Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Microsoft‘s CFO lays out plan for A.I., women hit a boards of directors milestone, and Lean In wants to help girls build confidence. Have a mindful Monday.
– Confidence boost. For a decade, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In has encouraged women to become leaders in the workplace. But the pipeline to leadership starts much earlier than a first job.
The organization announced last week that it will debut a program for girls ages 11 to 15. While this program isn’t the career-focused Lean In shrunk down for girls, it still aims to help girls become leaders, whether that’s in the workplace, in politics, or in their own communities. Lean In is known for its “circles,” or small groups for women’s networking and peer mentorship. The Lean In Girls program includes a curriculum of 15 one-hour sessions, with games and activities focused on building confidence.
The lessons from Lean In’s workplace expertise and research, however, still apply. “You have to start with telling girls about the biases,” Sandberg told me in an interview. “You need to say to your 13-year-old, ‘You’re probably speaking less than the boy next to you in class, and your teacher probably thinks you’re speaking more.'”
“Who wants to say to your daughter, ‘Listen, sweetie, when you get to the workforce, you’re going to sit next to some guy who’s going to interrupt you and get credit for your ideas’?” the former Meta COO adds. “But it’s only by telling our daughters the challenges they’re going to face that they can identify and counteract them.”
The program’s age range is inspired by research that shows confidence starts to decline for girls compared to boys around 11 years old—and never bounces back. Sandberg and LeanIn.org cofounder Rachel Thomas were also motivated by research that shows how girls have struggled with their mental health, especially throughout the pandemic. Over the past two years of a pilot program, girls have participated in the Lean In curriculum through organizations like the Girl Scouts and Girls Inc.
Lean In aims to expand the definition of leadership to make it seem less like a “thirst for power” to girls in this cohort and seem more inclusive and empathetic. By redefining leadership, they hope more girls will seek it out.
While the organization hopes that girls who participate in its program go on to lead the most influential institutions in the U.S.—contributing to Lean In’s original mission to get more women in positions of power—it also sees potential for more immediate change. “We hope they run for student government,” Sandberg says, “and we hope they speak their mind at their dinner tables with their brothers.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Playing the long game. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood announced the company’s plans to go all in on its Azure OpenAI Service last week, an investment Hood believes will pay off but may result in initial losses. “Even with strong demand and a leadership position, growth from our A.I. services will be gradual,” Hood said during last week’s earnings call. Fortune
- All aboard. Women now occupy a third of S&P 500 board seats for the first time in history. Nine women were appointed to board roles in June at companies like Nike Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Bloomberg
- Shopping spree. The execs behind Kim Kardashian's Skims are reportedly putting together another Kardashian family apparel brand—this one for Kylie Jenner. Jenner debuted Kylie Cosmetics years ago but has yet to join her sisters with her own brand in the fashion space. Puck
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Lisa Pino has been appointed chief operating officer of Food for the Hungry.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Come on, Barbie. Barbie has so far proved to be enormously popular in China, where feminist media is often censored. Chinese feminists have flocked to the movie, and the number of showings has tripled since the film's release date. Financial Times
- Confidence is key. Women are more likely to think that they’re being underpaid for their work than men but less likely to ask for a raise, according to a new survey out of the U.K. Of 1,000 full-time employees surveyed, only 32% of women asked for a raise when they felt they were being underpaid but 50% of male employees did so when they felt the same way. Business Insider
- Popularity contest. Vice President Kamala Harris is currently making her way around the country to fundraise for the Biden-Harris 2024 reelection run, but some Democratic donors aren’t sold on her remaining the country’s second in command. While some believe she doesn’t have the popularity to bring in big donations, others think she should be replaced on the ticket altogether. Politico
ON MY RADAR
Fewer than 20 Black women physicists in the U.S. have earned tenure. This scholar just joined the club The 19th
The state of women's soccer New York Times
A woman is running for mayor of Uvalde in honor of daughter killed in school shooting NPR
PARTING WORDS
"This Barbie has a Nobel Prize. He's just Ken."
—Malala Yousafzai, seeing the Barbie movie
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