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Working Moms
groovygrl
member
So, who has actually read Lean In?
groovygrl
member
in Working Moms
I have seen discussions on here about how ppl want to or don't want to read it, how they feel about Sheryl Sandberg, etc etc but I have not noticed (Sorry if I missed it) many posts from people who have actually read it & want to discuss???
I am about about 2/3 through and I actually do like it. She acknowledges early on that her audience is a pretty specific group of women, it is not meant to be applicable to everyone or every situation...as someone who fits her intended target audience, I find it enjoyable to read, quick, slightly humorous sometimes but not so much that it is off putting or fake, I think she is likeable and I think she has some good tips. I also appreciate that she is a little self deprecating and I do think she is very clear that she doesn't have all the answers, these are just things that have worked well for her & people she knows. Plus she says in many places that the 'system' is the bigger issue and that changes need to be made at all levels, which I feel like has been so many people's arguments with this idea of 'leaning in'.
Some concepts I have liked so far- career paths are a jungle gym, not a ladder (b/c god knows mine has not been typical for my field), the mentor chapter where she talks about how people try too hard to find/identify a mentor instead of letting it naturally happen (including strangers or ppl she has just met asking her to be their mentor? that is so bizarre to me), and also not 'leaving before you leave' (to have kids)... I find these all really easy to relate to... Not everything in it is for everyone or applicable to everyone of course but it isn't really presented that way.
Maybe I'm just too soft LOL. Anyone else who has read it have any thoughts?
ETA I also like that she admits to having cried at work! And that hard decisions & other people's judgments really get to her.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: So, who has actually read Lean In?
I also work in corporate so I might learn something from reading her book.
But she lost me at returning to work 2 weeks after having her baby.
Much as I'd love to climb that corporate ladder, I find her decision very hard to support and impossible to relate to. Perhaps I'm not her intended audience.
I think you're confusing her with Marissa Mayer from yahoo. SS actually talks in the book about how she wanted to take the 3 months maternity leave offered at Google but she was so stressed taht her job wouldn't be there that she worked during the leave and seems to have regretted that decision b/c w/ the second one she took 4 months off, and unplugged herself much more. In fact turned down a job as the CEO of LinkedIn b/c she was planning to get pregnant a 2nd time and had 9 months of morning sickness the first time around & didn't think it was a good idea to start a new job with that in the plan... so technically she kind of 'leaned out' at that time and then after her maternity leave was able to lean back in. There is a section that talks about Marissa Mayer & her 2 week thing but I haven't gotten there yet.
The book isn't really about juggling parenting & work anyway, it is about women applying themselves, building confidence & getting to leadership roles in spite of/in addition to/alongside/whatever the many hats they may wear at home.
I want to read it, but am in a career place that I DON'T want to read it....I cannot advance from where I am. Period. And it's not a glass ceiling; it's that my group is undervalued, and that is the work I do. After my first two I was still progressing, then management changed and now there is a brick wall over my head.
So I don't want to get all motivated, when I think right now I am pretty happy with my WFH, manage a team, have some flexibility for a very corporate job....
I will let you know when the kids are older and I am willing to re-consider this career path....the whole thing is ironic to me.
2chatter- that makes total sense to me! I have actually never had a job with a line of promotion that I would be qualified for either b/c of the profession required for that role or the degree required, unless new positions were created that didn't have those constraints... Therefore in all of my situations I have had to change jobs to get "promoted", or could get a doctorate to get promoted.
That being said, the book is also not necessarily about 'position' advancement but professional development- some of it would still be relevant to you possible, in terms of setting yourself up for those types of moves down the career path. Just a thought but I hear you on not wanting to get excited or motivated about concepts and realize they're not going to work right now. (Uh, see my post below about stretch jobs. LOL)
That is spot on groovygal.
I just feel so locked in to my current job - I would be hard pressed to find the same situation elsewhere, and DH travels M-TH (or he is in town, but out early, home late - which is almost worse than him traveling).
In my intellectual brain I can see that what I am doing is exactly what she counsels against in one way; in another, more emotional way, I don't want to be self defeating but I also don't want to get excited about something that I don't think is possible. So confusing.
Totally confusing, I think so many women who work outside the home struggle w/ that...
I would not actually say you're doing the opposite of what she counsels- her don't leave before you leave thing is more about how women take a step back well before they actually even have a kid/2nd kid/whatever--- like they know they're planning on it either down the road or in the near future and therefore make a decision to not take on more work/challenges/new things 'in anticipation' of the fact that they'd be getting pregnant, taking leave, changing things. I *think* SS's thing is that you shouldn't sell yourself short BEFORE you're at that point- keep the momentum going and make the decision when you have to, not when you think about it (and frankly as someone who has kids from IF treatments, she doesnt say this but we all know that the pregnancy thing does not always go as planned anyway so you can shoot yourself in the foot that way).
I don't think 'leaning out' (if that is what you feel like you're doing) when kids are young or when different things come up is at all what she is counseling against, in fact I think she totally gets that, but encourages women not to do it too soon or to consider other ways to keep in the game, so to speak.
Ah! I'm a SS follower I think
lol
I have read it, kind of in a skipping-around order. I also really liked the "leaving before you leave" chapter because, well perhaps obviously because I'm here, I'm pregnant and making career decisions, and probably will be for the next phase of my life.
In fact, my mom was trying to give me some career advice today, about how I may want to pass up a new opportunity and take things easy at my current job as I get ready for baby. I told her about the book's contrary advice (which really spoke to me) and she said she thought it was dumb and that no career strategy was going to make me want to go back to work after the baby is born. Of course, I'm a FTM, so I can't predict how I'll feel, but something tells me I'd go stir crazy after a while anyway.