Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

I have been a fan of Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) since her TED Talk on women in business.  In it, she talked about the importance of women "taking a seat at the table" (quite literally, don't sit in the back of the room) and advised women "don't leave before you leave" (i.e., don't turn down a business opportunity because you envision a life situation in the future where you couldn't have that opportunity)

In this book, she expands her ideas around women in business, through a mixture of personal anecdotes, research studies, and ideas about how to improve.  The book is pretty genre-less, not quite self-help, memoir, or business.  It's a quick read, alternating among funny, eye-opening and at times repetitive.

At first glance what is most striking is the name-dropping Sandberg does: Larry Summers, Arianna Huffington, Meg Whitman, Tip O'Neill - she is definitely part of an academic and social elite, which has been a large criticism of the book.  Another criticism of the book is that it is just part of the Facebook media engine.  Well, ok.  If it is, that's fine with me.  My objection to the book were the parts where she encouraged women to change how they negotiate to fit into the system, rather than change the system.

Quarrels aside, I am on the eve of returning to work after maternity leave, and there were several specific pieces of advice I will hold on to from the book.  Sandberg shared the advice she got from Eric Schmidt at Google - take a job for its growth potential, not its current state.  She also suggests that while mentors and sponsors are important, the best way to find them is to excel at your work and they will find you.  Finally, she shares the idea that if there is a work-life-balance accommodation you are looking for, ask: you never know, you might get it.  I am fortunate to work in an organization that has (so far) been very comfortable as a woman.  Now that I'm a mom, I hope that continues.

I don't think this was a perfect (or even that well-edited) book, but Sandberg is a great role model for me.  To have her book come out while I've been on leave (and Marissa Mayer announce her pregnancy two weeks before I announced mine) has made the past year much less stressful than it could have been.  With luck, the Lean In organization will effect change in my career, not just for future generations.