Sheryl Sandberg–Facebook COO, ranked eighth on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business–has become one of America’s most galvanizing leaders, and an icon for millions of women juggling work and family. In Lean In, she urges women to take risks and seek new challenges, to find work that they love, and to remain passionately engaged with it at the highest levels throughout their lives.
Lean In–Sheryl Sandberg’s provocative, inspiring book about women and power–grew out of an electrifying TED talk Sandberg gave in 2010, in which she expressed her concern that progress for women in achieving major leadership positions had stalled. The talk became a phenomenon and has since been viewed nearly two million times. In Lean In, she fuses humorous personal anecdotes, singular lessons on confidence and leadership, and practical advice for women based on research, data, her own experiences, and the experiences of other women of all ages. Sandberg has an uncanny gift for cutting through layers of ambiguity that surround working women, and in Lean In she grapples, piercingly, with the great questions of modern life. Her message to women is overwhelmingly positive. She is a trailblazing model for the ideas she so passionately espouses, and she’s on the pulse of a topic that has never been more relevant.Â
From the Hardcover edition.An Amazon Best Book of the Month, March 2013: Anyone who’s watched Sheryl Sandberg’s popular TED Talk, “Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders,” is familiar with–and possibly haunted by–the idea of “having it all.” “Perhaps the greatest trap ever set for women was the coining of this phrase,” writes Sandberg in Lean In, which expands on her talk’s big idea: that increasing the number of women at the top of their fields will benefit everyone. Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, encourages women to challenge the common workplace assumption that “men still run the world.” She asks men to be real partners, sharing in the family work that typically leads to a woman’s decision to stay home; she asks women who expect to start a family soon not to check out of work mentally. Sandberg’s critics note that her advice may not resonate with the masses: The Harvard-educated exec can afford a veritable army to help raise her children. But Sandberg’s point–which affects all of us–is that women who have what it takes to succeed at the highest professional level face many obstacles, both internal and external. Lean In is likely to spur the conversations that must happen for institutional changes to take place at work. –Alexandra Foster
I, an “underprivileged” woman, found this book incredibly relatable I want to set the record straight for those who claim that Mrs. Sandberg’s advices don’t apply to “underprivileged” women – I consider myself “underprivileged” and I found this book incredibly relatable and inspiring.Why do I call myself “underprivileged”:1. I came to the U.S. when I was 22 years old, speaking broken English. Today, I still feel that my options are limited because of my English :)2. I don’t have any family connection in the U.S. When I arrived the U.S…
Something to think about I had heard some of the buzz about this book before I picked it up. Usually I don’t do reviews, but I like reading what other people say about books. I’m writing this because I think some of the reviewers are missing what is significant (at least) to me about the book. Of course, Sheryl Sandberg is priviledged. No one in my family would even dream of going to Harvard. There are no doctors in my family. I don’t make millions a year. I’m single with no children. Basically I could disregard…