Book Review of Lean in by Sheryl Sandberg
'Lean In': Five Years Later
For some, Sheryl Sandberg'due south book has been a powerful manifesto. Others have dismissed it as naïve and irrelevant. What is its actual legacy?
When Sheryl Sandberg'due south "Lean In: Women, Piece of work and the Will to Lead" — a 228-page manifesto on what women need to do to triumph in the male-dominated workplace — was published five years ago this month, it became a cultural phenomenon.
Information technology rode the New York Times best-seller list for more than a year, has sold 4.2 million copies worldwide (and withal sells roughly 12,500 copies a month, in all formats), landed Ms. Sandberg on the covers of Time and Fortune and on Goggle box shows like "60 minutes" and "Nightline," and led to the creation of hundreds of "Lean In" circles, groups of women who meet on a regular basis to talk over and debate the principles of Ms. Sandberg's book. Circles, said Rachel Thomas, president of LeanIn.org, "are one of the few places in the world where women can be overtly, unapologetically ambitious."
For its legions of readers and circumvolve attendees, "Lean In" has been a powerful mentor, ane that has helped shape the arc of their careers. Senior executives, both male and female, say they have noticed a shift in attitude in recent years, especially amid their younger employees.
"Five or half-dozen years agone, younger job candidates would accept the first offer given to them," said Eliot Kaplan, a sometime vice president of talent acquisition at Hearst Publishing and now a career motorbus. "Since then, 90 percent desire to negotiate — usually money, but likewise vacation fourth dimension, responsibilities and and so forth. Some would actually say, 'Sheryl Sandberg says I have to.'"
Others have dismissed "Lean In" equally overly naïve in its assumptions and advice, and a flawed manifesto that ignored realities like family unit and aging parents (the responsibilities for which even so largely fall on female shoulders).
"I can't speak for all corporate women, but I thought information technology was written by someone who's never suffered financially or endured true fright about her job or finances," said Jillian Medoff, a management consultant and novelist whose latest work, "This Could Hurt," is about the drama of corporate civilization. "Secretaries, middle managers, assistants and people who are up against the wall tin't lean in, particularly if they've had some of the managers I've had in the past. At that place is real fright when it comes to money and speaking upwards."
How to measure, v years afterward, the impact of "Lean In" on the millions of women who read it (and ane who wrote it), and the workplace culture they tried to navigate? Nosotros recently talked to a range of women — from a Navy commander to Senator Amy Klobuchar to a recent college graduate working for an NGO — about the book'south legacy.
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Sheryl Sandberg, 48
Chief operating officer of Facebook, author (with Nell Scovell) of "Lean In" and founder of LeanIn.org
Celebrate the 5-year anniversary? [Laughs.] No, that never even occurred to me. What I've ever wanted is equality — equal pay, equal responsibility at home. Five years is not very much time for that to happen. Sometimes these things take a long time, just I remain hopeful and optimistic. And at that place are lots of reasons. There are more women running for public part in 2018 than ever before. And #MeToo has helped accept steps toward true and real equality.
There are also some things I'm incredibly worried about. I've written a lot about informational admission. Nosotros did a survey in SurveyMonkey [a polling company where Ms. Sandberg'due south late hubby, Dave Goldberg, was once chief executive]. Today, senior men are three.v times more likely to hesitate to accept a work dinner with a junior-level woman than with a inferior-level homo — and five times more probable to hesitate to travel for work with a junior-level adult female. Women deserve the same access and mentorship as men have, and I recall that's a big concern. At that place's nevertheless so much to do.
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Emily Bassett, 40
Nuclear engineer and commanding officer of the Manchester, a Navy send
When I look back on the by five years, I realize the "Lean In" movement defined my professional life. I attribute much of my confidence to what I learned there. Five years ago, I was a student coming off shore duty. I had a i-year-old and a iii-yr-old. I was so fabricated the second in command to the commanding officer on a unlike warship, in accuse of 440 sailors. My married man and I were juggling two careers with kids. I was hungry for connexion and professional person evolution, but the question was: How am I going to exist a leader?
