A Review of ‘Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead’ — Sheryl Sanberg
‘Conditions for all women will improve when there are more women in leadership roles giving a strong and powerful voice to their needs and concerns.’
Sheryl Sanberg in her book ‘Lean In’ makes a case for leaning in, for being ambitious in any pursuit and encourages women to dream big, forge a path through the obstacles to achieve their full potential.
She identifies external and internal barriers that prevent more women from getting to the top. Beyond having to deal with real obstacles in the professional world such as sexism, discrimination, and sexual harassment, women are hindered by barriers that exist within themselves — lack of self-confidence, not raising our hands, and pulling back when we should be leaning in.
Sheryl argues that these internal obstacles are underplayed and rarely discussed and getting rid of them is critical to gaining power.
She acknowledges the challenges women face and the role fear plays in making women pull back. From the fear of drawing negative attention, overreaching, being judged, failure, to the fear of being a bad mother/wife/daughter. Women also tend to downplay their achievements for fear of coming off as too ambitious.
She proposes that women can increase self-confidence by sitting at the table rather than watch from the sidelines, raising their hands and keeping it up, having a supportive partner, and letting go of the unattainable standards of ‘Doing It All.’ She acknowledges the roles institutions play by promoting and championing more women.
With these, she believes women can thrive at a career and family — one not giving way for the other. Women can be competent professionals and happy mothers — or even happy professionals and competent mothers.
She recommends the following:
- Adopt two concurrent goals: a long-term dream and an eighteen-month goal.
- Seek out positions where there is a high demand for one’s skills.
- Take on high visibility projects.
- When considering a new role, focus on the potential for fast growth.
- Focus on excelling not on getting a mentor.
- Seek advice, feedback and be ready to take responsibility for your mistakes. Painful knowledge is better than blissful ignorance.
- Do not scale back in advance of future family plans, instead, find ways to stretch yourself in the years leading to motherhood so you do not fall behind. The time to scale back is when a break is needed or when a child arrives — not before, and certainly not years in advance.
- Share family responsibilities with your partner. The expectations of who does what should not be set by social norms or gender — consider personal passion, talents, and interests.
Cheers!
Gloria Edem
Email: gloriapedem@gmail.com
IG: hellouforo
