Sheryl Sandberg Leaves Work at 5:30. Why Can't You?

I seem to post an inordinate number of interviews with Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg. Well, what can I say? She's brilliant, hardworking, has a career that many envy, has gathered some considerable insight along the way and has a simple and yet articulate way of expressing them.

So, without apologies, here is another one. This is an interview on the Inc website, where she talks about, among many things, building your career (Be Ambitious, Start out with Big Dreams), making healthy life choices as a career woman (Marry a man who supports your goals in both words and deeds) and recognising that there is no such thing as work-life balance.



Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook COO

It was the reference to having a life outside of work - Sheryl Sandberg Leaves Work at 5:30. Why Can't You? - that first caught my attention, to be honest. She talks about how she struggled to do it all when she first became a mother - starting her work day early so that her colleagues could see her 5.30am emails and staying-up late, again so they could see her emails sent past their bedtimes. As she became more confident, she was boldly able to pick up her bag and leave the office at 5.30pm.

This is such an important thing for us to remember, as many of us struggle to progress in our careers and build business empires, that we need a healthy amount of rest and relaxation too. And the truth is very few of us enjoy enough recreation.

There are many debates about whether work-life balance actually exists or whether it is another unattainable goal that we have added to our ever increasing To Do list. I read a wonderful article in Fast Company magazine (Balance is Bunk! by Keith H. Hammonds) about how balance exists over time and not in the every day existence. This means that I might not have a perfectly equitable distribution of my hours between work and play, as different life phases will require varying levels of time and commitment for me. So, for instance, as a mother of a new-born, work will probably need to take a back seat for a while, but then as my child grows older and becomes more independent, I can devote more of my hours to work. Similarly, my business might be undergoing a tough period and thus demand more of my time for some months or a year or two. At another point, both children and business might need me less giving me more free time.

This idea of balance over a lifetime, rather than each day, resonated so strongly with me because my work can be very demanding and I am often very busy. If I was going to look at my work-life balance within the conventional paradigm, I would be failing big-time on a daily basis.

Sheryl Sandberg's Keynote Address at the Grace Hopper Conference

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, gave a keynote address at the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in which she encourages women to consider and pursue careers in technology and explains why technology is such a key driver of the economy.

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'Dream Big' - Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook)

In this commencement speech by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook given at Barnard College this year, she urges women to be more ambitious and to think bigger.

In a speech peppered with statistics and results of studies, she states that although much progress has been made by women professionally, "... we are nowhere close to 50% of the jobs at the top. That means that when the big decisions are made, the decisions that affect all of our worlds, we do not have an equal voice at that table.”

Other key things she mentions are:
- Men are more ambitious that women. Of course, she does not speak specifically of every woman, but in her opinion, men (whether by nature or nurture) think bigger and bolder than women. While this might mean big risks, it might also mean big rewards.

- Women need to believe in themselves more. If a man succeeds at something, he's more likely to attribute it to his natural excellence while a woman in a similar position might downplay her success or chalk it up to other factors like luck or assistance from others.

- Men make fewer compromises in their work-life balance. This is because women generally carry at least twice as much housework and three times as much child-rearing duties.

Although these certainly do not apply to all men and women out there, I do realise that women are expected to be more modest about their desires and achievements, which might make it harder to push for what we *really* want.

I just finished reading a wonderful book about many of the same issues called How Remarkable Women Lead by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston. This book deserves it's own blog post and even then, I would not be able to do it justice (you'd just have to read the book). However, work-life balance (among the myriad issues often peculiar to women in their journey up the career ladder) was discussed and many women believe this to be unattainable, because being effective both at home and at work require constant negotiation. To say that there is an equilibrium point at which full harmony is achieved is a fantasy. I am inclined to believe that. Although I do not have children or a husband yet, I know the immense effort it takes to ensure that giving my best to work does not deprive me of my personal time.

And because in most parts of the world - even in the most liberal - men are still typically considered to be the head of the household and women the primary homemakers, women will always find themselves with more to do.

That is why Sheryl presciently states that although it sounds counter-intuitive, "the most important career decision you’re going to make is whether or not you have a life partner and who that partner is. If you pick someone who’s willing to share the burdens and the joys of your personal life, you’re going to go further.”

Another thing that helps makes success and happiness come that much easier is marrying your work with something you care about and which contributes to society.

Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO) on the Lack of Women in Leadership Positions

Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO) talks about why there are so few women in leadership psoitions and what needs to be done to address the situation.