Book Review: Lean In (Author Sheryl Sandberg)

Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

This book is an excellent peek into the life of a high-powered businesswoman and what women need to do to get a taste of that life for themselves. Sandberg attests that having a woman at the top can have a difference. Are women viewed differently in the workplace? Sure they are, but different does not have to be negative.

Sandberg points out some discrepancies between men and women at work: men are promoted based on potential, while woman are promoted based on past accomplishments; careers depend on taking risks and advocating for yourself, traits that are typically discouraged in girls but encouraged in boys. She then notes how women can be successful but at the same time not give up what makes women different (and valuable) in the workplace and at home.

4 out of 5 stars.

Marleah Augustine is the Adult Department Librarian at the Hays Public Library

You can see more of her blog here    http://hayspubliclibrary.wordpress.com