“I want every little girl who [is told] they’re bossy to be told instead, “You have leadership skills.”
– Sheryl Sandberg on 60 Minutes, March 10, 2013
Reprinted from The Guardian
Bravo.
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer for Facebook, hit the headlines this past week with the publication of her book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (Knopf). Simultaneously, she launched a website, Leanin.org, to offer women educational information, encouragement and forums to share career experiences and aspirations and take part in “lean-in circles.”
Her comments about girls and leadership were just some that aired during a 60 Minutes interview that kicked off a week of publicity tours, op-ed pieces, blog posts and commentary far and wide, both pro and anti-Sandberg.
She has many points to make on the topic of women, how they fare in the workplace and how they can and should aspire to lead.
I haven’t read her book yet so I’m only commenting on what I’ve read and heard about it. I’m curious to see for myself what she’s proposing but some of her points, including that women should lean in, rather than lean back, and take leadership and senior roles in their workplaces resonates loud and clear.
In some circles she’s been criticized because she has a Harvard education and is a multimillionaire. Her critics grouse: She’s out of touch. Her experience doesn’t mirror the thousands of women who don’t have the same credentials and socioeconomic status that she does. She made her money with generous stock options at Google and Facebook. The underlying message is that she really didn’t have to work that hard to get where she did. She was privileged. And, horrors, this is a self-proclaimed “feminist” manifesto.
Really? Is that really as far as we’ve come in the second decade of the 21st century?
Rather than subtly attacking her pedigree, why aren’t we applauding her achievements? Why aren’t we saying, “Bravo, Ms. Sandberg for earning a Harvard degree.” (Two actually.) And “Bravo, Ms. Sandberg, you’re a role model and a leader who has achieved great success at two of the world’s most successful technology companies.”
I’m sure I’m not going to agree with everything Sandberg proposes but I love that she’s opened the conversation up again. I’m relishing the debates and the questions that have slowly started to take shape among my colleagues and my peers.
I’d much rather herald Sandberg’s points of view as starting points for discussion with my daughter as counterpoints to the bombardment of infantalized and sexualized images of women portrayed on Say Yes to the Dress or The Bachelor.
From one “bossy” woman to another: Bravo, Sheryl.
I definitely do not think that bossy is a negative word. Some people are just more natural leaders and others follow depending on the circumstances. We are not always leaders nor are we always followers. However, someone has to take the reins or nothing will get done. I am looking forward to reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book before I have any bossy comments to make. To me as long as we are talking about work life balance for women then we are having a good conversation. The next conservation we need to have is how we have work life balance while we are looking after our elderly parents. That really needs to be a women’s guide because often we are the ones thinking about the generation ahead of us and behind us. If anyone can perfect that balancing act they need to write a book.
The work-life balance topic is an interesting one. I just read something about how millenials don’t buy-in to that description. Rather they see it as an issue of fluid flexibility, i.e. time off from work during the day to take a child to the doctor will be accommodated by working on that presentation later when the kids are in bed. This seems to subscribe to the notion that it doesn’t matter where you are or how many hours you put in as long as the work is high quality and completed. I’m not sure exactly where I sit on this one and look forward to further discussions. What do you think?
I am the niece of a proud feminist and self-proclaimed bossy-boots. I love the alarm bells that go off when the word feminism is attached to a project. Heaven forbid we ever reach a point in our society when equal education, employment, political, and economic rights are not only every person’s norm but no longer have to constantly be defended. My book club has now chosen this book to read next month (thanks to your blog Shelly) and I look forward to discovering what all the buzz is about.
So true! It seems as if we’ve taken five steps forward, and then three back, then two forward and four back. It’s a constant see-saw. I, too, look forward to reading, discussing and debating the themes in her book.
When people say I’m bossy, I simply tell them that I’m not. It’s just that my ideas are better. (In fun!) Thanks for posting.
I love it! I’m going to use that line next time.