BY TERESIA KING’ARA
You have probably read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and marvelled at how some women are high on heels as far as work, and the will to lead are concerned. The book is a manifesto of what it takes to get ahead, the challenges and the opportunities that one needs to be aware about.
It is based on the author’s experience during her career, spanning from government to the private sector. She has served as the chief operating officer of Facebook, now Meta, since 2008. As a lady in corporate space, Ms Sandberg acknowledges in the book that balancing work and raising a family is not an easy task. It takes a woman surrounding herself with a strong support system to make headway, which is not an option afforded to many women.
She also highlights that, corporate arena is still a dominantly male field and a woman trying to get ahead has to work twice as hard, and not for the full compensation of the male counterparts.
Ms Sandberg also advocates, in the book, for one to change jobs often as a way of getting ahead. Moreover, changing jobs will (certainly) get you to the top faster than working at one job.
She also points out that successful women generally tend to be liked less as compared to their male counterparts. Most times, the biases work against women simply because of the “we all want to be liked” mindset. In trying to be liked, women will downplay their accomplishments to their own detriment.
But, as mentioned before, Lean In is an interesting book to both genders, and simply provides a sort of solace to women, knowing that those work issues cut across. Nobody is interested in your gender, especially in reference to work.
It should also prove to be a good read for men seeking to understand the intricacies women have to contend with on a regular basis in their work spaces and hopefully make them want to do better.
Ms. King’ara is a communications associate at Cytonn Investments
