Sheryl Sandberg, at 46, has achieved more than many women themselves think they can. A successful techie and working mom, Sandberg has in the past worked as a World Bank economist and chief of staff for the secretary of treasury. She was also VP at Google, and she’s been the chief operating officer (COO) at Facebook since 2008. She also holds a Harvard MBA.
At Facebook Sandberg is responsible for monetizing the world’s largest social media network, while keeping Facebook users happy. The social media network, once chastised for not monetizing soon enough, is now swimming in cash. Lots of this money is going Sandberg’s way, and she is now one of America’s youngest billionaires valued at an estimated net worth of $1.17 billion as of 2015.
But, like many of us, Sandberg has not had it easy all through. Her husband, Dave Goldberg, who long supported her fast-track her career, died suddenly in May 2015 aged 45. But she presses on. Her book “Lean In” shares her personal stories, shines a light on gender differences, and offers practical advice to help women achieve their goals. She’s passionate about getting more women a seat at the power table.
Here’re powerful quotes about women from the ‘power-woman’ herself that everyone should read. Enjoy!
- “For any of us in this room today, let’s start out by admitting we’re lucky. We don’t live in the world our mothers lived in, our grandmothers lived in, where career choices for women were so limited.”
- “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”
- “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”
- “The more women help one another, the more we help ourselves. Acting like a coalition truly does produce results.
- “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”
- “Fortune does favor the bold and you’ll never know what you’re capable of if you don’t try.”
- “Women need to shift from thinking ‘I’m not ready to do that’ to thinking ‘I want to do that – and I’ll learn by doing it’.”
- “Taking initiative pays off. It is hard to visualize someone as a leader if she is always waiting to be told what to do.”
- “A 2011 McKinsey report noted that men are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on past accomplishments.”
- “Being confident and believing in your own self-worth is necessary to achieving your potential.”
- “Any coalition of support must also include men, many of whom care about gender inequality as much as women do.”
- “Success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively for women. When a man is successful, he is liked by both men and women. When a woman is successful, people of both genders like her less.”
- “Real change will come when powerful women are less of an exception. It is easy to dislike senior women because there are so few.”
- “When woman work outside the home and share breadwinning duties, couples are more likely to stay together. In fact, the risk of divorce reduces by about half when a wife earns half the income and a husband does half the housework.”
- “The promise of equality is not the same as true equality.”
- “A truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran half our homes.”
- “The number one impediment to women succeeding in the workforce is now in the home.”
- “Most people assume that women are responsible for households and child care. Most couples operate that way – not all. That fundamental assumption holds women back.”
- “we compromise our career goals to make room for partners and children who may not even exist yet”
- “It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It’s also a very clear path to happiness.”
- “Social gains are never handed out. They must be seized.”
- “Motivation comes from working on things we care about. It also comes from working with people we care about.”
- “I feel really grateful to the people who encouraged me and helped me develop. Nobody can succeed on their own.”
- “We’ve got to get women to sit at the table.”
- “I’m not telling women to be like men. I’m telling us to evaluate what men and women do in the workforce and at home without the gender bias.”
- “Women have made tons of progress. But we still have a small percentage of the top jobs in any industry, in any nation in the world. I think that’s partly because from a very young age, we encourage our boys to lead and we call our girls bossy.”
- “I’d like to see where boys and girls end up if they get equal encouragement – I think we might have some differences in how leadership is done.”
- “I have a five year-old son and a three year-old daughter. I want my son to have a choice to contribute fully in the workforce or at home. And I want my daughter to have the choice to not just succeed, but to be liked for her accomplishments.”
- “I wish I could just go tell all the young women I work with, all these fabulous women, ‘Believe in yourself and negotiate for yourself. Own your own success.’ I wish I could tell that to my daughter. But it’s not that simple.”
- “Until women are as ambitious as men, they’re not going to achieve as much as men.”
- “I hope you find true meaning, contentment, and passion in your life. I hope you navigate the difficult times and come out with greater strength and resolve. I hope you find whatever balance you seek with your eyes wide open. And I hope that you – yes, you – have the ambition to lean in to your career and run the world. Because the world needs you to change it.”
Featured photo credit: JD Lasica via flickr.com
