Reply to I'd like to tell Sheryl Sandberg to STFU.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a man, I found the book helpful to realizing some of my own blind spots with respect to female colleagues and also to making sure that I am a "real partner" to my wife and share the household duties 50/50.  These aren't revolutionary concepts, and no she isn't exactly breaking new ground.  But I thought the book did a good job of highlighting some of the imbalances a lot of well-intentioned men are sometimes oblivious to.  It was something that helped me learn and grow.

I honestly didn't find the book preachy or grating like so many of you obviously did.  I don't think she ever said anything like "success is easy if you just do 1, 2, and 3.  I interpreted her message more as "These are some obstacles that ambitious, driven women are facing in today's workplace.  Here are some strategies/devices to deal with them."

Did the book solve all of women's problems?  No.  Was it a useful contribution? Yes.

[b]It is so easy to criticize and condemn.  It's much harder to do something constructive.[/b][/quote]
I'm glad that this book was helpful to you, and I think that her status probably does make this book more accessible to people who wouldn't otherwise examine these issues.

But this jab is unwarranted.  Many of her sharpest critics are the people who did the hard work of improving workplace culture for all women.  These are women, myself included, who have advocated for more fair policies sometimes at the risk of their own careers.  And always on top of their day jobs.  I'm also pretty privileged both through my elite education and through the fact that I happen to be exceptionally good at what I do.  But if it weren't for these, doing things like promoting well researched practices for making hiring less biased would be enough for some employers to make me a target.  I've also made it a point to work for companies where the executives at least viewed their employees as humans, and my privilege is part of why I've always had that option.

And again, I think writing this book is also a contribution that few other women are well-positioned to make.  But she should have done a better job of giving credit to the work of others' that got her to her position and who continue to improve workplace environments instead of just admonish women for needing to do more.[/quote]

Thank you.  There is room for us to be grateful for your contributions, without tearing down Sandberg's.  People are on this thread literally saying Sandberg should "STFU", that she's an "uppity bitch, and that they'd like to punch her in the face.  Yikes!  That is pure hostility and negativity, and certainly not a constructive contribution.

People should feel free to critique the ideas.  But the type of discussion in this thread is not quite that.[/quote]

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