This passage from tonight’s 60 Minutes interview with Sheryl Sandberg, the Facebook COO who just published Lean In, was striking:
Norah O’Donnell: You know, Sheryl, people are going to say, “Oh she’s got a charmed life, She went to Harvard. She’s a billionaire.”
Sheryl Sandberg: Yep.
Norah O’Donnell: “And she’s telling me what I should do?” Do they have a point?
Sheryl Sandberg: I’m not trying to say that everything I can do everyone can do. But I do believe that these messages are completely universal.
….Norah O’Donnell: And for those who say, “Easy for you to say?”
Sheryl Sandberg: It is easier for me to say this. And that’s why I’m saying it.
Can you imagine anyone posing questions like these to Richard Branson or Jack Welch? Last I looked, they were pretty rich too, and they’ve also written bestselling books providing advice on business and life. Nobody ever asks them why they think they can offer advice to the masses from their lofty perches, but apparently it feels natural to ask Sandberg these questions just because her primary audience is other women. Funny that.
