Not Everyone's Cup of Tea

Force feeding

I'm not sure if my children are independently confident, slightly willful or just impudent and spoiled but I've almost become impervious to the abuse I get when I tell them to finish their vegetables.

We all know that greens are good for you. If you are force fed them enough then maybe, by the time you get to 30, you'll actually start enjoying them. And just because they don't like being told, doesn't mean I should stop telling them.

Don't shoot the messenger and all that.

Another book on the shelf

I wonder if Sheryl Sandberg feels the same way. She's the famous Silicon Valley mover and shaker who brought massive amounts of commercial realism to Facebook. Equally famously she happens to be a woman as well. She's not happy making half a billion and running a huge global business; she also wants to spread the gospel for other would-be female superstars.

But her book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead has received more than its fair share of criticism. The various verbal grenades lobbed in its (her?) direction include:

• Not everyone is white middle class and loaded
• What about all the women who do lean in and hit their heads in any case, and
• What about companies leaning out - isn't that the priority?

Take what you can

Personally I just don't get the criticism. This is her book.

Sure, companies need to change - there is a load of female talent that gets wasted every year and parents who find a way to combine work and family successfully will be the most engaged and productive members of any team. But this book wasn't written for employers. It was written for talented, ambitious women. Read it. Bits will resonate and be good for you. And if you don't like it then ignore it but don't waste time getting upset that it's not a history of the suffragettes.

Unlike my children, consenting adults are allowed to leave the bits they don't like.

Ben Black