoughts. This time he had a request: He needed information about a book we had produced together 35 years ago. It was titled “Tafelgeschäft Securities between Safe and Mattress.” My boss had the idea for the topic at the time, and I wrote it during my working hours, so I was the author.
On the phone he was very enthusiastic about the book and about his idea for the topic: “We produced and sold 7000 copies of this book through self publishing and generated revenue of 350000 DM. That was a success!” He also told this story several times in public. He even believes that this book helped lead to the prohibition of Tafelgeschäft soon afterward. That may even be true.
I was also pleased about the success of the book, but afterward I thought that I did not benefit much from it. Of course I received my monthly salary, but what would have spoken against him giving me as the author of this bestseller 10 percent of the sales revenue? When I briefly mentioned this, he said: “Anke, I would never have thought that this was important to you!” Had I raised this request and negotiated at the time, he would probably have given me the money without hesitation. He was generally generous.
Just ask!
Unfortunately I no longer remember what I thought at the time. Perhaps I had hoped that at the end of the year he would give me a larger bonus because the book had done so well. But he did not do that. A man would probably have raised the issue of author participation, negotiated briefly, and received his share. I did not raise it back then, and I do not even know whether I ever thought about participation at all.
Why do we women not raise such topics? After all, participation is not an exaggerated demand. Is it because we want to be discovered? In fairy tales a prince always rides by on a white horse, thinks the girl is wonderful, and shortly afterward the girl becomes a queen. The girl does not have to demand anything, does not need to negotiate, but is simply discovered by the prince. Is that what we secretly wait for? Or do we avoid negotiation because we fear the answer might be no?
Is our timidity connected to the fact that we tell our children the usual fairy tales? I have to laugh at the thought of what our children might think when they listen to the Grimm stories. Maybe the girl thinks “oh great, the prince falls in love with Cinderella, and then he searches for her in order to marry her.” Maybe the boy thinks “strange girl. Why does she not just go to the prince, tell him how wonderful she is, and then he will marry her.”
Looking back I can only recommend to all women: Bring things up. Do not be too modest, but stay grounded and above all keep it factual. And if the answer is no, then simply raise your concern again at the next opportunity. What bad thing could really happen?
Anke Dembowski is a financial journalist and author of various investment fund-related and other financial books. She is also a co-founder of the "Fondsfrauen" network.
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