A friend recommended I read "Lean In." Do you know what an inflection point is? It'due south that point on a curve where the sign of the curvature — the concavity — changes. The precise turning point. And that's what "Lean In" was for me. I went to the LeanIn.org website, and in that location was this gold mine of data on everything to exercise with leading: giving feedback, negotiations, managing your body linguistic communication, everything. I had had a couple of professional failures, and 1 matter "Lean In" made me realize is that y'all are never alone with your leadership issues. We tin become lost in our own head infinite sometime s. Only y'all learn that there is ever someone else having the aforementioned issue.
I've co-founded iv "Lean In" circles for war machine personnel — 2 of which are coed — and they're fantastic. Mine is not on the send, because I wanted the freedom to go beyond the chain of command. People come and go, simply the beauty of these circles is that you take something to ballast y'all. It'southward non a cookie-decorating contest. It'south not group therapy. It's professional person evolution.
Alix Lawson, 27
Senior program associate for Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization in Washington
My female parent got me a copy right after I got out of grad schoolhouse [Georgetown'due south School of Foreign Service] in 2016, and I wasn't going to read it. I thought it would be wishy-washy, preachy and individualized, and my reaction would be, 'Oh, great, your life turned out amazing, but I don't know what to do with this information.' And I thought Sandberg would rehash the common narrative. She didn't. What I really enjoyed was the way she presented women without taking on this victim part. Information technology was a lesson in being a strong woman, getting things done, without sacrificing your professionalism.
What I walked away with was a strategy for living your life, including your personal life. For example — and I was just arguing most this with my grandmother, who says, "A existent man always pays" — I feel more comfy splitting the tab when I'thou on a date. I always feel something is owed when someone pays, and I don't like that feeling. I similar Sandberg'due south ideas almost total sharing. It only jibes with the mode I feel. Basically she'southward saying, "Don't let the history of gender define what happens in the futurity, and don't left information technology define your futurity."
Also, she talks a lot about how beingness ambitious and snobby have negative connotations for women historically. Well, she makes it more than merely O.K. to exist aggressive. Right now I'thou a program associate, working really hard to get that promotion. Where I run across myself in 10 years is not just being a programme managing director. I should be running my own NGO.
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Anna Dapelo-Garcia, 55
Administrative director for patient access and fiscal clearance services at Stanford Health Care
People ask why I started Lean In Latinas. Well, I grew up in East San Jose in an environment where people were living on welfare checks. There were drugs, gangs, guns, and a lot of dysfunction in my own family. I never heard the give-and-take "college" come out of my parents' mouth; I didn't know anyone who went. I was lost. I dropped out of high school when I was 17. But I got a task in wellness care. I was smart, I had hustle, and I had mentors at work, and it wasn't too many years before I had people with college degrees and masters reporting to me.
I wanted to go back to college, though, and got to Stanford in my belatedly 20s (and later, I went for my master's). I knew I was smart, just information technology was then uncomfortable. 1 of the issues with Latino culture is that at work, people don't question dominance; you don't make waves. I was oftentimes the only brownish daughter in the room, and I'd be thinking: What is wrong with me? Why are the Caucasian girls fine with speaking up?
Over time, I became more comfortable, of course. I graduated, went on to go a principal's degree and became one of the near decorated people in my field. Near 2 and a half years ago, I read "Lean In" when a friend recommended it. It was very exciting to me, its ideas virtually leadership, and when I went to the website, I saw the possibility of starting a circle. And when I turned 50, I did a self-assessment. I had checked a bunch of "success" boxes, but I hadn't checked the "giving back" box. I needed a sense of success in that way, as well. I had the intention of helping others, just I didn't know how. "Lean In" provided me that platform.
