4 reviews for Lean In: Women, Work, And The Will To Lead
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Lean In: Women, Work, And The Will To Lead
by Sheryl Sandberg
Description:
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is a massive cultural phenomenon and its title has become an instant catchphrase for empowering women.
The book soared to the top of bestseller lists internationally, igniting global conversations about women and ambition. Sandberg packed theatres, dominated opinion pages, appeared on every major television show and on the cover of Time magazine, and sparked ferocious debate about women and leadership.
Ask most women whether they have the right to equality at work and the answer will be a resounding yes, but ask the same women whether they’d feel confident asking for a raise, a promotion, or equal pay, and some reticence creeps in.
The statistics, although an improvement on previous decades, are certainly not in women’s favour of 197 heads of state, only twenty-two are women. Women hold just 20 percent of seats in parliaments globally, and in the world of big business, a meagre eighteen of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women.
In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg Facebook COO and one of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Business draws on her own experience of working in some of the world’s most successful businesses and looks at what women can do to help themselves, and make the small changes in their life that can effect change on a more universal scale.
About The Author
Sheryl Kara Sandberg (born August 28, 1969) is an American technology executive, activist, and author. She is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and founder of Leanin.org (also known as the Lean In Foundation). In June 2012, she was elected to the board of directors by the existing board members, becoming the first woman to serve on Facebook’s board. Before she joined Facebook as its COO, Sandberg was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google and was involved in launching Google’s philanthropic arm Google.org. Before Google, Sandberg served as chief of staff for United States Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers.
In 2012, she was named in the Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine. As of June 2015, Sandberg is reported to be worth over US$1 billion, due to her stock holdings in Facebook and other companies.
Skryf Review
“Excellent Reading”
Jasmine
This is a great start on this particular conversation, but Sandberg leaves out two large groups of women; women of color and women who are not wealthy. While many women want to sit at the table and lean as far in as the rest of those at the table many women are not invited and/or do not have the means to take the risk. When you are worried about how you are going to pay for today, it is difficult to take the plunge especially if you have others who are dependent on you. I applaud Sandberg for writing this book in the most authentic way she may know, but in order for me to give her a standing ovation I need to feel included.
Navya
While this book by the COO of Facebook is ostensibly about women in the workplace, it’s really about subconscious cognitive biases. A majority of Americans may consider women and men to be equal on the surface, but the fact that women still lag significantly behind men in both pay and leadership positions points to the fact that there is something else going on.This book is a manifesto designed to get both women and men to recognize that women’s equality has badly stalled and how we are all the worse off for it. Despite that, it is not remotely preachy or militant in tone. Sandberg is immensely approachable, laying her own struggles bare as examples and making it clear that one of the most powerful businesswomen on the planet is fighting the same insecurities and doubts as the rest of us. Her personal stories are some of the richest parts of the book; she gives stress a new definition as she relates the tale of bringing her two children onto the Ebay corporate jet along with a bunch of other Silicon Valley execs only to discover mid-flight that both her kids had lice.
pankti
Although this book is certain to help many women, I gave it 4 stars because some of the advice has already been shared in similar books (perhaps without as much research and statistics to back things up) but still…Someone asked me for a cliffs notes version and the best I can say is to search online for Sheryl Sandberg’s TEDWomen talk in 2010. It is a 15 minute long speech that basically sums up her most pertinent points in this book.This isn’t necessarily a book on how to climb the career ladder, as some might think, it offers some advice for your “home life” as well (especially about picking the right partner).I am glad she wrote this book and that it is getting so much attention because we (women) need to hear these things.I don’t think anyone who actually reads this book will argue (much) with her points, despite some media/mommy bloggers trying to paint this as “blaming women”. Ms Sandberg is actually not blaming anyone. She is simply sharing the current situation and suggesting ways we can solve existing problems.In a perfect world we would not need any books to discuss the “situation” but the reality is women have more education and less leadership roles. What are we going to do about that? I liked this book and I am also hosting a blog giveaway to share “the message”.