I love to read and I’ve been wanting to share book reviews with you guys, but just haven’t found the right way. So I decided to try something new, to see how it goes. I’m going to illustrate my favorite quote from a book, and then write up my thoughts. Let me know how you like it, and if there are any books you think I’d enjoy!
(photo by me, hand-lettering by me)
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg was all over the news, blogs and variety shows a while back. I was hearing such conflicting things about it—some feminists loved it, others hated it, stay-at-home-moms were offended—I decided I had to read it for myself and make up my own mind. In a word, I loved it.
I think Sandberg brought a lot of intelligent insight into a huge problem in our leading companies. She discusses how systemic the problem is from the way we raise our children—little girls are referred to as “bossy”, where boys are called a “leaders”—all the way through to the upper echelons of corporate culture—a top executive not knowing where the ladies restroom is in his own company.
As women we hold ourselves back a lot of the time. Women tend to keep quiet in class even if they know the right answer, and think they scored less on tests than their male peers. I felt it was encouraging and motivating just realizing this harsh self-criticism is natural for me, and something I need to work on and push through.
One of the strongest points in Sandberg’s book, was the fact that we as women really need to stick together. We can be even harsher toward each other than our male associates. It really makes no sense. We are half the population. Imagine what we could accomplish if we worked together!
Lastly, this quote I chose, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” is something that really resonated with me. There are SO MANY THINGS, where do I start? I think I’ll take some baby steps. The key is to believe in yourself, your goals, your dreams, and not let you stand it your own way. There are plenty of other things that will do that.
Did you read “Lean In”? What were your thoughts?
