Reviews
I really enjoyed this book. Sheryl Sandberg talks about the 'glass ceiling' for women in top business roles, and about 'having it all', i.e. the work/life balance. She imparts stories of situations that she encountered (I liked the one about the maternity parking at Google) and how women are often their own worst enemy - either themselves for not enough self belief, or other women not empathising with holding a leadership role. Empowering....
Sandberg stretches what could be a longish blog post into a book-length narrative. Raises good point but belabors them to the extent of knocking you over with it. It doesn't help that she isn't that good of a writer (if she indeed wrote this book). Also, she has a penchant of dropping names of her rich and famous friends whom we know aren't exactly women-friendly (Hi, Tim Armstrong)
Great conversational tone. Challenges me to be more conscious about my part in ensuring an equitable workplace. Also, her idea working with people's biases to get results in addition to acknowledging them explicitly seems practical and let exhausting with the caveat that you have to do this from a place of existing security.
3.5. Nothing new but a sobering reminder of how little change there has been for women since the 1970s. Should be required reading for all college freshman, all genders.
Reading this just goes to prove you have to actually read a book and not just read about it. I wish I'd had this book while doing my MBA. I wish I'd had it during my corporate life. I'm definitely giving it to my daughter. And yet, it does present one world view - that of western capitalism and winner take all. Of little or no maternity or paternity leave let alone holidays. And where one person needs to work 80 hours a week lest 2 people could work 40 each. Perhaps as a society we're not ready for that discussion yet. And don't get me started on school vacations- particularly the summer 'harvest' vacation
My main concerns with this book is that the message that I kept receiving was that the women SHE means, when she says lean in, are those women who go to Harvard, Princeton and the other schools of this ilk and expense. And her idea of leading is aimed at those women who aspire to the very tippy top - the CEOs and other such acronyms. At the very last of this book - just before her "let's keep talking about this" section she acknowledges "I know that for many women, getting to the top of their organization is far from their primary focus. My intention is not to exclude them or ignore their valid concerns. I believe that if more women lean in, we can change the power structure of our world and expand opportunities for all. More female leadership will lead to fairer treatment for all (italics are hers) women." In other words, thank you for buying my book - not that I meant to exclude you, but I was really (italics mine) talking to the women who really can make a difference. It's so short it should have been a 1 day read. But it was so tedious I found myself doing stereotypical "women's work" just to annoy her. And PS. Marissa Meyer is an oompa loompa.
Well written and well thought out.
http://nika-ru.livejournal.com/300360... (in Russian)
my, was that cathartic это правда очень нужная и важная книга. нужная - потому что о гендерном неравенстве нужно говорить и не останавливатся, до тех пор, пока его не признает большинство, до тех пор, пока большинство не примет как факт, что люди разного пола должны быть равны в правах, юридически и фактически. важная - потому что нам всем нужны герои, похожие на нас. я понимаю, почему чернокожей матери-одиночке из бронкса сложно ассоциировать себя с шэрил сэндберг, но мне - лично мне - очень важно услышать, что выпускница гарварда, СОО одной из самых успешных в мире компаний ТОЖЕ хлебает полным лаптем сексистские щи этого мира. и не находит, что ответить, когда ей задают тупой вопрос типа "а не страдают ли ваши дети". и плачет всю ночь, когда какой-нибудь журнальчик пишет про нее гадости в стиле "баба дура, потому что баба". мне важно знать, что мне это не кажется. мне важно рефлексировать и аргументировать в воображаеых диалогах. мне, наконец, важно, чтобы на вопрос "почему в нашей компании почти нет женщин топ-менеджеров?" перестали отвечать "наверное, женщины просто не хотят быть топ-менеджерами". сука, хотят. просто перестаньте им мешать это не просто книга про феминизм, это книга про лидерство. настоящее лидерство, а не "поддерживать мужчину своей женской силой", как пропагандируют некоторые. есть один важный пункт, которым шерил начинает и заканчивает. "чтобы улучшить положение с женскими правами, нужно больше женщин во власти". с этим тоже спорят негативные рецензии, утвеждая, что все они там во власти шкуры, и никто никому помогать не станет. эти люди, мне кажется, не дочитали книгу до конца - в последней главе речь как раз идет о том, что здоровая ситуация - это взаимопомошь и обмен ресурсами. но даже без последней главы понятно, что это верный путь - что, например, доказывает исландия, которая 36 лет назад первой в мире избрала женщину-президента, а сейчас находится в топе Gender Equality эту книгу мне теперь хочется давать читать всем. и тем, кто сомневается в себе, и тем, кто боится, что декрет поставит крест на работе, и тем, кто боится быть честным, и тем, кого топчут за образ жизни, выбор, даже одежду. и особенно тем, кто на словах топит за феминизм, а на деле боится произнести фразу "у нас проблемы". очень мощное послание и очень верный способ сказать "эй, с тобой всё в порядке"
Two stars, because while I wholeheartedly believe this book is "faux feminism" and toxic (see http://thefeministwire.com/2013/10/17...), I think there are some nuggets in there that may be beneficial for some women. I mostly hated it, but didn't completely hate it.
