Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/161202
profeSSionAl Advice Penelope Trunk has nearly done it all—from playing professional beach volleyball to founding three successful startup companies. Now she uses her experience and knowledge to offer career advice to others via a book, her namesake blog and more than 200 newspapers from her home in Darlington. She says that Sandberg is giving the right advice, but possibly to the wrong audience. "Here's the thing about leaning in: It is indisputably great advice if you want that life," Trunk says passionately. "But from research, we know that 85 percent of women don't want that life. Most women don't want full-time jobs. This is not controversial. Women with kids want part-time jobs." Trunk cites information from a Pew Research Study and findings from several recent polls to back up her assertions. "There are 16 personality types in the world that humans fall into," she says, referencing the famous Myers-Briggs personality test. "Two percent of people are called ENTJs, which are high leadership types. Even though it's only 2 percent of the population, 100 percent of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies fall into this category. Women make up less than .5 percent of ENTJs, which means that less than half a percent of women will choose to lean in. "The reason that the 'Lean In' discussion even exists is because women fought hard for the right to be a CEO, and women like Sheryl Sandberg have given up so much to get there that it's hard for them to accept that a lot of people don't want that. The women in power right now have made big sacrifices and can shape the discussion; and admitting that most women don't want what they have makes them feel badly. "In an absolutely perfect world, most women would want a high-powered job and time with their kids. But that is not the reality we're living in. Given the choices of reality, most women don't want to be Sheryl Sandberg. They'd rather have a part-time job and be with their kids. All women want to do right now is have an hour or two of interesting work and see their kids' soccer games," Trunk says. "Here's tHe tHing aboUt Leaning in: it is inDispUtabLY great aDviCe iF YoU Want tHat LiFe . . . bUt From researCH, We knoW tHat 85% oF Women Don't Want tHat LiFe. most Women Don't Want FULL-time Jobs. tHis is not ControversiaL. Women WitH kiDs Want part-time Jobs." — peneLope trUnk tHoUgHt provokers "lean in" joins the ranks of past and present game-changing reads for women. for a reading list, and a selection of favorites suggested by A Room of One's Own, an independent bookstore that's deeply rooted in madison's women's and feminist communities, visit bRAvAmagazine.com. september 2013 | bravamagazine.Com 45