Recently I was invited to hear a talk from Sheryl Sandberg about her book, “Lean In.”  While seemingly the all the world is rushing to hear her speak, I spent the week dreading the event of the century. And, here is why.

 

Without having read the book, I had bought into the early hype that Sandberg’s “feminist manifesto” focused on telling women what they were doing wrong; and why it was their fault that they weren’t getting ahead; and prescribing for women what success meant.

 

During her dialogue she posed many provocative thoughts:

 

Do we need to address public policy?  Sure, says Sandberg, but don’t think this will magically fix the problem.  Scandinavia, she points out, has some of the most progressive public policy in the world and yet less than three percent of the companies in the country are led by women.

 

If it has been shown that sponsorship and mentoring positively impact career progress (equally for men and women), why don’t more women have sponsors/mentors?  Sandberg paints this picture.  Today’s pool of mentors – those currently in leadership positions – are overwhelmingly male.  Most mentoring/sponsoring discussions take place one-on-one.  In today’s society, a man spending time alone with a woman is viewed quite suspiciously.  We need to find ways to address this if women are to receive the mentoring/sponsoring they are seeking.

 

Why is it that behavior that is acceptable of a man is called aggressive when demonstrated by a woman?  Sandberg says that all you need to do is go to the playground to see early signs of this.  Girls are told, far more often than boys, that they are being “pushy” and that they should play nicely.  It should be no wonder then that when middle school children are asked if they want to lead, more boys than girls say yes.  She goes on to say that this isn’t about gender; it’s about changing our language.

 

Sandberg shared her definition of ambition, which is not that everyone should want to be CEO, but that everyone should feel empowered to fully step into what they want to do; that “there is an enormous joy in doing what you love.”

 

What I came to realize is that Sandberg has effectively used her position, power, and voice to launch a movement.  The book has become a vehicle for her, and many others, to begin to talk about what it means to “lean in.”

 

For me, this was a reminder to reflect on where my information is coming from, and to ensure that I have all of the information that I need before forming an opinion.