Book Review by Heidi Simmons
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Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
By Sheryl Sandberg
Nonfiction
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If you value your job, take pride in a strong work ethic and desire to make the most of your career, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In (Knoff, 228 pages) is an important read. Male or female, single or married, working or unemployed, this is a terrific book about striving for the best possible personal outcome. As the subtitle suggests — Women, Work, and the Will to Lead — the subject is mainly about women and the challenges they face not only in their jobs, but also in the home and in the country as equals.
Don’t give up reading this review because you’re not interested in some feminist manifesto or think it’s some kind of man-hate delivered by an angry Amazon warrior. It’s not, and I direct that admonition to women as well as men. I admit it took me several weeks on the bestseller list before I was willing to see what she had to say.
Sandberg is the current Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. A few of her previous jobs included administrative positions with Google and the United States Department of Treasury. She is a Harvard Business School honor graduate. As well as being a highly qualified businessperson, she is a mother of two and a wife.
Her message is simple and can apply to both men and women. “Lean in” means to bravely pursue your ambitions. It is the forward action you must take to move your career ahead. It is the act of sitting at the boardroom table, speaking up and taking risks without fear. It is acknowledging what you can do, rather than on what you cannot do.
Sandberg’s motivation behind the book is to encourage more women to pursue leadership roles in business and government, and get the men who dominate these positions, to understand why qualified women “lean back” or move away from the challenge. She asserts that true equality will be achieved when women run half of the countries and companies, and men run half the households. Sandberg believes, and research supports, that this equality will make the world a better and happier place.
Clearly, Sandberg is an A-type personality. Besides being smart and capable, she is emotional, energetic and honest. In eleven chapters, she speaks from first-hand experience and shares her personal challenges managing work and home with all the beautiful and sometimes ugly details. She does it with self-deprecating humor and admiration for her colleagues and includes lessons she’s learned from both men and women in industry.
Yes, she is an advocate for women, but her first love of business is omnipresent. Instead of the corporate ladder as the only one way to get to the top, Sandberg sees it instead as a jungle gym. There are many ways to move to the best position.
There are 34 pages of footnotes in tiny print that include the research and sites for all the data she uses to support the material and her thesis. There is the “Heidi/Howard” study where an identical extraordinary resume is shown to a group of men and women who are asked if they would rather work for “Heidi” or “Howard.” Both men and women chose “Howard.” The study showed that success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. “Heidi” violated the stereotypical expectations of women while “Howard” lived up to it. The resume was actually “Heidi’s” (no relation).
There are many other fascinating differences between men and women in the workforce that are enlightening. For instance, women ascribe their success to external forces while men credit their own qualities. When a woman fails, she attributes it to her lack of ability, while men point to specific causes. Women feel they have to be 100 percent qualified to take a position, men feel 40 percent qualified is enough. Men are promoted on potential, while women are promoted on past accomplishments. Sandberg points out that women are not only hindered by society, but by their own internal barriers. Men and women working together is the very best scenario for success.
Raising children, managing a household, while working on a career is a major focus in Lean In. For women it is the main factor in the global leadership gap. Sandberg directly address the issue and asserts it is absolutely possible with the help and effort of a spouse who shares in all the responsibilities equally. She hopes as women gain more positions of leadership, then more can be done to accommodate men and women who need to care for children. She sites studies that help to understand how working moms and dads can raise happy and healthy kids and discusses the issues of guilt. Sandberg does an excellent job addressing the most pertinent issues that affect choices and generously gives practical advice to help “lean in” rather than “lean back”.
For both men and women, if you love business and want to be an effective part of making your company a success; or if you are thinking of starting a family or looking for ways to better manage a quality home-life with work; or if you are interested in making this country stronger in business and family values; or if you are interested in promoting equality and mutual respect for half the population of this country, then it is time to step up and lean in.
