I may be late on the Lean In and Sheryl Sandberg bandwagon, but I am riding that bad boy until the wheels fall off. If you haven’t read it yet, run to your local book store or library and pick it up. Seriously. It’s worth the trip.
By now, you should know that I am such an advocate for women sharing their stories. I think it’s absolutely crucial to share all of the dimensions of who we are regardless of how it makes us look. I’ve had to learn this the hard way because I was the one hiding behind my smile. My experiences have taught me that we all have or are going through the same thing and why not learn from each others experiences?
I may not know what it’s like to be a chief operating officer of a company, but I know what it means to be a woman. I hope to one day know what it means to be a mother and the same is true for a business woman.
If I had to draw one conclusion from the book, it would be that that women need each other. That may not seem like much of a revelation, but believe me, coming from me, it is.
I am from a city and gossiping and dragging other women’s name through the dirt is a past time. It’s just what you do simply because you can and now that I am trying my hardest to distance myself away from that type of activity, I see it.
I see how ugly it is.
And I see how pointless it is and I just rather not.
If we are going to talk, I prefer to talk about what’s really going on in our lives. I’d rather focus on issues and brainstorm resolutions. That’s just where I am today.
But I never realized how detrimental that “crabs-in-a-barrel” or “there can only be one” mentality can be. Not in my personal life and definitely not in the workforce, which is the main focus of the book.
Sandberg said it best when she wrote “The more women help one another, the more we help ourselves. Acting like a coalition truly does produce results.” .
I completely agree.
