January 6, 2011
Grab the Bull by the Horns: Sheryl Sandberg on Women Leaders
By Wendy Beecham
Last month, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg stood on the stage at TED and asked the audience: Why Aren’t There Enough Female Leaders? Her speech, peppered with personal anecdotes, did a lot more than ask questions—it provided thought provoking challenges for women in the workforce. The three key points she focused on were:
1) Sit at the table—literally and figuratively!
2) Make your partner a real partner—sharing domestic responsibilities is key
3) Don’t leave before you leave—regarding the trend of women bowing out of the competition early because they want a family ‘someday’
Sandberg provided several anecdotes that illustrated a major issue – unconscious gender stereotyping by both men and women. She described a company meeting where she stated that she’d only take two more questions, but she continued to answer questions by men because they were the only ones who kept up their hands raised. She also explained how men negotiate for themselves whereas women feel more comfortable negotiating on behalf of others.
Only a few weeks before Sandberg’s speech, UC Davis published a study revealing that women hold only 9.5 percent of top management and corporate boardroom positions in California’s largest public companies. The figures for Silicon Valley are even more disappointing—6.7 percent of top management jobs and 8.9 percent of board director seats.
It’s clear to all that we have a crisis of diversity in top leadership in the Bay Area, in California, and across the country. Sandberg’s message is valuable and it would be interesting to hear whether you resonated with her perspective or have a very different reality based on your current situation.
Sheryl ended her speech by lamenting about how the diversity at the top was not going to change in our generation. What is your perspective on Sheryl’s speech, her sentiments, and her reflection of the future?
Maybe the priorities of this fictional ‘she’ we are talking about shifts. Maybe she doesn’t want to stay in the corporate environment which is skewed very male. Maybe that kind of success begins to feel less relevant than other kinds of success like raising a child but also work that is more personal in nature – stemming from passions closer to your heart – like running your own business or doing more for community, innovating in the world. I think that instead of trying to keep your foot on the gas in a man’s hierarchy which can be exhausting (it exhausted and ultimately deterred me – there are just so many concessions we have to make there which make us smaller than we are), men should take a cue from the way we work which is communal and in a lattice rather than a hierarchy. I think the future of work is more female and male overall. I think women like Sheryl who do make it work and do get that far are awesome but talking to women over the years, I feel like we need our work to mean something to us personally, especially as we get older.
Thoughts?
-Chauncey
founder of whatwomenmake.com
I believe an revolution is required that includes Sheryl’s wisdom and more. There’s a ineffable but palpable impediment obstructing our advancement in the work world. It is coming from women, ourselves. It requires a breakthrough in our perceptions and interpretations of who we are as a collective. The change we are seeking requires a paradigm shift. Whether it is for positions of leadership, as entrepreneurs, as volunteers, or stay at home moms;women as a whole must cultivate awareness of that which impedes our evolution. It appears as if we are disempowered, however my experience as a corporate coach is that as women, we are empowering ourselves to limit our professional development, sabotaging growth and transformation through our own reluctance to annihilate an subconscious belief of our position and our identities as less-than. This subconscious belief is insidious and it will take masterful presence to what lays beyond our awareness. This is big work! It is essential to the survival of our species that this transformation occur in all sectors of our lives. We must be far more courageous and vigilance than is imaginable. I have no doubt we have that courage and the where-with-all to make the paradigm shift.
I’d have a lot more respect for her if she were wearing shoes she could walk in.
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