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Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg On The Dearth Of Women Leaders (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post   |  Amy Lee First Posted: 12-24-10 09:22 AM   |   Updated: 12-24-10 09:24 AM

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Sheryl Sandberg Ted Talk

Sheryl Sandberg wants more women leaders in the world.

As Facebook's Chief Operating Officer and one of the most powerful women in the world, Sandberg is one of the select group of upper-level female executives. Even in the younger Web 2.0 crowd she's a part of, zero women sit on the boards of Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Foursquare.

In a rousing TED talk called "Why we have too few women leaders," Sandberg explains what she thinks is going on, and how it can be fixed.

"The problem is this: women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world," she said. "Women face harder choices between professional success and personal fulfillment."

How to change things? Keep women in the workforce. To accomplish this goal, she had three simple rules.

The first: sit at the table.

"Women systematically underestimate their own abilities," she said, citing research. "No one gets to the corner office by sitting on the side, not at the table and no one gets the promotion if they don't think they deserve their success."

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The second: make your partner a real partner.

"I've become convinced that we've made more progess in the workforce than we have in the home," she said. "If a woman and a man work full time and have a child, the woman does twice the amount of housework than the man does and the woman does three times the amount of childcare."

She also emphasized that the reasons behind these numbers were not so simple, noting that stay at home dads are not treated seriously by society. The key, Sandberg asserted, was finding a balanced equality between husband and wife in sharing responsibilities.

The last rule: don't leave before you leave.

Women begin planning for children way before they even have children, according to Sandberg, to their detriment.

"You stop looking for new opportunities," she said of women who made their decisions too far in advance. "Keep your foot on the gas pedal until the very day you have to leave to take a break."

The rousing talk ended on a personal note. "I want my daughter to have the choice to not just succeed but to be liked for her accomplishments," she said.

Watch the video below:

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Sheryl Sandberg wants more women leaders in the world. As Facebook's Chief Operating Officer and one of the most powerful women in the world, Sandberg is one of the select group of upper-level fema...
Sheryl Sandberg wants more women leaders in the world. As Facebook's Chief Operating Officer and one of the most powerful women in the world, Sandberg is one of the select group of upper-level fema...
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HMcotton   20 hours ago (8:29 AM)
The reason that there are too few women in high places has to do with the absence of an old boys club network among women entreprene­urs. For the most, high achieving women can be their worst enemies; successful women are bitchier, meaner, more ruthless and cattier to other women than their to male colleagues­. There is something in their genes that don't want other women to succeed, and it might be attributed to the fact that women have to fight harder in the corporate world to reach a leadership position often to the detriment of their personal and family lives. Males often advance to CEO-like positions networking rather than qualificat­ions per se.
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DomainDiva   18 hours ago (10:24 AM)
I have lived on both sides of your post. I have worked for the worst of the worst and the best of the best. The difference is in how women perceive themselves­. Happy, secure women with healthy self esteem have been wonderful mentors and believe in passing the knowledge. The bitchy ones however, always seem to be insecure, vain and actually not very intelligen­t no matter what degrees they possess. All their actions are driven by ego which negates any knowledge they may have.
T Pol   17 hours ago (11:22 AM)
In response to both you and HMCotton..­.reality is, both men and women network to get to be CEO's -- and also comete like h ell. The difference is, when a man is ruthless or driven by ego, it's accepted. Not so for a woman -- she gets labeled a "b itch." Even if a man gets labeled a ruthless "b ast ard," it will be accompanie­d with some expression of admiration or appropriat­e "ooh" and "ahh."

When an executive woman has to make hard decisions, such as laying people off, she is a "b itch." When an executive man has to do the same, he is "just doing his job."

Men and women both have good qualities they can share that will improve workplace leadership­, and this is happening somewhat, but we have to be fair in our judgments when those attributes are put to use.

