Book Review: "Lean In"

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic book on so many levels. Sheryl Sandberg draws on her extensive life experience (she has worked as the chief of staff for the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, for Google, and is COO of Facebook) AND uses and references plenty of outside research to make her points about gender differences in the work place and beyond.

She talks about basic differences between men & women in the work place, and gives good advise on how to overcome some of negatives and capitalize on the positives.

A main point she makes throughout is that "when a girl tries to lead, she is often labeled as bossy. Boys are seldom called bossy because a boy taking the role of a boss does not surprise or offend. As someone who was called this for much of my childhood, I know that it is not a compliment" (19). I imagine most every girl I know has been called "bossy" I know that I have been; and reading this book has given me a great motivation to make sure that I avoid calling my daughter bossy.

She also addresses a question that I am always debating internally:
Does working outside the home hurt my kids or my marriage?
Sandberg says no, but she also makes the point that WHATEVER you decide is what is right for you.
She quotes the founder of the White House Project, Marie Wilson - "Show me a woman without guilt and I'll show you a man" (137).
There is no 100% cookie-cutter solution. She encourages women on every front (work @ home, work from home, work out of home) to SUPPORT each other. She wants to remove the debate all together. Hallelujah!

Obviously I think any woman in any sort of leadership or business role should read this, but beyond that, ANY woman could benefit from this. And for that matter, any man married to a woman, any father of a girl, and any male employer that has women employees should also read this.

Example: "I don't know of one woman in a leadership position whose life partner is not fully - and I mean fully - supportive of her career. No exceptions." That's why you men need to read it too! ;-)

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