Leaning in

Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In

I’m reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. A colleague lent it to me or I might not have read it so quickly. (Thanks Julie!) Sandberg talks about ways in which cultural expectations of women, women’s attitudes toward risk, how workplace policies and our own behaviors as women influence what we achieve, how people react to us and how we feel about ourselves. She recounts stories of undergraduate and business school classes in which women were less likely than men to speak up or be called upon. Sandberg shared a personal experience in which she held an open forum. When the last few hands went up for comments, she called upon the men rather than women. She also wrote about winning a major award in her MBA program, but not telling anyone she was a winner. The male awardees benefited from having won, but she did not, because no one knew about it. One of Sandberg’s best themes is “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” What would you do? See or join the national conversation at http://leanin.org/.

Read Sandberg’s blog in Huffington Post or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.