I believe Ms. Sandberg hits a huge nail on the head when she talks about the homefront. Many women do not advance further because of logistics in the home. I know couples who work, but if it weren't for the woman, those kids would have no shoes and never have a dental appointmen­t in their lives. Sandberg is also right that stay-at-ho­me dads are not given the respect and support they deserve (nor do stay-at-ho­me moms). These guys live the meaning of "partner" and "equality.­"

We need to say "okay" to choices for both genders.
RizePosta   23 hours ago (5:44 AM)
But the girls themselves become more socially aware and more likely to care more about friends and appearance s then excelling at academics.
http://pro­grambilgi.­blogcu.com­/
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Surreal2me   01:12 AM on 12/26/2010
I believe that to help women reach the corporate heights in male dominated fields we need to start in elementary school. In study after study girls do well up until 5th or 6th grade and then they begin to fall behind the male student counterpar­ts especially in science and math. Studies has also shown that teachers have an unconsciou­s bias towards the boys around this time. But the girls themselves become more socially aware and more likely to care more about friends and appearance­s then excelling at academics. One thing that seems to help is educate boys and girls separately­. Unfortunat­ely this option isn't politicall­y correct nor is it financiall­y feasible for the masses.
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R Davis   06:18 PM on 12/25/2010
Her daughter "should be liked for her accomplish­ments."

I have two daughters and three sons. I want the all to be successful and to be liked.

But, to me this the bigger issue. We have a need to have everyone contribute to society. If women are held back, or hold themselves back, we are missing on the opportunit­ies and accomplish­ments that are desperatel­y needed.

We have the potential to cure diseases, stop wars, feed the starving, stop the abuse of the weak by the stronger. This isn't going to happen by focusing on personal fulfillmen­t. It is going to happen because we all work together to ensure people reach their potential. This is done through education, open discussion and recognizin­g that right now we don't have all the answers. But, working together we can find them.
WrongApeture   10:21 AM on 12/25/2010
No matter how far up the corporate ladder women go, guys with personal issues and ego problems will still think they slept or slutted their way to the top.
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UmassThrower   01:52 PM on 12/25/2010
I think, as Sheryl suggests, male confidence­/aggressiv­eness is more of a factor when it comes to gender disparitie­s at the top than male bias. Personally I don't look at any of the female executives where I work and say "ohh they must have slutted their way up".

Of course I am here browsing huffpost so it is highly likely that I wouldn't be in that group anyways.
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rougebaisers   10:12 AM on 12/25/2010
I hope she bails on Facebook. She seems overqualif­ied for that lame site.
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Richard Lauren   07:33 AM on 12/25/2010
How many women on Facebook's board?

She should talk to Zuckerberg about this instead of how they can better profile the citizens of the world.
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rougebaisers   10:13 AM on 12/25/2010
None?
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metogamekun   07:17 AM on 12/25/2010
I wonder how many small businesses are led by women? I have a feeling that a small business environmen­t, where the woman/owne­r can create the rules, might be a better breeding ground for female leadership than the "old boys club" that is big business.
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rougebaisers   10:13 AM on 12/25/2010
Quite a few.
RavenWest   03:31 AM on 12/25/2010
Pretty poor points overall. She's hinting at psychologi­cal factors and recommendi­ng what I can only conclude are extremely passive solutions to those factors.

Force it on the men, otherwise they wont care. I'm a young man, and I can honestly say she's wasting her time with this talk. Get mean, or I don't care.
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UmassThrower   02:04 PM on 12/25/2010
What the hell does this even mean?

I'm a young man and I can say young men like you and I probably have the least relevant opinions on the topic.

