Lean in: Women, Work and the Will to Lead

Sheryl Sandberg, number two at Facebook, wasn’t ranked by Forbes as the tenth most powerful woman in the world for nothing. In this book, based essentially on her experience and observations, she shakes up our mental images of the role of women in the workplace. She also tackles the issue of work-life balance, which she considers to be a myth.

She clearly demonstrates that this balance is impossible when one reaches a certain level of responsibility. Moreover, letting people believe that this balance is possible produces feelings of guilt in those who, like her, try to succeed equally well on both fronts and fail! She makes concrete recommendations to show how she manages to set limits, while recognizing that this remains difficult from day to day. She has made deliberate sacrifices in each domain to give herself more breathing room. For example, she scrupulously selects the professional events in which she participates and doesn’t hesitate to decline invitations to conferences or gala dinners. She also gave up the idea of being the perfect mother who recalls the names of all of her children’s classmates and remembers to dress her son in green on Saint Patrick’s Day, etc.

This book offers concrete and demonstrative examples, as well as solidly-documented research. Readers will feel stimulated to action and eager to apply the many interesting suggestions.