“向前一步”之说有待商榷

    今年属于Facebook首席运营官谢丽尔•桑德伯格。过去的一年中，她的新书《向前一步》（Lean In）在职场中引起了轰动。这本书面向年轻职业女性，一半是回忆，一半是建议，很受读者欢迎，目前已售出上万本，在《纽约时报》（New York Times）畅销书榜单上独占鳌头。桑德伯格建议女性不要羞于追求事业成功。她的观点很有说服力，但似乎和去年夏天另一篇备受瞩目的同类文章意见相左。

    虽然远远谈不上针锋相对，但安妮-玛丽•斯劳特的文章《为什么女性依然不能得到一切》（Why Women Still Can't Have It All）对桑德伯格的“向前一步”倡议发出了一些不同的声音。希拉里•克林顿任美国外交部长时，斯劳特是外交部主任级官员。现在斯劳特已经离开政府部门，返回普林斯顿大学（Princeton）教书，为的是有更多的时间和两个十多岁的儿子在一起。在这篇文章中，斯劳特解释了自己为什么做出这样的决定，同时谈到了那些迫使她放慢事业发展脚步的制度和社会观念。在《大西洋月刊》（The Atlantic）杂志上刊登四天后，已有100万人读了这篇文章。

    两位聪慧的女性就同一问题表达了大相径庭、但都有理有据的观点，这件事本身过于沉闷，所以媒体给它一个更有噱头的说法，把它称为“女性之战”。

    上周四上午，斯劳特出席了《财富》（Fortune）杂志在华盛顿举办的最具影响力女性峰会（Most Powerful Women Summit），和《财富》杂志编辑莉•加拉赫在台上进行了交流（桑德伯格在前一天做了发言）。斯劳特这样解释说：“43岁时，我也有可能写出《向前一步》。”她说，在人生的那个时刻，自己还没有遇到无法突破的障碍或者不能用钱解决的问题。但到了53岁，情况就变得不一样了。

    目前斯劳特在非盈利智囊机构New America Foundation担任总裁兼首席执行官。她从未想到自己的文章会吸引如此之多的读者。她这样定义这篇文章的目标群体：聪明而且志向远大的女性，但由于个人或经济原因不得不在迈向领导层的道路上后退一步。斯劳特严肃地说：“她们的人生遇到了难题，而她们并不是超人。她们或者资金不足，或者在设法找一份更有弹性的工作时吃了闭门羹。”按照《向前一步》所提出的观点，责任要由个人承担，这让她们“觉得自己像个失败者”。

    斯劳特说：“女性的才能远远不止这个会场所囊括的范围。我认为阻碍我们发挥这些才能的最主要原因是工作和社会环境，理想和现实的差距只是其中很小一部分原因。”她还引用了比尔•盖茨的话。后者曾说过，人性有两大根本动力：竞争和关怀别人。斯劳特认为，在社会中，我们重视竞争，不重视对他人的关怀。加拉赫就此问道，你打算怎样改变制度和政策，从而扭转这样的价值观。斯劳特用她母亲在晚餐餐桌上的一个做法为例进行了回答。20世纪60年代，斯劳特的妈妈习惯于在餐桌上摆几小筒香烟。斯劳特说：“如果今天你在纽约这样做，就有可能被捕。这是个巨大的价值观变化。为什么我们对关怀别人和竞争的价值评估不能出现变化呢？”

    网络设备供应商瞻博（Juniper）执行副总裁格里•埃利奥特此前曾在IBM和微软（Microsoft）工作，她对斯劳特表示感谢。格里说，由于家庭方面的原因，自己不得不在事业处于巅峰状态时退后一步。同时，格里认为桑德伯格和斯劳特的观点都有道理，她说：“我觉得你们俩的唯一区别在于桑德伯格的孩子很小，而你孩子的已经十几岁了，他们有着天壤之别。”

