Hit Me with Your Best Shot: How to Score a Knockout in All of Life's Arenas

One of the first women to manage professional boxers, Kallen writes here about the lessons that boxing holds for various areas of life. While many readers may not share her love of the sport, her glorification of competition or her division of people into ""winners"" and ""losers,"" she offers plenty of spirited motivational self-help here for just about everyone. The boxing metaphor does lend itself to Kallen's view of life as a series of fights. Encouraging readers to ""choose all your fights carefully,"" ""get the right people in your corner,"" ""stick to the fight plan"" and ""learn to bob and weave,"" she gives sound, specific advice for professional behavior, contagious self-confidence and comebacks from losses and ""knockouts."" Kallen stresses the importance of preparation and training, including research, planning, practicing and ""thinking like a winner."" As a woman in a field dominated by ""cigar-chomping"" men, she offers some insight and counsel for women in similar situations (""don't try to be one of the boys""; ""avoid joking [and] flirting""). Although her unique experiences must undoubtedly contain a plethora of colorful and provocative anecdotes, Kallen withholds them, presumably to avoid gossip, one of her strict rules for professional behavior. But what might otherwise strike readers as a standard pep talk gets punched up through lively yet smooth and well-ordered prose, and because it comes from a feisty and unusual source. (Nov.)