Sheryl Sandberg says 'lean in' - but is it that easy?

>>> the most high profile women ever to emerge from silicone valley and now coming out with a first book of "lean in" described as part memoir and part feminist manifest to but the thesis of women and why more of us aren't getting ahead in the workplace is sparking controversy. "time" magazine had an exclusive interview with sandberg. joining us now is the woman that got that interview, "time" editor at large. thank you so much for joining us.

>> thank you for having me. pleasure to be here.

>> sandberg correctly points out that women have a long way to go, especially at the top levels. corporate executives, 14%. congress 17% are women . but i want to read you a quote from her book and then we can talk a little bit about it. she says, often without even realizing it, women stop reaching for new opportunities by the time a baby actually arrives, a woman is likely to be in a drastically different place than she would have been had she not leaned back. and that idea of women sort of in their own enemies leaning back at their careers and standing in the way of their own success has a lot of women sort of up in arms and i think that resentment comes from a place of feeling like we're stretched thin and trying to meet the expectations of being a mom and a good employee that we have so many things piled on us already, we don't need someone tells us we're still not doing enough and we need to do more.

>> i think those are indeed the things that people are saying but i think she explains pretty well in her book that -- that if you are as a woman thinking about having a child, even before you've had one and think i'm going to take a slightly -- i won't go for that promotion or try to get the job or take the foot off the career gas a bit and then before you've had the child, then when you go to have the child, you're not in such a good place to go with the career an you have to take time off with the child but when you get back, your job is not as good or exciting. you don't have as much power. she can take -- take her. they can take all the time they want off and really do work, whatever way they want because they're in power so she is suggesting that you move forward and be more aggressive.

>> so get the power?

>> get the power.

>> then have the baby.

>> often you can't necessarily time it but don't just because you think you have to make room for a baby, don't put, you know, don't take it away from your career just then. eventually, of course, you have to split it up. i mean, she has a million kind of things she said about that. a big thing is you have to get the guys on board and feminists saying this for a while. gloria sty them chimes in on this. men have been pretty good about letting women come and work and sharing the jobs and the promotions. get back in to the home promotions. get back into the home and it's still nowhere near 50/50 on child care or on sort of domestic and all the guys i know better than my dad or my dad's gin ration but i think --

>> still have some work to do.

>> also women , i want to do all the kid stuff . women don't hand that over. toure is looking at me. he wants to say something.

>> it just seems she's creating this social moft bvement, but it's really a marketing strategy , look at me. listen to me.

>> she gets a lot of flack for the social movement idea. i think she wants to say to women , we do need institutional change, we do need legislation change but, you know, the sisters are doing it to themselves in some way. you have to step up. you need to overcome --

>> it's so dangerous in a world of male supremacists had that it's actually your fault, the sexism you're dealing with is on you.

>> i don't think she's saying fault. i think she's saying there are things like women who say i had a really great year, i think i deserve a promotion. they are much more disliked and considered aggressive than guys who say the same thing. there are studies who show that. women have -- there's a classic thing called imposter syndrome where women never think they deserve the success as much as men do. men are naturally more i'm going to go get this. more of a hunter/gatherer kind of thing. i'm going to get this thing. women are more bring it to me. she says she wants you to go get it. is it a social movement or a marketing? yes and yes. i think it's both. i think she does have a marketing strategy for her book but i also do think she genuinely is somebody who loves change, she loves to organize things. she's somebody who her whole job has been organizing people and i think she wants to sort of shepherd women into a more powerful position.

>> she has her target audience, this mission she's laid out. what has the response been? krystal mentioned there's a little blowback here. what's the response been from professional women from women in the workplace so far?

>> well, it's been incredibly divided. there are people who when they have read the book have said this is stuff actually that's really good, but the whole idea that women need to do more, we're like what? you know, really?

>> i don't think i can.

>> do you see how much i do? i think that idea has a lot of resistance resistance, but when people understand the slightly more nuanced argument in her book i think it's significant that gloria steinem our most prominent feminist is very much in her camp. that there are -- and she has a lot of women who are agreeing with what she said. it's really i think a book a little bit more for younger women because i think people like ann marie slaughter or those people who have raised -- when you have teenagers and you have to be the one at home because the child caregiver can't really force the son to do homework or check that he's, you know, not smoking, i think those -- that's another issue that she does not raise.

>> right.

>> for mothers of younger children, i think it's an interesting and useful book.

>> whatever you think of it, certainly we welcome having those voices and those ideas in the conversation. thank you so much.

>>> up next, the silver lining to the sequester. yes, i think it may actually be