Sandberg Leadership Quotes & Sayings

If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on. — Sheryl Sandberg

I don't pretend there aren't biological differences, but I don't believe the desire for leadership is hardwired biology, not the desire to win or excel. I believe that it's socialization, that we're socializing our daughters to nurture and our boys to lead. — Sheryl Sandberg

If more women are in leadership roles, we'll stop assuming they shouldn't be. — Sheryl Sandberg

Professor Gruenfeld was able to explain the price women pay for success: "Our entrenched cultural ideas associate men with leadership qualities and women with nurturing qualities and put women in a double blind," she said. "We believe not only that women are nurturing, but that they *should* be nurturing above all else. When a woman does anything that signals she might not be nice first and foremost, it creates a negative impression and makes us uncomfortable. — Sheryl Sandberg

We have a problem with women in leadership across the board. This leadership gap - this problem of not enough women in leadership - is running really deep and it's in every industry. My answer is we have to understand the stereotype assumptions that hold women back. — Sheryl Sandberg

Many have argued with me that ambition is not the problem. Women are not less ambitious than men, they insist, but more enlightened with different and more meaningful goals. I do not dismiss or dispute this argument. There is far more to life than climbing a career ladder, including raising children, seeking personal fulfillment, contributing to society, and improving the lives of others. And there are many people who are deeply committed to their jobs but do not - and should not have to - aspire to run their organizations. Leadership roles are not the only way to have profound impact. — Sheryl Sandberg

Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.
(Harvard Business School definition of leadership) — Sheryl Sandberg

This is the ultimate chicken and the egg situation. The chicken: Women will tear down the external barriers once we achieve leadership roles ... The egg: We need to eliminate the external barriers to get women into those roles in the first place. Both sides are right. — Sheryl Sandberg

Seeking out diverse experiences is useful preparation for leadership. — Sheryl Sandberg

Men of all ages must commit to changing the leadership ratios. They can start by actively seeking out qualified female candidates to hire and promote. And if qualified candidates cannot be found, then we need to invest in more recruiting, mentoring, and sponsoring so women can get the necessary experience. — Sheryl Sandberg

The pipeline that supplies the educated workforce is clock-full of women at the entry level, but by the time that same pipeline is filling leadership positions, it is overwhelmingly stocked with men. — Sheryl Sandberg

I thought ( ... ) the proverbial glass ceiling had been cracked ( ... ) and I believed that it was just a matter of time until my generation took our fair share of the leadership roles. — Sheryl Sandberg

In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders. — Sheryl Sandberg

Conditions for all women will improve when there are more women in leadership roles giving strong and powerful voice to their needs and concerns. — Sheryl Sandberg

Increasingly, prominent thinkers in the field of leadership studies like Marcus Buckingham are challenging traditional notions of leadership. Their research suggests that presenting leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like strategic, analytical, and performance-oriented) no longer holds. Instead, true leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed.4 They believe leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection. This shift is good news for women, who often feel obliged to suppress their emotions in the workplace in an attempt to come across as more stereotypically male. And it's also good news for men, who may be doing the exact same thing. I — Sheryl Sandberg

Don't be afraid to ask the 'dumb' question, everyone else will be relieved you had the guts to ask! — Sheryl Sandberg

I'd like to see where boys and girls end up if they get equal encouragement - I think we might have some differences in how leadership is done. — Sheryl Sandberg

Next time you're about to call your daughter bossy, take a deep breath and say, 'My daughter has executive leadership skills.' — Sheryl Sandberg

Give us a world where half our homes are run by men, and half our institutions are run by women. I'm pretty sure that would be a better world. — Sheryl Sandberg

Being confident and believing in your own self-worth is necessary to achieving your potential. — Sheryl Sandberg

Presenting leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like strategic, analytical, and performance-oriented) no longer holds. Instead, true leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed ... Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection. — Sheryl Sandberg

We have to ask ourselves if we have become so focused on supporting personal choices that we're failing to encourage women to aspire to leadership, — Sheryl Sandberg

As a country and as a world, we are not comfortable with women in leadership roles. We call little girls bossy. — Sheryl Sandberg

The gender stereotypes introduced in childhood are reinforced throughout our lives and become self-fulfilling prophesies. Most leadership positions are held by men, so women don't expect to achieve them, and that becomes one of the reasons they don't. — Sheryl Sandberg

Feeling threatened by others' choices pulls us all down. Instead, we should funnel our energy into breaking this cycle. — Sheryl Sandberg

Rated "success in a high-paying career or profession" as important to their lives.10 A recent survey of Millennials11 found that women were just as likely to describe themselves as ambitious as men. Although this is an improvement, even among this demographic, the leadership ambition gap remains. Millennial women are less likely than Millennial men to agree that the statement "I aspire — Sheryl Sandberg

I'm a pragmatist. I think, as a woman, you have to be more careful. You have to be more communal, you have to say yes to more things than men, you have to worry about things that men don't have to worry about. But once we get enough women into leadership, we can break stereotypes down. If you lead, you get to decide. — Sheryl Sandberg