Driven by Intention: Own Your Purpose, Gain Power, and Pursue Your Passion as a Woman at Work

A game-changing guide for women who want to transform the way they work and create their own success—from an award-winning global diversity expert.

Ambition alone will only take you but so far. Without a plan, however, you're left with blind ambition and that won't necessarily take you where you want to go.

In this groundbreaking book by diversity, workplace culture, and career building expert Michelle Gadsden-Williams, you’ll discover how much more useful—and rewarding—it is to cultivate an intentional mindset.

Deeply inspiring and eminently practical, Driven by Intention shows how intention is about so much more than simply setting goals: it’s figuring out why we choose what we want to do and how we get this done in order to seamlessly execute and achieve our passions. Simply put, intention is the “secret sauce” of realizing your vision—at home, at work, or wherever you have passions worth pursuing.

Gadsden-Williams combines years of professional experience with research-based insights, proven strategies, and effective exercises to provide the tools you need to get started, in chapters that include:


Setting Intentions vs Setting Goals

Strengthening Your Squad

Defining Your Meaning by Impact

Transforming Company Culture

Leveraging Your Prized Assets

Managing Your Financial Life

Men as Allies for Female Leaders



Filled with practical steps to take now and how to reimagine what comes next, Driven by Intention is an effective blueprint for success and the profiles of twelve highly accomplished women (and one executive chairman who is a male ally) that drive the lessons home. You’ll find relatable strategies and tactics embedded in their stories—from women who had to forge their own paths, faced uncertainty or incredible odds and still managed to rise above it all, and establish uber successful careers for themselves. Women such as Mellody Hobson, president and co-CEO of the largest black-owned asset management firm, Ariel Investments; Fairygodboss co-founders Georgene Huang and Romy Newman; Sheri Salata, who had extraordinary success over more than 20 years as executive producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show and president of Harpo Studios; and more share how they rose to the top because they were driven by their intentions.
Driven by Intention is a book for impact seekers who want to make a material difference at work, in the world, and in their own lives—on their own terms.