I recently finished reading Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, Lean In. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. While I’m not quite sure how I would classify this book, it was definitely full of interesting anecdotes and good advice. I think there is probably a little something for everyone. The book discusses how women can help themselves advance in their careers and take up more leadership roles. There is also discussion of how male managers can change the way they do things now to facilitate more women advancement.
This book hit very close to home for me, personally. There were many repeats in the book from Sheryl Sandberg’s speech at Grace Hopper in Portland 2011. As I am in the stage of my life where I am personally making choices to advance my own career and take up more leadership roles, a lot of what I read in here was a sort of affirmation that I AM making the right decisions. Also, that the guilt and frustration that I have felt while trying to make the best decisions possible is completely normal. It’s okay to put my career ahead of family- sometimes. I also found that she was giving me permission to be proud of my own accomplishments and not to give into the Imposter Syndrome (more on that to come in another blog post).
The book is a quick read (I read it on my flights from California and back). And the price is quite reasonable on Amazon. If you’re not sure it’s the book for you, go ahead and watch her keynote from Grace Hopper first.
This book is great in that it opens up the conversation for everyone to talk about gender in the workplace. It’s a conversation that needs to be had.
