M.P Book Review- Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

For the past week, my personal motivation went up the scales! Not because I received a bonus, or a promotion, or a vacation...(see where am going with this? :))...but mainly because i got to read deep into the LEAN IN idea by Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of FACEBOOK.

I first heard of Sheryl after her TEDTalk video went viral among working women all around the world... This is the Talk am referring to;


She gave this talk 5 years ago, but do you know when I heard of it? Last year,2015!  Yes, I was that LATE to receive the message, and i can see the impact of that delay,today!

Let me share with you the few key messages I received from reading this book;

1. I need to learn to turn the voice down,the voice of that inner CRITIC! Lean In pushed me to do a self evaluation of how many opportunities I have turned down, not because I was told I can't do it, but because deep inside, there was that voice that said, IT'S TOO BIG, IT'S RISKY, YOU ARE NOT READY, THEY WILL NEVER GIVE IT TO YOU! I checked out of my career before it was really my time, and I know many of my Tanzanian full-time working women will relate to such situations.

2. It can be done,It doesn't have to be perfect as long as it is done. With this, I don't mean that we do things half way or half-heartedly...NO... am talking about how many of my friends,schoolmates and colleagues have QUIT working because they got MARRIED or they have children. I laughed when Sheryl wrote on how many times she (and many other successful women) get asked on HOW DO YOU DO IT ALL? I laughed because there is no interview or Career talk that I do, and this question doesn't pop up. My answer has always been, ...well,time management...or I have a good supporting family..etc. But I think I need to give more credit to my husband, the best Partner I could ever ask for...I can testify on how having the right partner can assist any full-time working MOM,to be more comfortable and less guilty for working full time...And of course,there is one more answer i can now give,we WOMEN are good at multitasking, so I do all I have been doing simply because,I am that "unapologetically" good :)

3. Always,SIT at the table and make your voice heard. I am a Muslim woman (maybe a very modern one) and I know there are still people who believe according to our Religion, a woman is NOT supposed to raise her voice, be part of the discussion where males are involved, and NEVER be a leader. Well, look at our Madam Vice President H.E Samia Suluhu Hassan, a Hijabi, well learned and strong leader, the First ever WOMAN Vice President in Tanzania. I believe by women sitting at the table, we can have more women voices heard, more practical decisions made and definitely more lives changed.

I may go on and on until we have another Lean In book, out of a blog post, but that was not the aim of this post...The main objective is to get YOU, whether male of female, to Lean In and pull more chairs for women to sit right at the table, to have our society more acceptable of the full time working moms and the stay-at-home dads who we end up calling very bad names like MUME BWEGE!

I recommend the book to anyone who envision a more just and developed Tanzanian society where our young boys (like my Baby Popular) and young girls like Princess Tiffah Dangote :)... all see their life options as THEIRS and not ours as the society.

Enjoy the Read!

xoxo
Missie Popular