Eastofoz's Reviews > Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

When I first started seeing ads promoting this book it was really the subtitle "Women, Work and the Will to Lead" that grabbed me. I looked around the Internet and found Sandberg's TEDTalk which raised some interesting issues but it didn't leave me bowled over like a lot of other people. Having seen some phenomenal TEDTalks in the past I figured hers would be on par. Well the ideas were but the delivery didn't make me go "wow" --but it did make me get the book and good thing I did because it definitely made me go "wow" and more than once.

The book is very well-written and everything she says that could be questioned is backed up by proof with succinct and easy to follow endnotes so she's not just throwing around grand ideas she's actually gathered ideas from far and wide and brought them together in a concise and very thought provoking way without sounding condescending or ivory tower like. She comes across as a regular smart woman who has the same concerns and worries as other women and mothers which was what I found made the book a very accessible and interesting read. She didn't come across as the COO of Facebook that you would imagine to be a slave to her job, has tons of cash so it's easy to say "be more involved in your work" because someone else is looking after your kids at home. She was a normal woman with normal fears, career setbacks, mishaps and OMG I am a spaz stories and that in itself was wow for me.

Her main message is that often women don't get fully involved (lean in) enough when they choose to do something out of fear of not being liked or coming off as too smart or thinking that they can't really do it instead of just trying or winging it plus a myriad of other reasons. It's a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. She gives examples from her life and other successful women's lives that if you really give it your all you can succeed and happily too. Her three main questions were basically:

*Why aren't you leaning in?
*Why aren't you sitting more at the table instead off at the side?
*What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Now this sounds a bit too "rah rah rah come on girls we can do it" but it's not at all like that. The questions in context ring very true. When I first read those few lines I thought "whatever" but she gives example after example of why women don't do enough of these things and that it has to stop because everyone would benefit and she clearly shows how for all walks of life. You might want to get to the top at work or maybe as a volunteer in your community or maybe at home and you can without feeling guilty. She makes a good case about how the women's movement of the 60s was supposed to give women choice not guilt which is what several women feel when they stay home to raise their children or go out to work.

This is far from the kind of book I'd ever think to read but I'm very glad I did because it really encourages you to get up and give it a shot when really you have nothing to lose and that's something that both women and men can benefit from. The ending especially was excellent and had me tear up for how you feel like she's really speaking to the reader and says come on and just try and you can start by something as simple as leaning in wherever you are.

Sheryl Sandberg is definitely a fresh and strong voice for women and men together. It's win win all around the way she tells it and if anything you go away from the book thinking hey maybe I can --and while I'm at it let me go tell my friend because I know she can too and my other friend because he needs a new perspective too and suddenly you have a whole new movement. It's very "wow" the way something so simple can be so powerful and profound.