A few clarifications upfront: I loved the book, I'm not a woman, I think the messaging is relevant (or should be) to everyone, I highly recommend the book to everyone. A friend of mine talked to me about this book by saying that the title really does a disservice to the book because it makes it seem that the book is all about telling women to work harder. It is not. I didn't read the book for a long time under the same impression and now I'm glad I finally read it. Sheryl Sandberg does a great job at describing the factors that, in general, keep women from accelerating their careers and thus make it to executive positions at large organizations. What I liked about the book the most is that it is not based on opinion, but rather on hard data researched by professionals in the field. Sheryl talks about her experiences and uses as examples the people she knows, but she does so in highly relevant cases in which her observations are supported by research. Another thing I liked very much is that the focus is on highlighting the benefits of having a more representative executive group at companies, benefits for everyone, and why it is a worthy cause. She also goes quite deeply into why she doesn't think that every woman should make the decision to "Lean In" in their careers, because there are particulars in everyone's life that favor leaning in at home. Her point is simply that men are women should have equal opportunities and expectations to contribute both at home and at work, and that the most talented and prepared men or women should be the ones making it to the top of organizations. To achieve all this, Sherryl argues that it is important for gender-based societal expectations to be revised so it is socially acceptable and normal to have: 1) women in power who are not evaluated differently than men, 2) men willing to do their fair share of work at home, 3) for it to be considered completely normal for a family to have either a man or a woman being the stay at home, or both partners contributing equally, etc. The point is, gender-based biases and societal expectations, as well as beliefs ingrained in all of us as to how men and women SHOULD behave are doing a huge disservice to everyone by preventing women to contribute at their best in executive boards when that is their strength, and making it awkward or difficult for a couple to decide that the partner can stay at home to support his wife in pursuing such large goals. Overall a great read. To the people leaving reviews saying that the book is wrong, it would be great to see research proving your points against the research presented in the book. That would allow for more constructive conversation on the topic rather than opinion-based conversations on what women should do vs. not do. Surprisingly, as Sheryl points out in her book, most of the non-constructive criticism I read is from women who seem uncomfortable with Sheryl's points and their potential implication to the decisions a woman has made.
Do you want to lean in (Sheryl Sandberg) or lie down (Ali Wong)? Can't believe I took this long to read this book despite enjoying what Sandberg has said as well as the way she's said it, on videos I've watched online. There's heaps of career advice targeted at females but also applicable to males in this book. Stuff like "Taking initiative pays off. It is hard to visualise someone as a leader of she is always waiting to be told what to do." And while Sandberg does not discount the contributions of a SAHM, this book is definitely geared towards pushing women to places of position in the corporate world. So that "In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders."
I don't think I took anything away from this book except it must be nice to have been privileged your entire life. This book doesn't speak to the struggles that the majority of women face in the workforce. If you are a middle to upper class white woman who goes into a white collar job, maybe there's something for you. For all other women who are struggling with supporting families, many as single mothers, on minimum wage Sheryl's idea of the issue being women's inability to "lean in" is honestly adorable.
Eh. This book received a lot of hype and accolades. I don't see why. Sandberg said a lot of positive stuff but nothing definitive. In fact, a few times she contradicted herself slightly. I'm not impressed.
This book has come with all sorts of controversy, but I think those leaving it have missed the point. While there were parts of the book that maddened me, they were the facts that were presented in the book as opposed to the content of the book or the suggestions of Sandberg. I would highly recommend the book to anyone looking to understand more about the role of women in society and especially those wanting to help change the reality.
The added content is ok but definitely seems like it was put there to combat some of edge original criticisms of the book. While I did enjoy the added content as a soon-to-be graduate I didn't feel like there was a whole lot of game changing stuff in there. If you've never taken on a job hunt before it could be really great, but as someone who has worked her way though college I felt it left something to be desired.
Helped me organize my thoughts about some pretty big questions. I liked how the author backed up her personal ideas with research (she got a social scientist collaborator just for that), but it's still a single POV from a highly privileged woman. I believe that looking at the same ideas from other perspectives will just enrich its message.
