Lean In Fun

Sheryl Sandberg in Boston / Lean In

Terrific day to hear Sheryl Sandberg speak about her book #LeanIn at the Harvard Club event sponsored by Hubspot, MITX, and TechStars among others.  Honestly, as great as it was to see her, it was even better to meet a roomful of amazing women CEO's and entrepreneurs and learn about what they are all up to. Let me dig up some pictures here.

I am really intrigued by how practical her advice is -- it's almost a business etiquette of inclusion and welcoming -- instead of keeping women outside of the circle.  I am encouraged and hopeful about it.

Thanks to my trusty Kindle I downloaded and read the book asap the day it was published. Now to hear her speak and have her make it real is very exciting. Thanks so much C. A. Webb from New England Venture Capital Association for inviting me to ask her a question.

C.A. Webb and Katie Rae

I asked her about startups can change the rules and help women lead. I mentioned as I write my book Founders Less Than Three, even I find it hard to create fictional women founders who are not the male, hoodie-wearing, unwashed, code monkey stereotypes. Her response was great and encouraged all of us to show the world what these women entrepreneurs look like by BEING one.

Here's the video and a paraphrase of her reply to my question about the images of women entrepreneurs. "A local SF magazine did a piece on female entrepreneurs and they took drawings of male entrepreneurs' bodies -- Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page -- and then just put women's heads on them.  ... For my book, I worked with a researcher and we looked for female characters in popular media ...  who were married, working women, who were happy -- they're are none!  There's no image of  married working women who are happy. There are plenty of images of men who are working and happy.  ... We can be women AND entrepreneurs.  We can help make that happen.  Women need to be at the table and one of those tables is the funding table."  And if that wasn't good enough, she reached out to me personally.  It's not every day you have Sheryl Sandberg say directly to you, "come out and visit me in Silicon Valley and I'll introduce you to more women entrepreneurs," so I do hope to take her up on it.