That year was 2013 when communication strategist Amy Bailey read Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In.” The #MeToo movement is not yet inflated, highlighting the abuse women may face in the workplace. The term #girlboss wasn’t popular. And the question of how Facebook affects democracy wasn’t at the forefront.
Bailey, 46, who lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said, “It gave me this courage,” referring to Sandberg’s book. “It struck this feminist chord in me. If you push harder, if you ask for more, someone will notice.”
Almost 10 years later, Ms. Bailey said she was denied a salary increase and recognized the challenge of pumping milk in the smoking lounge of the office to balance work and motherhood, reducing her professional ambitions. She also suffers from the lean-in philosophy that taught her that only a little gravel is needed for the success of her career.
“That’s not true,” she said. “No one has slammed me on my shoulder because I did more and was more prepared.”
On Wednesday, Sandberg announced that he would leave Facebook’s parent company, Meta, as Chief Operating Officer. This is a perch that made her one of the most famous women in American business. She had been in the job for five years when she published her “Lean In”, and her unique role and success in Silicon Valley helped amplify the message in her book.
For many women, “lean-in” is the Bible and the roadmap to corporate life. What’s wrong with many other people understanding its limitations and applying personalized solutions to systematic problems that prevent women in the workplace, especially colored and low-income women. It came to be regarded as a symbol of the woman. And Sandberg’s departure is a moment for all readers to look back on how “lean in” shaped their career.
When “Lean In” was announced in 2013, it landed on the best-selling list, pushing Ms. Sandberg to the cover of Time and Fortune. 4 percent Of the Fortune 500 CEOs, women were women. The book has sold over 4 million copies in five years. The Lean In Foundation helped create thousands of Lean In Circles, where women, especially those in the early stages of their careers, rely on Sandberg’s advice as a guide.
The book embraced women’s ambitions and told them not to count themselves, especially because they were afraid that no conference room was built for their mothers or women.
“I still sometimes find myself being talked to and discounted, even though the man sitting next to me isn’t,” Sandberg wrote. “But now I know how to take a deep breath and keep raising my hands. I learned to sit at the table.”
Her message was clear: create a chair. The text suggested that any reader could achieve a version of what Sandberg had — by throwing her shoulders back, asking for a salary increase, and stopping making people happy.
Many people were inspired. Mori Franagan, a workplace coach who was a member of the Lean In Circle in New York, remembered that reading this book encouraged her to take a competitive exam at her workplace.
“I was in my career trying to move up the ranks of the organization and navigate,” she said. “Requesting a table seat was a really important piece of development for me.”
But for many readers of “Lean In,” it was also very clear that Sandberg’s ability to climb the ladder of the corporate world was far beyond his will. She is a white woman educated at Harvard University and it took her several months to become one of the world’s. Youngest in history billionaire.
“It’s difficult for a black woman to lean forward even when she’s not in the room,” said Minda Hearts, consultant and author of “Note: What Color Women Need to Know to Secure a Table Seat.” 40 years old) said. .. She remembered that she was frustrated when her white colleague recommended her a book by Mr. Sandberg. “I thought there was no way to bust the door of Sergey Brin and tell him” there is no parking “. “
Feminist thinker Bellhooks frankly stated that in a 2013 review. “Sandberg sometimes reminds readers of old stereotypes about used car salesmen,” Hook hooks. I have written.. “She pushes her own product and pushes it well.”
And for many women, Sandberg’s book emphasizes how individuals, rather than the entire workplace, should change, and does more than just provide useless advice in dealing with inequality. It was a fundamental reflection of the problem.
“Without structural changes, we rely on low-income colored women to support this lean fantasy,” said “White Feminism: from safragets to influencers, and who they leave behind.” Koabeck (35), the author of “Do You Do?”, Says.
In other words, the ability of one legal counsel to hire a few nannies to work late into the night on the way to a partner was not intended to address the child-rearing crisis of everyone else.
