Nice Doing Business with You, Ma’am

Sexual harassment has become one of the hot topics today, resulting in the worldwide #MeToo movement. However, long before the #MeToo movement I wrote a fiction novel, Nice Doing Business with You, Ma am, based on my own experiences as a woman working in a male-dominated financial world. This uplifiting commercial fiction novel tells the story of 26-year old Lisa Simon as she enters the world of fast money after a move to a new city. It’s also Lisa’s first confrontation with the male-dominated world. Her manager, Frank, also notices that while her customer onboarding is twice as much as her male colleagues, she’s always finding herself in peculiar situations such as an unexpected visit to a sex club after hosting a serious business dinner. She draws a crowd at two trade fairs and all of this makes him believe that she is his goldmine when he starts ’exploiting’ her femininity. In an attempt to build the business, Frank spearheads the acquisition of a company that unfortunately turns out to be a fraud. Lisa stands her ground when the fraud is discovered and she has to deal with two lying account managers who were ＂inherited＂ as part of the acquisition.

Before long, she is an integral part of the leasing firm, eventually taking over most of Frank’s duties when he resigns . Within months she also has her former boss’s title as director of the firm.

Lisa’s relationship with her new husband threatens to fall apart when she falls in love with a man she meets on a flight from Geneva to Paris. Just when she thinks she’s pushed him from her mind and heart, they unexpectedly meet again at Charles de Gaulle airport, where their passion intensifies. Fate steps in to prevent the relationship from developing.

As her star rises in the leasing/finance world, she encounters quite a few characters, ranging from stalwart coworkers to helpful advisors to carousing businessmen to ravening wolves, eager to take advantage of a rare woman in a male-dominated field Lisa handles them all with aplomb, until the firm is sold and the new CEO turns out to be an arrogant micromanager who rescinds many of Lisa’s executive duties, essentially blocking her ability to perform effectively.

Fed up, she quits on the spot, . The very next day she receives an offer via a headhunter from a similar firm and tentatively accepts it but is then offered an even more exciting offer from an up-and-coming IT firm. A new challenge in the fast-paced internet world is awaiting her.

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＂Nice Doing Business With You Ma’am is a well-written and easy to read book. It provides insight with a smile and wink in the experiences of a woman in the international finance world and describes the start of a promising career to top executive. Thoroughly written with humor, excitement and - currently very real - #MeToo-situations. I read it with much pleasure.＂

Han Mouton, CFO Johan Cruijff Arena

＂It’s a powerful, easy-to-read and humorous book that deserves attention. It invites readers to think about gender inequality and the need for change, while simultaneously entertaining them with an engaging narrative and keen observations. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a book that both excites and amuses.＂

Arie den Heijer (retired, former account director RoutIT, part of KPN)