About <Lean In>
-- Sheryl Sandberg
I recently read a book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead", which is considered as "the new wave of activism". In the book, Sheryl advocated women to step out and be confident in themselves. She also used the slogan "What would you do if you weren't afraid" to address the self-doubts that many of the women have in their hearts. There was one story that she mentioned in the book that gave me a deep thought. She compared herself with her brother that both of them got stood up on a date. Sheryl was very disappointed, but her brother had a very positive attitude -- "that girl has missed a lot". In a similar way, she found that women usually underestimate their performances but men often overestimate their performances. Because of the internal barriers that exist within women, men compared to women are more likely to reach out and campaign for competitive jobs and positions.
You will never know what you're capable of if you don't try.
This gives me a new idea of the definition of activism that I have never thought about before. I used to define activism as a social movement that advocates the public to raise awareness of the issue. Basically, I contributed activism as a movement that tries to change the external factor such as society's expectation and government's actions. However, now I have realized that improving the awareness and behaviors of women themselves is also an important part of gender inequality in business activism. Internality is always important, because our perceptions of ourselves are not influenced by how others judge us, but by how we understand and interpret others' judgement. If one is confident enough, he/she can totally ignore what others said and continue being him/herself. The same rule applies to women when it comes to conducting business. Having more confidence and self-awareness is definitely the first step to develop a successful career.