    斯劳特笑着回答到，她和桑德伯格的观点并不对立。斯劳特说，从骨子里说自己是个女权主义者。她还解释说，自己的“人生经历让她意识到，有数百万女性都需要一个更为宽容的环境。她们需要的不仅仅是‘亲爱的，只要足够努力你就能做得到’这句话。”

    斯劳特想把关于自身观点的对话拓宽一些，而这只会产生积极作用。她说：“我想（和桑德伯格）进行一次辩论，我们俩的态度都要既诚实又能赋予人们动力。”这项邀请正在等待桑德伯格的回应，希望后者能很快意识到，向前一步不一定意味着你必须单枪匹马、独自上阵。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie 

    It's been Sheryl Sandberg's year. The Facebook (FB) COO took the working world by storm this past year with the publication of her book, Lean In. The part-memoir, part-advice tome for young professional women flew off shelves, selling one million copies and topping the New York Times Bestsellers list. Sandberg pushes for women to not shy away from the pursuit of professional success. Her argument is compelling but seems at odds with another popular dictum on the topic published last summer.

    Anne-Marie Slaughter's "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" adds a different, though far from dissenting, voice to Sandberg's "Lean In" movement. The former State Department director, who worked under Hillary Clinton, left her government job and returned to her teaching job at Princeton in hopes of spending more time with her teenage sons. Slaughter's piece explains that decision and addresses the institutional and social mores that forced her to slow her career. Four days after Slaughter's article was published by The Atlantic, the article gained one million views.

    Having two intelligent women express different, well-reasoned opinions on the same topic was far too boring on its own, so the media declared it a catfight.

    On Thursday morning at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C., Slaughter sat onstage with Fortune's Leigh Gallagher to clear the air. (Sandberg spoke the day before.) "At 43, I could have written Lean In," Slaughter explained. At that time in her life, she said, she had not encountered a challenge she couldn't power through or solve with money. By 53, she said, things changed.

    Slaughter, who is now the president and CEO of the New America Foundation, never expected her article to appeal to such a large crowd. She described the piece's target: smart, ambitious women who were forced to take a step back from the leadership track due to personal or financial reasons. "Life happened to them, and they weren't superhuman. Or they didn't have enough money, or they got shut out when they tried to have a more flexible workplace," she solemnly said. And the "Lean In" conversation, which puts accountability on the individual, makes these women "feel like failures."

    "I see much less of an ambition gap and much more of a workplace and society that isn't allowing us to use the talent that is multiplied well beyond this room," said Slaughter. She invoked Bill Gates, who once said that there are two fundamental forces in human nature: competition and care for others. In society, Slaughter continued, we value competition and devalue care. Gallagher questioned her point, asking how she intends to alter institutional systems and policy to change such values. Slaughter used her mother's dinner party behavior as an example. In the 1960s, her mother used to put little vases of cigarettes out on the table. "If you did that in New York today, you'd be arrested. That's a huge value change," Slaughter said. "Why can't we have a sea change about the value of caring about each other and the value of competition?"

    Gerri Elliot, an executive vice president at Juniper (JNPR) who previously worked at IBM (IBM) and Microsoft (MSFT), took a moment to thank Slaughter, saying she had to step back from the prime of her career due to a family issue. She then cited her interest in both Sandberg and Slaughter's arguments. "The only difference I see between the two of you is Sheryl has young'uns and you have teenagers and honey, they are completely different."

    Slaughter laughed, then added that she and Sandberg are not on opposite sides. She said she's a feminist to the core, and she reasoned that she "went through a life experience that made me realize that there are millions of women out there who need a bigger tent. They need more than, 'Honey, you can do it if you try hard enough.'"

    Only good can come from Slaughter's attempt to broaden the "having it all" conversation. "I want to have a debate [with Sandberg] where we can be both honest and encouraging at the same time." The invitation's open for Sandberg, who will hopefully soon realize that leaning in doesn't necessarily mean you have to do so alone.