Structure

“Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg is separated into eleven chapters and is loosely organized to display the procession of challenges and barriers that women face in today’s workplace. The books starts out with the question, “The Leadership Ambition Gap: What Would You Do if You Weren’t Afraid?” This sets the premise for the entire work.

Sandberg essentially argues that the number of women would advance to leadership roles could be much larger if women were more sure of themselves. A person can have ambitions but if she doesn’t have the fire to propel it forward, it will die on the vine. Sandberg goes on to enumerate and describe the ways that women are sabotaged in the workplace including the ways in which they sabotage themselves. She provides many anecdotes from her own experiences and those of other female colleagues and friends to make her...