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‘Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead’
By Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook

Sheryl Sandberg Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, recently released her new book ‘Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead’ – it has received tremendous attention.

In the book Sandberg recounts her own experiences and dilemmas with very honestly, making it easy for women across cultures and geographies to identify with her. An interesting and worthwhile read with a powerful and motivating message. We recommend it.
Find it on Amazon

Description:

Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women’s voices are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential.

Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

In Lean In, Sandberg digs deeper into these issues, combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to cut through the layers of ambiguity and bias surrounding the lives and choices of working women. She recounts her own decisions, mistakes, and daily struggles to make the right choices for herself, her career, and her family. She provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career, urging women to set boundaries and to abandon the myth of “having it all.”  She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women in the workplace and at home.

Written with both humor and wisdom, Sandberg’s book is an inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth. Lean In is destined to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can.

June is National Safety Month

Is your family ready for an emergency? Planning ahead can help keep you safe if a flood, fire, flu pandemic or other emergency strikes.

Get prepared. Start by gathering an emergency kit and making a family emergency plan. Find out about the emergency resources that are available in your community.

Plan ahead. Here are a few simple items you can gather today to prepare for an emergency:

  •     At least 3 gallons of water for each member of your family
  •     Food for at least 3 days – choose foods that don’t need a refrigerator, like canned fruit, energy bars, peanut butter, and crackers
  •     Prescription medicines that you take every day, like heart or diabetes medicine
  •     A first aid kit to treat cuts, burns, and other injuries

It’s not just about emergencies though…

Remember to practice safety at all times – at work, at home, at school, when you are driving.

For example, a new study has confirmed that driving and talking on a cell phone is dangerous – even just having a phone conversation.

Everyday choices greatly impact one’s health. Whether it’s riding a bike to work or opting for a light salad at lunch, the key to a better lifestyle starts with each individual.

One growing public health issue that has reached epidemic levels is prescription drug abuse. In fact, 45 people die every day from overdoses of prescription painkillers.

Use these tips to safety use and protect your medications:

  •     Never share your medications with anyone
  •     Store medications in their original containers and keep them up, away and out of sight—particularly from children
  •     Properly dispose of unwanted medications to prevent theft or misuse by others
  •     If your doctor prescribes you painkillers, be sure to read warning labels carefully and take only as directed

Read more about how to stay safe

 

Study Confirms Inability to Drive Safely and Talk On A Cell Phone

The National Safety Council acknowledges that the results announced today by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety of a new distracted driving study, again confirm the presence and crash risk of cognitive distraction. The human brain is incapable of performing, at the same time, the tasks necessary to safely operate a motor vehicle while engaged in other cognitively demanding tasks such as a phone conversation or speech to text.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has observed 10% of all drivers, at any given moment, are distracted by a cell phone. When this unprecedented level of exposure to risk is combined with the degree of risk as defined in the AAA Foundation study, it is easy to understand why cell phone distracted driving has become a public health epidemic, poised to only get worse.

“The National Safety Council joins the AAA Foundation in urging the auto industry and policy makers to carefully evaluate all the research on this issue,” said Janet Froetscher, National Safety Council president and CEO. “We encourage these groups to reconsider the inclusion of communications and entertainment technology built into vehicles which allow, or even encourage, the driver to engage in these activities at the expense of focusing on driving.”

In addition, NSC continues to call on all drivers to put down their cell phones when driving and pay sole attention to the critically important task of driving so that everyone can get home safely to their families and loved ones.

Auto crashes are the major cause of unintentional death in this country. The number one cause of car crashes is human error and driver distraction is the top human error. Based on this new research and many earlier studies, it is irresponsible to permit, enable and even encourage non-driving related activities that divert a driver’s attention from the task of driving.