Imagine that a career is like a marathon.
A long, grueling, and ultimately rewarding endeavor. Now imagine a marathon where both men and women arrive at the starting line equally fit and trained. The gun goes off. The men and women run side by side. The male marathoners are routinely cheered on: “lookin’ strong! On your way!” But the female runners hear a different message.”You know you don’t have to do this!” the crowd shouts. Or “Good start – but you probably won’t want to finish”. The farther the marathoners run, the louder the cries grow for the men: “Keep going! You’ve got this!” But the women hear more and more doubts about their efforts. External voices, and often their own internal voice, repeatedly question their decision to keep running. The voices can even grow hostile. As the women struggle to endure the rigors of the race, spectators shout, “Why are you running when your children need you at home?”
This book, Lean In – Women, work and the Will to Lead, is full of tips and shared experience for women on how to lean in to positions of leadership and to break down these societal and personal barriers that still exist.
“Sit at the table”
“Avoid unnecessary sacrifice”
“Beware of the Tiara Syndrome” Did you know about this syndrome!? It’s when women expect that if they keep doing their job well, someone will notice them and place a tiara on their head. Sounds familiar?
Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Facebook. There is no career ladder, as she says, rather a jungle gym, since there is no unique path to the top. After graduating from Harvard Business School, she worked at the World Bank and then at Google where she was Vice President of global online sales and operations.
On This Sheep is Orange, I regularly write about Women in Business & Leadership. If you would like to read my future posts then simply follow the blog.