Stop whatever you are doing right now and watch this video of the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg. The video is a MUST SEE for all working women (or soon to be working women) about why we have too few women leaders. Women are not making it to the top of any industry and the numbers have not moved since 2002, even going in the opposite direction. How do we change these numbers? Keep women in the workforce. Sit at the table. Don’t quit before you quit. And don’t underestimate our own abilities, especially in negotiating our first salaries! Watch the video and let me know what you think!
The video was sent to me by Natalie at The Bobby Pin (Thanks Natalie!). I asked her to give us a little synopsis of the video and what she thought:
Women like Sheryl Sandberg who “do it all” and willingly explain how they got there inspire me. She’s a COO of one of the most talked about companies in the world, and she left Google to go there. She’s a wife to a CEO and a mother.
She reminds me of a new wave of feminism that says, “OK, we’ve crushed through the legislative issues of the glass ceiling. Now it is up to us to take what’s ours.” We have to be willing to sit at the table, we have to assert ourselves as equals. We have to stay committed to the job — and not leave early if we think we might have a life change coming up.
I’ve seen women pull back if they are thinking of starting a family, or if they are unsure of their skills. We can learn from the opposite gender here — men don’t do that. Just like if you are running a marathon, you push and push until the finish line. It bucks our mentality to make sure everything stays perfect, i.e. if you don’t take on a project because you are thinking of having a baby and the project has a deadline a year from now, you are thinking of the team. But truthfully, if you aren’t pregnant, and you already stop taking on projects, you slow down your progress.
I love that Sheryl Sandberg is out there talking about this and inspiring women to sit at the table. We can’t go anywhere but up.
What do you think about the video? Why do you think we have too few women leaders? Would it be a better world if 50% of all companies and countries were led by women?
(photo credit: Financial Times photos)