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Amy Klobuchar, 57
United States senator from Minnesota
Here'due south some perspective. Ten years ago, there were xvi women in the Senate — and they were calling them the "sweet 16." Now there are 22. This doesn't sound like a lot, and it's non — but that number is almost half the number of women who've been in the Senate in the unabridged history of our country. So that's a dramatic change.
This is even more than telling to me: The number of women in leadership positions — either chairs or ranking members — has dramatically increased. In the last 5 years, nosotros've seen them lead the Budget Committee, the Agricultural Commission, the Appropriations Committee, the Wellness Committee, the Ecology Committee, Appropriations and the Wellness Commission. (I'grand the ranking member on the Rules Committee.) With attrition, equally men left or were defeated, that's been a major shift.
Plus, we're making certain changes on Senate rules. For example, With Tammy Duckworth having her 2nd kid at 50, nosotros're changing some rules so that in case in that location's a belatedly-night vote, she can bring her infant. Children will be allowed on the Senate flooring.
Then we passed a sexual harassment policy, so every member of the Senate and the staff has to go through preparation, and we've inverse the rules and then it's easier to study instances of sexual harassment. And the Business firm has just passed something that if a member is charged with harassment, he has to personally pay. So yous can run into, the #MeToo move and "Lean In" are both making existent, substantive change. That'south 1 of the things I appreciate nigh about the "Lean In" movement. It'due south not just about getting there. It'due south about having existent impact while you're in that location.
Paradigm
Sunny Bates, 62
Chief executive officer of Sunny Bates Assembly, a management consulting business firm
A niggling more than five years ago, I was getting together a "woman and leadership" learning group, and Peter Grauer, the chairman of Bloomberg, said to me, "Sunny, this is really important, simply I don't have the bandwidth right at present." This is one of the large changes of the "Lean In" motility: I remember at that place'due south more bandwidth. [A spokesman for Bloomberg said that Mr. Grauer — who, in 2014, founded the United States chapter of the 30% Club, an organization that has set a goal 30 percent female directors on South & P 100 boards past 2020 — said he doesn't remember that specific chat with Ms. Bates.]
Hither are the crucial things I call back Sheryl Sandberg did. Outset, she made women question not just what's incorrect with the corporate structure, but ask themselves, "How are you belongings yourself back?" Because structural change in the piece of work environment is critical — but nix makes a deviation if yous're holding yourself back. Many people said, "Oh, she was telling women to blame themselves," but that'southward not it at all. (And the onus isn't merely on women; she talks about men leaning in, besides.)
What's powerful nigh Sheryl's writing is that she's honest. It's like shooting fish in a barrel to dump on her considering of her privilege. Merely she is self-effacing and cocky-questioning; she was e'er asking herself, whenever there was a problem, "What's my role in this?" And that's what she gave us, too: She put linguistic communication to some workplace problems we all know exist just don't ever know how to talk most. The idea of "leaning in" is extremely useful. For instance, when we're feeling excluded at work, when someone isn't including us in a give-and-take or a project, we're all and then uncomfortable. That's when we want to lean back and just ignore it. And that's exactly the time to lean in.
Sheryl makes it very clear how we all grow through discomfort. Think nearly this as a parent. When I had fights with my one of my daughters when she was younger, my thoughts would drift toward sending her to boarding school. If we both went into our rooms and shut the door, zero happened. Information technology's when I leaned into the conflict and forced more give-and-take, painful as information technology was, that's when things got resolved.
And y'all know where she was really right, even if this part of the movement got her a lot of flak? Choosing your partner, insisting on that person being supportive and participating in the home 50 percent of the time. She was so deliberate near this function of her life. And lots of people took her to task for this, because we aren't comfortable thinking and so strategically about love and romance. The truth is, when a union is bad, work is a great refuge. I have to acknowledge, I put my hubby at the center of everything, and it was a very bad matrimony, and my career took off when I got divorced.
