Review: The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You by Lydia Fenet

Feeling lost when it comes to starting a career and networking? Feeling a lack of

confidence in yourself or your public speaking abilities? Prior to reading this book

that was exactly how I felt, yet Lydia Fenet’s unique advice and anecdotes made

me realise that if I believe in myself, then I too can be The Most Powerful

Woman in the Room.

Fenet details her life and career journey from the beginning, how her sheer

determination eventually landed her an internship with her dream company, the fine

art dealer, Christie’s auction house. From there readers follow her along the path to

career advancement, navigating embarrassments and failures along the way.

Eventually she achieves her dream of becoming a benefit auctioneer, and an

important one at that. Whilst becoming a benefit auctioneer is a specific career, the

book resonated with me as Fenet combined anecdotal advice of situations in which

she had to demonstrate resilience to succeed, alongside specific advice that can

apply to anyone navigating their career and confidence. This writing approach made

the book both an enjoyable and useful read.

In particular, one thing I wished to improve on in 2024 was my public speaking,

Fenet provided a unique approach to this, the Strike Method. This is either an

action or thought which you carry out when you need to reassure yourself of your

confidence. Fenet would bang the gavel before every auction to reassure herself

that she had control of the room and to gain the attention of her audience. I have

since pondered over what I will use as my strike, and I have considered simply

asking myself, what would Lydia Fenet do? Lydia and her book truly had such a

positive impact on reassuring me of my confidence, that simply reminding myself to

act the way she would, is enough to help me in such public speaking situations.

One aspect of her advice I found very useful was how to prepare for job interviews.

She approached this from the perspective of having interviewed many people for

Christie’s. She valued people arriving early to interviews and emailing a thank you afterwards, such advice is something I had not heard before. Fenet partially put it down to her upbringing in Southern USA, yet advocated that this extra attention to detail in any

job situation will differentiate you from other candidates.

Moreover, if you are in a similar position I was in, feeling a little lost when it comes to

expanding your network and creating connections which could benefit your career,

Fenet’s advice was to utilise university or school alumni networks. Simply asking to

meet up with someone who’s career or academic success inspires you, may create a

useful connection which you could call upon in the future, but not before building the

relationship first. This was a key part I hadn’t realised before; I assumed that in order

to ‘network’ I would speak to people directly on the topic of careers and hope they

could help me. Lydia’s perspective is that your network is everywhere and looking

after the people you already have connections with, can allow you to ask them for

favours, even favours as simple ask asking them to put you in contact with another

person. Thus, from there you are able to grow your network and your friendships

simultaneously. I found this was a far less daunting approach to networking.

Some readers have critiqued Fenet for basing a lot of the book on her own life

experiences and anecdotes, making it almost auto biographical. Many argue this

diverts from the perceived purpose of the book as a self-help book. However,

personally I found this humanises the book and makes it more of an enjoyable read.

I hadn’t heard of Lydia Fenet prior to reading, and now I see her as one of my most

inspiring authors, it’s good to hear how she still leads a life with its own highs and

lows outside of her career and is a reminder that not everything is as simple in real

life as often portrayed in self-help books. Ultimately making this book stand out to me

so much more and will be one which I will constantly refer back to if I feel lost or just

need to be reminded of an inspiring figure to motivate me.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to improve their

confidence in 2025, or would just like to be newly inspired through a book that is truly

empowering and written by such a motivational figure.

Written by: Rachel Kirby

Photo credit: Giuseppe Milo, Sunrise in Stonehaven - Scotland - Seascape photography https://www.flickr.com/photos/giuseppemilo/44141872655