A Woman Can Lean In Until She Falls Over

We know a woman can Lean In, as Sheryl Sandberg prescribed in her best seller, until she falls over! President Obama has said it out loud, noting that "there are biases -- some conscious and unconscious -- that have to be rooted out." Many commentators, including me, have pointed to unconscious bias (rather than overt racism) as what underlies the ongoing racial and sexist tension in our country. Ellen Huet (Forbes) stated:

It was May 30, 2014, and Google GOOGL +0.41% had revealed its pitiful workforce diversity numbers and pledged to improve them. Before Google’s move, most Silicon Valley companies resisted the idea, calling their diversity reports “trade secrets.” (Intel INTC +0.06% and HP were notable exceptions.) Once Google changed its mind, though, everyone else tripped over themselves to follow suit. Facebook FB -0.23% and Yahoo YHOO +1.63% opened up in June, Twitter in July, Apple in August. In the past year and a half, the ritual has even spread down to hot private companies like Slack, Pinterest, Pandora and Indiegogo. Most had the same skew: women held about a third of all jobs, and even fewer in technical and leadership roles. Asian workers were far overrepresented with about a third of jobs, while black and Hispanic workers had just a percent or two. The accompanying promises were so similar it’s almost a joke: Here are our not-great stats. We’re not where we want to be. We still have work to do.

1. Our leadership team understands the business case for diverse teams and an inclusive workplace.
2. Our organization has an active mentoring program.
3. 25% of our leadership positions are held by women.
4. Our brand which includes things like our job descriptions, social media presence, website, position our company as a place where women can thrive.

Now decide what to do with your answers? Who could you share your answers within the organization?