What she is doing is saying to women "here is what you can do". She's not making a statement about laws that should be enacted or policies she promotes in her company. She is saying "if you are a women here are 3 traps I've seen women fall into and if you want to get ahead you should look for and try to avoid them".
FerrisValyn   02:04 PM on 12/25/2010
I actually think she isn't just talking about psychologi­cal factors, at least for point number 2. My (admittedl­y anecdotal evidence) from my few married friends (I am single) is that there is a much greater disparity in work breakdown within the home, particular­ly when there are kids - wives & particular­ly mothers are more likely to do more than husbands and fathers.
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LittleMittens   12:31 AM on 12/25/2010
We lack women leaders because of the still persistent sexism? Then stop electing conservatw­its...
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UmassThrower   02:05 PM on 12/25/2010
Don't know what a 'conservat­w-its..." is but I see where you were going.

fav'd and fanned
hershobr   18 hours ago (9:55 AM)
What does electing conservati­ves have to do with women executives in the private sector?
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KarateKid   10:56 PM on 12/24/2010
Rule 4: When all else fails, sleep your way to the top. In the publishing world, there are plenty of women at the top.
RavenWest   03:25 AM on 12/25/2010
truth, women are far more represente­d in industries that cater to other women, just as men run industries catering to men
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Lahonda   09:22 PM on 12/24/2010
Men are stupid not to promote women.
chris h0929   09:23 AM on 12/25/2010
I will promote my girlfriend to head-chef of the house and chief of laundry duties.... ;)
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rougebaisers   10:13 AM on 12/25/2010
Even when they do, they don't.
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UmassThrower   02:13 PM on 12/25/2010
I offer a rewrite:

"Men who favor promoting men because they are men are stupid."

I contend all promotion decisions should be make without gender in mind. I also think things like grad school programs should not be allowed to even know the gender of the applicant. (although there aren't many men named Kimberly or women named Jonathan so not sure how well that would work)
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Lahonda   02:20 PM on 12/25/2010
...as in more women. The imbalance hurts business because sensitivit­y to consumer needs and desire are lost on homogeneou­s boardrooms and management infrastruc­ture.

We need to gain the sense that standing on a glass ceiling is unwise and potentiall­y disastrous­.
timbeaux   07:20 PM on 12/24/2010
I think women rise higher and faster in business now than at any time in history, and it's continuing to get better. In high-tech, one of the problems is that very few tech entreprene­urs are female. Overwhelmi­ngly, new technologi­es and new applicatio­ns of existing technologi­es are pioneered by men. One way for women to increase the number of them at the top would be to start getting in on the ground floor -- conceiving and starting tech companies.
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UmassThrower   02:21 PM on 12/25/2010
In tech it's especially difficult because young girls are often feel that they are not supposed to like that stuff. I had a 12 year old tell me once "I'm a girl and I'm blonde so I'm supposed to be bad at math". When I was an undergrad my CS program had 10 girls out of 250 people in the major. I remember the shock when one of my classes had 5 girls out of 30. It was half the female population of the department­.

On the flip side I had a friend who was the only guy at the school going for a nursing degree.

Actually that's interestin­g now that I think about it. I don't ever remember seeing an article talking about how we needed to get more men into a field like nursing.
Marty Kenyan   04:00 PM on 12/24/2010
If Ms Sandberg is speaking of her own industry she may have a point. Otherwise she is disallowin­g the accomplish­ments of ... Carly Fiorini, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Meg Whitman, and many many many more less well known woman that have gone equally far in their own industries­.
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bluemamie   04:16 PM on 12/24/2010
She didn't say women never get ahead, only that the numbers are around 15% for women.
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UmassThrower   02:24 PM on 12/25/2010
As I pointed out in another post for my CS program well under 15% of the declared CS majors were women. I wonder what the leadership numbers are like in industries that are typically more dominated by women, or at least in the ones where it is more even.
The Red Phone is Ringing   02:03 PM on 12/24/2010
I think that women are less comfortabl­e operating without a safety net. In other words, the choice of stable but low paying job wins out over something more entreprene­urial because women don't want to go without insurance, be seen as doing something "crazy" "reckless" stupid" or have a big gap in their resumes, which hurts chances for future employment­. Also, if a woman is caring for a child being without insurance is also just not a feasible choice. Being an entreprene­ur means you sometimes are really on the edge - maybe living in your car (the "Life is Good" guys), sleeping on a friends' couch, living in a shabby apt. in a rough neighborho­od. It's more difficult for women to do these things or feel comfortabl­e doing them.