Information technology's interesting. What satisfies me at my historic period — some board representation, some women in the C suite or on the management team — does non feel like enough to my millennial daughters. We were talking virtually this recently, and they were like, "Are you kidding me?" Representation should be at least fifty percent, they say. And they're not wrong.
Lola Bates-Campbell, 30
Associate creative manager at Frog Design (and a daughter of Sunny Bates)
V years ago, when "Lean In" just came out, I was a very junior person at Frog Design. I never read the book. But I remember vividly when it came out, because it catalyzed a series of initiatives at the company to look at women in positions of leadership and compensation. The visitor's C.O.O. and president were women. I call up the first meeting we had — I was so inferior that I wasn't sitting at the table, but sort of on a chair in the corner — and the decision was that because there were women in the C suite, the company didn't accept whatever systemic bug, fifty-fifty though in that location were very few women in center management. Essentially the message to u.s., that I idea was the "Lean In" message, was: Yous accept to practice more. And people left that meeting kind of crestfallen. So, it'south all upwardly to united states of america to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps? O.K., so! But it felt out of bear upon.
But that wasn't the end of information technology. Over the next three years, the company continued to look at the issue, brought in an exterior consultant that immune united states to accost gender and diversity issues — and ultimately in that location was real modify. 5 years later, I'm 1 of those women in middle management now, and one of the reasons is the "Lean In" movement. Fifty-fifty for those who didn't read information technology and get in a part of their lives in a witting way, information technology had an issue.
One case: I just got engaged. The whole conversation Sandberg put along well-nigh having an equal partner is more, well, sort of part of so many people's DNA now. My partner and I, i of the reasons we believe that we're and so well suited for each other is that we are passionate about our ain work and back up each other in our interest and time and free energy spent on it. It was incredibly important for me to find someone who respected the career I wanted to take. In fact, he talks about beingness a stay-calm dad. On one of our commencement few dates, I had told him I was going to take over the world. He likes to remind me of that.
Alan Sclar, 51
Partner and founder of Sclar Constabulary Group
I've been hiring people for about 25 years, and in that location used to be a lot of apprehension effectually problems relating to kids — exit after having a child, a flexible workweek and then forth. That's really changed in the past five years. They are leaning in, in the sense that they are non leaving the work forcefulness birthday, and every bit an employer, I'm trying to lean in, too. I take one young attorney who spends two days at domicile, and they are defended workdays. I have an office manager who had a infant and wanted to spend a lot more than fourth dimension at abode, and much of what she does can exist done remotely. Sometimes — whether it's because they take paid assist or partners — they are really able to focus more at home. When I hire, I look for value, and I've noticed that when some workers ask for and receive a mixed workplace, they are happy and I'1000 happy, and I'k getting that value.
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Peggy Northrop, 62
Former magazine editor (Sunset, Reader's Digest, More) and at present an manufacture consultant
I could always tell when the young editors on my staff had read the volume — more than than one said, "I know I'm supposed to 'Lean In,' so …" That was the "take a deep breath" phrase earlier opening a frank give-and-take. My power to give raises was limited: Almost always I would have a pool of, say, two.5 percentage that I could divvy up until the money was gone. And so giving to person Y meant going calorie-free on person X. But frequently the discussion, if well timed, would sway me past a percent betoken if the person had reminded me what they had achieved and fabricated it clear they were upwards for more than challenges. I actually loved it when staffers wanted to talk about their career paths — and sometimes I would fifty-fifty say: "Get become some experience. You volition be more valuable when you come dorsum." To me, the "Lean In" conversation was a marker of a immature woman who was taking herself and her career seriously.
I always found it odd that women were so fearful about these money conversations — not that this is how raises necessarily work, but you exercise need to learn to ask. So on balance I think Sandberg'due south book made a paring in helping women come across what might exist in their control.
These interviews have been edited for space and clarity.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/business/lean-in-five-years-later.html
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