Lifting Up not Leaning In is Key to Helping Women Get Ahead
What a lot of attention the book Lean In by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has generated. The self-help book, mostly geared towards college-educated women who are or want to be on the executive track, promotes believing in oneself, taking risks and pursing ambitious goals as tactics for personal and professional success. Whether or not you [...]
Are You a Member of the In Crowd – The “Lean In” Crowd?
Have you ever felt dissatisfied in a situation, and thought, “What if?” (But not like, “What if a giant walrus fell on my boss’s head. I mean: Goals, dreams, etc.) That is what Lean In is about. Below are my Cliff’s Notes. Dissatisfaction spurs change, Sheryl Sandberg states in Lean In. And by [...]
5 Insanely Simple Work-Life Balance Shortcuts From People Who “Have It All”
This article originally appeared in Fast Company. As the clocks and walls that used to divide work from the other parts of life began to disappear, I started to search for new, modern ways to make what matters happen both on and off the job. For almost two decades, I’ve worked in the trenches with [ ...]
Lean In, Chin Up and Tune Out
I’ve been thinking a lot about women and our place in society the last couple of weeks. This is appropriate, as it is Women’s History Month and was kicked off at PBS with “Makers,” a three-hour documentary on the “second-wave” women’s movement.I sat down to watch it last weekend and was enthralled. I am old [...]
Caregiving in the Face of Hostility
Photo: I am holding my son, then a baby, at my parents’ home in New Hampshire in 2004. At the time, my parents, grandparents and youngest sibling lived in the same three-bedroom townhouse. Growing up, I always lived with extended family or family members stayed with us for extended periods of time. -Elisa Any day [...]
In Hollywood, The Numbers of Women Matter
I’ve been working in the movie industry many years and often I am the sole female on a crew of men. I have worked in visual effects, editing rooms and on production sets. The number of women on these crews is significantly less than the numbers of men. It’s not surprising that the majority of [...]
New Moms Can Lean In Too: Take Your Infant to Work
The volcanic national debate about women, work, and family erupts weekly these days, with Sheryl Sandberg’s much-anticipated book, Lean In, published yesterday, the news last week that Best Buy ended its flexible work-from-home ROWE initiative, and Marissa Mayer’s ban on remote working at Yahoo! the week before. The Mayer memo said Yahoo! needs workers side-by-side [...]
As Women, We Are Our Own Best Source of Inspiration
For many of us moms, success is too often defined and driven by outside factors and interpretations of what and how we “should” do things. I just finished Sheryl Sandberg’s book which came out today and I think she perpetuates this view. She talks about leaning into a career by reaching for opportunities, taking a [...]
Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer: ‘Lean In’ and Get Your Butt to the Office!
This blog post originally appeared in PunditMom. Lean in! Take charge! No fear! Out with flex-time! In with face time! These are the messages two of the highest-profile working mothers in America are sending to the rest of us. If Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, and Marissa Mayer, Yahoo!’s Chief Executive Officer, have their way, [...]
We’re down to the wire in Maryland
We’re down to the wire. Industry has defeated the Maryland Pesticide Reporting Act three times. If we want a win, we need to use our outside voices, and we need to use them now. Moms across Maryland are worried about the impact of dangerous toxic chemicals on their families’ health. We’ve got a first step to protect [...]
Sheryl Sandberg’s Most Important Words
This story originally appeared in the Woman in Washington blog. “Success for me is that if my son chooses to be a stay-at-home parent, he is cheered on for that decision. And if my daughter chooses to work outside the home and is successful, she is cheered on and supported.” –Sheryl Sandberg, NPR’s Morning Edition, March [...]
“MAKERS”, A Cautionary Tale: Sandberg, Mayer, Slaughter and Feminism Today
Recently, Katherine watched the three-part PBS series MAKERS in one sitting. (If you haven’t seen it yet, we highly recommend and encourage you to watch it online here). While some argue that the documentary misses the mark on feminism today, Katherine appreciated the film’s ability to move seamlessly between the different issues confronting women (sexual [...]
We Can Be World Changers, Game Changers, and Diaper Changers. Why I Say: More Power to Sheryl Sandberg
This story originally appeared in the Slow Love Life blog. TIME magazine has just released its cover story on Sheryl Sandberg, with an excerpt from her new book. I wrote a column for the issue, but here’s the (bit) longer version for readers of Slow Love Life. I would love to hear your thoughts. I am seriously [...]
Lean In to What, Exactly?
Not to flatter myself, but I am exactly who Sheryl Sandberg had in mind when she decided to write Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Thirty-five, married, mother of two young (but not too young) children, MBA who has worked consistently in one high-status industry for over a decade, and who is [...]
Assessing Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In”
Sheryl Sandberg’s well-researched new book, Lean In, focuses on helping women who aspire to careers identify and overcome negative societal messages they have internalized over the years – old scripts that undermine women’s self-confidence and hold them back from achieving their full potential on the job. It’s not every day that a high-achieving woman proclaims [...]