Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Lean-In!

https://leanin.org/book/

One of my favorite professors gifted me the Sheryl Sandberg's bestseller "Lean In". I hadn't heard about the book until then but instantaneously recognized the face on the cover.
The author, of course, is Harvard-educated, current COO of Facebook but the book is inspirational in more than one ways. I do not plan to review the book, rather I want to discuss how I personally felt about the ideas presented in the book.

For me, it was just an assurance that self-doubt comes, by default into the female DNA. It was good to see somebody articulate my everlasting feelings about the present day professional and personal worlds in general. After spending a few years in the software industry I found myself agreeing to most of the professional scenarios presented by the author.  Even in this century, strong, confident girls are attributed "bossy". A female being ambitious is still tantamount to being individualistic. I am not saying you will agree to every line in the book. But you will for sure find your share of take-aways from this read.

I have learnt my lessons the hard way. I now know that you are lucky if in this 'jungle-gym', opportunities are served to you on a platter. 'Leaving' before you actually leave is a blunder which often results due to societal pressures. Until now I felt most of it had to do with the Indian culture; but when a Harvard alumnus and one of the most powerful leading ladies of the world talks about facing similar issues, I realized these problems are more universal than I could fathom. If I knew these facts earlier, I would have dealt with numerous such situation differently.

I would highly recommend this book to everybody irrespective of the gender. If changes are to be brought in, it cannot be done by just 50% of the world. Lean-In!



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