Today I finally took the 51 minutes to watch the LEVO League Office Hours with Sheryl Sandberg the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and new author of the book “Lean In”.
I will be honest, at first I wasn’t interested in hearing yet another successful women tell me the struggle of having it all, meaning a career and a family.
But.. her 51 minute interview/speech I saw today with LEVO Leauge left me with goosebumps.
I have always been fascinated with how differently society treats men and women and how it impacts our actions and who we become.
She stated there are three elements to why women don’t lean in to their careers or professional aspirations:
1. We don’t believe we have good enough skills to be successful
2. We don’t openly credit ourselves for what we want and what we are good at
3. We want to be parents someday
In which all three of these topics apply to me.
For the most part men aren’t scared to ask questions, get answers to get the skills they need to be confident in what they are doing OR they are simply not scared to fake it til they make it.
They aren’t scared to say, “Ya I am going to be president of XYZ company someday,” because they know no one will look down on on them for it.
They aren’t scared that they will be criticized for being a good parent if they have a full time job and they are a dad.
Now the thing I loved most about Sheryl’s speech is .. she lives in reality.
She wasn’t out there bashing men, saying women are the greatest gift to the Earth and that men treat women miserably or want to keep them at the bottom of the food chain.
She simply says it starts with us.
We have to be the one to boost our own confidence and the confidence of the women around us and ask for what we want.
That we need to be the women that sit at the big table during business meetings and not be scared to give our opinion and fight for something we believe in.
That we need to help support each other as women. Help someone speak up or be heard if they have a good idea. Support the women around us that have full time jobs and are mothers. Stand up for them when other people make comments.
Start marrying husbands that are willing to equally manage the work of raising the children. Changing diapers, taking them to soccer practice watching them late on Tuesday nights so that you can workout or get some extra work done.
I love it. It starts with us. If we want it to change we have to change ourselves.
She ends her time with LEVO asking women to think about what they would do if they weren’t afraid?
Which is incredibly powerful. What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Who would you be? Where would you go?
You can watch the full interview here.
http://www.levoleague.com/office-hours/sheryl-sandberg
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