Sandberg: Are You Bossy or Merely Showing Leadership Skills?

I shared this photo of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg from the Take The Lead Facebook page (please go like the page right now, so that Take The Lead will earn a dollar!) onto my own Facebook page. 

It has sparked an interesting and somewhat contentious conversation about whether the problem is that women (and men, I suppose) will equate bossiness with leadership if they do what Sheryl recommends.

Here is my response: “I think every woman out there knows exactly what Sheryl means. The truth us that whenever a girl or woman asserts herself, she is seen a bossy, whereas with boys and men, it’s just a cultural norm. Women are judged more harshly when they advocate for themselves, negotiate for higher compensation, or make the kinds of decisions that leaders are called upon to make every day, for example. We need to get over worrying about what people think and just do it. Then women as leaders will become just the way things are.” What are your thoughts and experiences about this?

Please let us know here, and then, pop on over to “like” Take The Lead’s Facebook page and earn a dollar to advance women’s leadership parity.

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About the Author

Gloria Feldt, Co-Founder and President of Take The Lead, is the author of No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power. She teaches "Women, Power, and Leadership" at Arizona State University and was named to Vanity Fair's Top 200 women Legends, Leaders, and Trailblazers.