Lean In or Go For It; just be yourself.

Before I left SSE two people recommended I read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg ( thanks Caroline and Melissa ). I have long been concerned about gender equality in business and have struggled with the issues of ensuring women are better represented in senior leadership positions so followed up. It is a thought provoking book with a good mix of well sourced research and anecdotes of real world experiences. I have observed over the years that men and women do, often, behave differently in a business environment and I now know about things like 'imposter syndrome', the downside of achievement for women, the importance of mentors and sponsors and the myth of 'having it all'. Along with other themes she addresses these have helped me understand better what was going on. I wish I had read it earlier. 

I have always believed that mixed teams are the best performing ones and Sandberg backs up her same belief with an impressive list of academic sources. Every senior figure in business should do all they can to help move us in this direction and if you don't know where to start this book is a pretty good place. 

The book also, briefly talks about authentic leadership when she says "true leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed....leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection." All my years as a business leader have shown me how true this is. I didn't do well when I tried to be something or someone I'm not. I can't do slick or polished and 'imperfectly  expressed' is what you get but people really do appreciate seeing and knowing the real you.

One last thing. I don't like the title of the book. I would have preferred 'go for it' but then again maybe that's 'imperfectly expressed'!