Lean In: Women, Work,
and the Will to Lead
Sheryl Sandberg
Category: Nonfiction:
Women’s Studies; Business
Synopsis: Chief
Operating Officer of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, explains how women hold
themselves back in the workplace, and how this can change.
Date finished: 12
June 2014
Rating: ****
Comments:
I’ve been circling the chair about writing this post for a
long time. Where do I even start? I guess I could say that I had no interest in
this book when it came out. I figured I wasn’t its target audience. Surely,
nothing about my education or work experience made me the kind of woman
Sandberg would be writing to. I had no interest in climbing a ladder or
breaking a glass ceiling. Work, to me, is a vehicle for paying bills, not
fulfillment. While I
enjoy what I do,
I don’t consider it a
career.
I grew up in a town so small that there were no managers. No
one was in a management position—men or women—unless you count farmers and
night managers at the Kwik Trip. And I’m not trying to be flip here, but I just
didn’t see examples of leadership until I was in college in 1990s. And upon
graduation, I took a position at the same university I attended, so, in
essence, my entire adult life has been spent in an academic environment. Which
gives one a skewed view of life, yes, but at the same time, I saw just as many
women in top positions (chairs, deans, directors, and associate chancellors) as
I did men. I honestly didn’t think anything of it until I read this book.
So, from opposite points of view I come to Lean In.
I don’t imagine I have anything to add to the conversation
because I’m coming to it so late. I didn’t follow the buzz or heated
conversations upon the book’s release. But I do want to talk about the thing
that struck me to most while reading the book. And that is Sandberg’s stance on
women in the workplace, and especially, women in leadership roles in the
workplace.
Sandberg admits to
the same insecurities, emotions, and conflicts as any other woman. She
discusses crying in the workplace, for instance. She talks about how important
it might be to not separate work-life
from home-life. She touches on difficulties of raising children while running a
company. I didn’t give her enough credit going into the book. I assumed she’d
be a hardnosed, put-all-your-eggs-in-the-career-basket type. Instead, I was
relieved to see that she casts no aspersions on those women who decide to quit
working to raise a family.
Sandberg encourages
women to “sit at the table.” When I started my job in the university
library, I was shocked the first time I attended an all-staff meeting that only
men and academic staff sat at the table, while the others sat in the chairs
around the periphery of the room. She talks about the same phenomenon. Will
others hear our voices and consider our ideas if we cast ourselves aside?
There were, however, a few spots where I just flat out
disagree with her. For instance: “study after study suggests that the pressure
society places on women to stay home and do ‘what’s best for the child’ is
based on emotion, not evidence.” I admit, I didn’t check her sources on that
statement, but I maintain you can find a study to back up any position, and you
will hold any position that will make you sleep at night. Perhaps women are
evolving out of caregiver roles as society changes, but I honestly don’t think
we’re there yet.
You’d think after a couple weeks to chew on the ideas
presented in the book, I’d have a more coherent set of thoughts to share with
you, but I think this is one of those books that will have me chewing for long
after my review is posted. I’m so glad I finally read this book, because it
opens up an internal dialogue that I’d long since thought was finished. It
seems like every ten years or so I reevaluate what it means to be a
feminist—and indeed, if I am one.
This book is the catalyst for that redefinition this decade. Who knows what it
will be next.
Would you recommend
this to a friend?
Every woman should probably read this book, regardless of
the work she does. It’s short, concise, and personal, while giving you an overarching
assessment of the business climate women face today.
And if nothing else, it has a few gems from Gloria Steinem
that will make you smile.
