I was cleaning off my desk this morning and I found my copy of Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don’t by Nicole Johnston I believe every women should read at least once and its why you will find this book inside our Christmas Gift Guide/ Wish List and I will be asking Mrs. Clus to make sure Santa has copies of the book on the truck to bring to my best friend Debbie and also my sister and Lisa Marie Bird as well.
In the book were reminded to Break the Silence, Reclaim Your Voice, and Rise in Leadership. This are things I believe we all need to do. What do you think? For me there are some books you read because you enjoy the story. There are others you read because you learn something from them.
Then there are books that make you stop and think about your own life, the things you have experienced, and the things you may have never really talked about with anyone else. Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don’t by Nicole Johnston is one of those books.
I believe Taboo Topics is a book that many women should take the time to read because women face so many pressures every single day, and some of those pressures are carried in isolation. We are expected to build careers, manage relationships, care for our families, make decisions about our health, handle money, navigate difficult situations at work, and somehow keep everything together.
Sometimes we don’t even realize how much we are carrying until someone finally puts those feelings and experiences into words. That is what Nicole Johnston does in this book Nicole Johnston tackles subjects that women often have to figure out on their own. She combines humor, honesty, research, personal experience, and practical advice to discuss the things that don’t always make it into everyday conversations.
The book looks at topics such as perfectionism, self-sabotage, psychological safety, pregnancy, paid time off, motherhood, menopause, menstruation, salaries, sexism, medical and healthcare needs, managing and leading people, and the pressures women experience both personally and professionally. There is a little bit of something here for many different stages of a woman’s life.
You might be a young woman entering the workforce. You might be building a career. You might be a mother trying to balance family and work. You might be a business owner. You might be navigating leadership. Or you might simply be a woman trying to figure out how to take care of everyone else without completely forgetting about yourself. This book speaks to all of those women.
One of the things that stood out to me most while reading Taboo Topics was the idea that some of the struggles women face can be incredibly isolating. I believe that when we become isolated, it can affect so many areas of our lives. We may begin thinking that we are the only ones struggling, the only ones who don’t have all the answers, or the only ones who feel overwhelmed. And when we start talking about those things, we may discover that we are not alone at all.
As a Christian, I believe that helping people move away from isolation and toward connection is important. I believe that is part of what the Lord wants us to do—encourage one another, help one another, and remind each other that we don’t have to carry everything alone.
That doesn’t mean every subject needs to be discussed with everyone. There are things I believe should remain within my own family, and that is one reason I’m not sure Taboo Topics is necessarily a book I would sit down and share with all of my girlfriends for a group discussion.
But I absolutely believe it is a book women should read. There is a difference between knowing every detail of someone else’s life and simply knowing that you’re not alone in facing the challenges life can bring. Nicole encourages women to recognize some of the hidden rules that can shape the way we approach our careers and our lives.
She talks about protecting your energy from invisible labor and emotional pressure, recognizing when you’re overdelivering without receiving the recognition you deserve, navigating bias, handling feedback, and developing the boundaries and self-trust necessary to move forward.
Those lessons aren’t just for women working in large corporations. They can apply to mothers, wives, business owners, employees, entrepreneurs, and women who are simply trying to make good decisions about their own lives. I especially appreciated the way the book encourages women to advocate for themselves rather than constantly working harder simply to prove their worth.
How many of us have done that? We work a little longer. We take on one more responsibility. We help one more person. We say yes when we really want to say no. We try to make everything perfect. And sometimes we don’t stop to ask whether what we’re doing is actually helping us move toward the life we want.
When I looked through the table of contents, I found myself stopping at several of the subjects Nicole chose to include. She doesn’t shy away from topics that women really do need to understand. Pregnancy. Paid time off. Medical and healthcare needs. Menstruation. Motherhood. Menopause. Salaries. Sexism. Managing and leading people. Psychological safety.
These are subjects that can affect women at very different points in their lives, and having them brought together in one book makes Taboo Topics something that can be picked up and returned to as life changes. You may not need every chapter today. But you may need one of those chapters tomorrow.
One of the things I really liked about the book was that Nicole didn’t simply tell readers what they should think. She included practical ways to stop and look at our own lives. One of the ideas that caught my attention was the suggestion to figure out the points in your day that seem filled with friction or conflict and then ask whether there is a shortcut or hack that could simplify things. That sounds simple.
But how often do we actually stop and ask ourselves that question? Sometimes we just keep doing something the same way because that is the way we’ve always done it. Nicole also encourages readers to talk with their tribe. She asks questions about favorite life hacks, shortcuts that make life easier, and things we could adapt in our own lives. That idea really made me think.
I know we all need a tribe, but I don’t think I had ever stopped to consider it from this perspective. Maybe one of the things I should do this year is reach out to my friends and make sure that we have a support system where we can encourage one another and share the little things that make life easier. Sometimes support doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes it starts with simply asking someone, “How are you doing?”
Another thing I appreciated was the inclusion of end notes. The book is more than 300 pages—323 pages—and Nicole has included research and references throughout the book, with end notes toward the back. I like seeing that in a nonfiction book. When an author discusses a subject and something makes me stop and think, I want to know where the information came from.
Having the end notes gives readers somewhere to go if they have additional questions or want to learn more about a particular subject. For me, that is always a godsend when reading a new book. I don’t necessarily want the author to tell me everything. Sometimes I want to know where I can go next.
Nicole Johnston brings more than three decades of leadership experience to Taboo Topics. She spent years in the corporate world, including leadership roles with companies such as Procter & Gamble, Hershey Foods, Kimberly-Clark, and Newell Brands. She eventually founded innatePOWER® LLC, where she works as an executive and leadership coach and speaker.
