10% Happier, Sunshine Week, The Argument Against Leaning In

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• Women Need To Recline, Not 'Lean In,' Professor Says

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  Rosa Brooks has a demanding job. As a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, a columnist for “Foreign Policy” and a fellow at the New America Foundation, she has already got her hands full.

  Add to that the role of a mother and all that goes along with raising children, and suddenly, she doesn’t have one full-time job, but more like two and a half.

  However, a moment on the train, juggling about 10 things at once, gave Brooks pause. She said she had been thinking about the words of Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, who had advice to women: If you want to get somewhere, you’ve got to lean in.

  That message, said Brooks, meant two things. First, that women should stop undermining themselves and have confidence in themselves and their expertise. That part, Brooks said she agrees with.

  The second half of Sandberg’s philosophy, according to Brooks, urges women to do more, more and more, and that’s where Brooks disagrees.

  People today live in an age of what Brooks calls “ubiquitous work.” With the development of a 24/7 work life, many women are hard pressed to keep up. And what’s more, Brooks said they shouldn’t even try.

  “We’ve come to assume that that’s what good work is, working all the time,” she said.

  In fact, that kind of work load is “unsustainable,” she said. In the process, Brooks said quality suffers and so do the children at home.

  She said what’s required is a new, organized movement of women deciding not to lean in, but rather to “recline.” It’s necessary, she said, “If we want a society that ensures women … in leadership positions.”

  It might not happen overnight, she said, but if men and women decide together that leaning in isn’t working in the office or at home, change could happen.

  “Very often,” Brooks said, “more is worse.”

• After a televised panic attack in front of an audience of millions, Nightline anchor Dan Harris discovered meditation. He recounts the experience in his new book 10% Happier.

• Open Government Laws Going Unenforced

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  An investigation by Gannett Wisconsin Media shows a lack of enforcement on open government violations. The reporter behind the investigative series explains what violations have allegedly been perpetrated and why Wisconsin attorney general J.B. Van Hollen hasn’t pursued enforcement through court action.

• Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has been leading the charge for women to get competitive in the workplace by “leaning in.” Our guest today says that trying to lean in, raise a family, and fast-track her career almost killed her, and if anything women need to slow down.