Some, especially young women, quickly criticized Sandberg’s book, which the author called “a kind of feminist manifesto.” Others have sharpened their criticism over time. Because my life experience has shown that a little loud voice at a meeting doesn’t make me the pinnacle of a male-dominated business area, or I realize that strategy will be the easiest to help. ..
“Society has moved forward. From sexual harassment to childcare to no paid maternity leave, we are now paying more attention to the structural disadvantages women face,” said a feminist columnist who recalled many friends. Katha Pollitt says. Her own daughter found herself full of wise advice when the “lean in” came out. She said, “People have just stopped seeing women’s work life as determined by their willingness.”
Catherine Goldstein, 38, started a lean-in circle with her friends in 2013. Three of the seven members were motivated by this book to ask for a salary increase and won them.
Goldstein, author of the newsletter The Double Shift, said:
But after Goldstein gave birth, struggled to raise a child with health problems, and then lost her famous media job, the book’s advice began to hollow out. “It’s useful for me now as an intellectual foil of what I don’t believe and don’t want to be,” she said.
There were millions of women who saw some of their potential in Sandberg’s megawatt success against all the backlash that “Lean In” ultimately caused.
“I always call it a context,” said entrepreneur Rachel Sklar, who was a member of the launch committee that promoted “lean-in” before the release. “This has become an abbreviation for a previously known but unnamed problem.”
For Sclar, some of the criticisms since the publication of Sandberg’s book were overwhelming. “Male business leaders are always writing books, and they just fly under the radar about how their books endure the challenges of time,” Sclar said.
And Mr. Sandberg faced even more scrutiny as her public awareness of the company diminished. When Facebook was accused of being involved in the dissemination of false information in the 2016 elections, some of the public’s anger was directed at Mr. Sandberg, the head of the policy and security team. In 2018 she Data breach A scandal involving Cambridge Analytica.Came on it research It shows that Instagram owned by Meta has had a detrimental effect on the mental health of teenage girls. Some felt that Sandberg’s public message was too focused on her personal ambitions and achievements, rather than the social values of the company she led.
Rosa Brooks, a 51-year-old professor of law school at Georgetown University, said “you shouldn’t rely on everything,” adding that Sandberg’s leadership tenure raised deeper questions about her workplace philosophy. rice field. She isn’t just about “how to succeed in the conditions of the workplace.” But, “How can I change my workplace and make it a force for good?”
Last month, when the draft decision revealed the Supreme Court’s intention to overturn the Roe v. Wade case, Mr Sandberg issued a statement mourning the loss of access to women’s abortion.
“Today is a terrifying day for women all over our country,” Sandberg wrote on Facebook. “Every woman must be free to choose whether or not to become a mother, no matter where she lives.”
For some women, this post is another sign that Mr. Sandberg’s personal philosophy has limited impact and there is a more urgent need to focus on larger policy changes. did. There was no statement in favor of access to abortion from Mr. Sandberg’s company. In fact, after a few weeks, The Verge Meta executives revealed that due to the divisive nature of the topic, they told employees not to talk about abortion on the company’s internal platform called the workplace. Meta did not respond to the request for comment.
For a decade, Sandberg’s approach to gender at work has influenced both her supporters and critics.
Hertz, a workplace consultant, was inspired by Sandberg’s writing. She decides to create a playbook for a woman like her who didn’t see herself in her “lean in”. Seven years ago, Hearts founded The Memo, a career development organization that helps women of color. Since then, she has received a large amount of emails, including emails from black women working in Meta, and is grateful to her for advice that she finds more relevant to her life.
“The idea that you can work hard and move on is not always the same for women of color,” Hearts said.
And now, even Mr. Sandberg is putting a pause. on facebook Position Announced her resignation on Wednesday, she will be married this summer and focus on children, philanthropy, and other pursuits that may not have been drawn as carefully as in the previous chapters of her career. Said that it involves guessing.
“I’m not entirely sure what the future will bring,” she writes. “I learned that no one is there.”