Her experience gives this book a perspective that comes from actually being in those rooms and experiencing many of the situations she discusses. Nicole’s work focuses on helping women develop confidence, clarity, leadership skills, and the tools needed to advance without feeling that they have to become someone else in the process. She also brings a personal side to her professional story. She is a lifelong traveler, avid reader, baker, and unapologetic cat lover. She and her husband Angel enjoy traveling and exploring the world together.
I think this is a book that could be useful for women at many different stages of life. A woman beginning her career could learn from it. A mother could recognize some of the invisible responsibilities she has been carrying. A business owner could find ideas she can apply to her own work. A woman in leadership could find language for situations she has struggled to explain. A woman approaching a new stage of life may find chapters that address questions she has never felt comfortable asking. And someone who has spent years putting everyone else first may find herself asking whether it is finally time to make room for herself, too.
That is what makes this feel like more than simply a career or self-help book to me. It is a self-help book for women and about the real-life situations women encounter making this a book everyone should have in there TBR pile. I believe Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don’t is a book worth taking the time to read and to share with everyone you know.
Nicole Johnston opens the door to conversations that many women have been expected to navigate quietly. She reminds us that asking questions doesn’t make us weak, setting boundaries doesn’t make us selfish, and admitting that something is difficult doesn’t mean we have failed.
Sometimes we simply need someone to remind us that we don’t have to figure everything out by ourselves. And that may be the part of this book that I appreciated most. I don’t believe every personal subject needs to be shared with everyone. Some things belong within our families and within the relationships we trust most.
But I do believe women need encouragement. We need people who will tell us that we’re not alone. We need people who will help us recognize when we’re carrying something that doesn’t belong to us. And sometimes we simply need permission to stop, breathe, and ask, “Is there a better way to do this?”
Taboo Topics gives women an opportunity to do exactly that. Because sometimes the conversations we’re told not to have are the conversations we need to have most. If you would like to learn more about Nicole Johnston and her work, visit innatePOWER® and explore the resources available for women looking to grow personally and professionally.
About the Book:
Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don’t
Author: Nicole Johnston
Length: 323 pages
About the book: TABOO TOPICS: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don’t by Nicole Johnston (Author) Format: Paperback
Break the Silence, Reclaim Your Voice, and Rise in Leadership
No one hands women the rule book. You’re expected to build a career, manage relationships, negotiate your salary, navigate sexism, handle your health, care for everyone else, avoid burnout, and somehow have all the answers along the way.Yet many of the challenges women face every day are the very things nobody talks about.
In Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don’t, executive and leadership coach Nicole Johnston tackles the subjects most women are forced to figure out on their own. With humor, honesty, research, and refreshingly direct insight, she shares the career advice and life lessons she wishes someone had given her earlier—and that many women are still left to figure out alone.
From perfectionism, self-sabotage, and gender bias to salaries, self-care, motherhood, and the pressure to be everything to everyone, this book shines a light on the mental load that shapes women’s lives and careers but rarely gets discussed openly. Whatever the topic, for so long the message to women has often been the same: Figure it out yourself, and don’t make anyone uncomfortable in the process.
Until now. Inside, you’ll learn how to:
- Stop overworking to prove your worth and start advocating for yourself
- Recognize invisible labor and protect your time, energy, and ambition
- Handle workplace bias, difficult feedback, and unfair expectations without losing yourself in the process
- Make informed decisions about money, career growth, and personal priorities
- Challenge limiting beliefs that keep you playing smaller than you should
Written like advice from the mentor every woman deserves, Taboo Topics offers the guidance for the situations nobody prepares you for. Whether you’re entering the workforce, building your professional career, or helping guide the next generation of women, this book helps you speak up, ask for more, and stop carrying burdens that were never yours to begin with.
Because the topics women are told not to talk about are often the ones that matter most
Meet the Author: Nicole Johnston is a respected executive and leadership expert with more than 30 years of global experience leading billion-dollar businesses across the consumer packaged goods industry. A former senior sales and marketing leader at Procter & Gamble, Hershey Foods, Kimberly-Clark, and Newell Brands, she built a reputation for guiding complex organizations through growth, innovation, and change while developing high-performing, diverse teams. Today, she is the founder and president of innatePOWER® LLC, where she serves as an executive and leadership coach, speaker, including TEDx, and author dedicated to helping women rise with confidence and clarity.
After decades of observing how talented women were underestimated, overlooked, or silenced in rooms she herself occupied, Nicole made the intentional decision to leave corporate life and devote her career to the work she found most meaningful—helping women thrive. Her mission is to make leadership advancement accessible, honest, and human by equipping women with the tools, language, and courage to step into greater influence without compromising who they are. Through innatePOWER®, she coaches women across industries and organizational levels, drawing on her lived experience, organizational development training, and a style marked by candor, compassion, and just the right amount of humor.
Nicole’s career includes launching new markets and products, managing international teams, navigating organizational restructures, and shaping cultures during times of transformation. She is a certified executive, leadership, and organizational development coach; a frequent podcast guest; and the 2023 Alumni of the Year for the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business. Born and raised in Iowa, she earned her BBA, certificate of international business, and minor in French from the University of Iowa.
A lifelong traveler, avid reader, baker, and unapologetic cat-lover, Nicole has lived throughout the United States, Switzerland, and the Dominican Republic. She and her husband Angel now enjoy exploring the world together.
Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through my link, at no additional cost to you.
Gracias,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
