The latest book I'm reading is
"Lean In", by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook who is also a dedicated mother and wife. The term "Lean In" refers to women leaning-in/stepping-in/getting involved more in conversations in the workplace & in the world. It's about sitting at the table with men, raising our hands and speaking up. It's difficult to fathom that just 50 years ago, women were not allowed to run in marathons, were limited to careers of nurses & teachers, and encouraged to attend university for an M.R.S. (find a husband by 21).
Today, so much progress has been made and I am appreciative of all the feminists that made this revolution possible. But unfortunately, statistics don't show as many women sitting in Congress, Fortune 500 companies as we'd think. There are women who prefer to be dedicated full-time mothers and wives, which is totally admirable. This is a book to help encourage those women in the workplace who do want to advance but have found themselves in a rut doing so whether they are already successful and wanting more or the struggling women in lower-pay jobs.
Prior to the publishing day, there was a lot of controversy all over the media and articles about the message she was sending to women. While there are many external reasons beyond our control on why women are not getting paid as much as men such as sexism & stereotypes, referring to children clothing see saw at the store "Pretty Like Mommy" for girls and "Smart like Daddy" for boys. However, there are many internal issues and set-backs that we have laid on ourselves. She calls this the "chicken & egg syndrome". There is no point figuring out which came first, but instead to work on what we can control, the "internal voices & thoughts".
In "Lean In", she discusses many of these internal battles we face, because of our upbringings and experiences growing up. Some of the controversy & heated discussions root from a lot of these "inner battles" we face without even realizing it. Instead of reading this book first and taking advice from someone who is successful in business and in family life, critics have voiced too quickly, making excuses, putting up a defense with their guards up. Many have pointed to her as "too privileged" to tell working-class/single-mother women what to do. In another article I read, a journalist makes a good point, "Warren Buffet can tell us how to deal with our money, why can't a Billionaire female tell us how to make it in the work force?" And look, this is coming from me, who many can consider "a minority" - being Asian and being a female, I have not let it stop me from climbing to VP by the age of 27. The more we focus on being the "victim", the "minority", the less results will happen. Remember, "Attitude determines Altitude!"
In the world of Real Estate, I am impressed by how so many successful Residential Real Estate Agents are women. They have the natural ability to relate to homebuyers on the biggest investment of their lives. They have the natural creativity to help design and envision their clients homes. But unfortunately once you leave the realm of Residential Real estate, we once again see that huge gap between the number of successful men versus women, in Commercial Real Estate, Lending, Bank executives and Stock Brokerages. One thing I am impressed by though, is that the few women who are on top, are #1. They have found the balance between being a power woman and working like a man.
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I encourage all women, working and at home to read this book and also men, so they can learn to encourage their partners to rise up!
