JLC Launches a Book Club

Submitted by Elizabeth Crouch, Transfer Member and JLC Book Club Chair

“In the future, there will no be female leaders.  There will just be leaders.”
– Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.

The JLC has also already given me a chance to “lean in” and “sit at the table.” As a transfer to the Columbia league, I wanted to immediately get involved with the league and my community.  My enthusiasm has only been encouraged, never dampened. After proposing the idea of a JLC book club to league members, I was immediately supported and encouraged.  The fact that the idea of a JLC book club came from a transfer member that took root with other members encouraging and supporting is truly phenomenal to me. The JLC embodies “women supporting women”!

Thus, it is fitting that the focus of the first-ever JLC book club was leadership.  More than 25 JLC members gathered to discuss the club’s first selection, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. While her book does contain advice about how to handle work/life balance, the JLC Book Club focused on how to be a leader in the community regardless of whether you work inside or outside of the home.  The book club divided into groups of five or more individuals in order to allow for small group discussion guided by a list of suggested discussion questions.

As a “leader” of the book club, along with Monnie Murray and Mary Frances Jowers, I traversed from group to group to hear what was being discussed. The conversations were riveting and would have continued if we had not stopped the discussion due to time.  Everyone had their own story of what a leader meant to them and what challenges they had overcome in becoming a leader themselves. 

  

The book club ended by asking: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”  This was a question Sheryl Sandberg asked all readers to consider at the end of the book. If there were no societal or personal constraints put on women, what we would we want to do? Some of the women at book club shared their personal dreams such as that they would run for office, open a business, go skydiving, not wear make-up to work….The list is endless!!  The exercise was so invigorating that we left a stack of forms at JLC headquarters for any member to stop by and fill out. 

Since the first ever JLC Book Club was such a hit, I encourage you to join us for the next book club on February 4^th. Book club attendees were presented with a short list of possible selections for our next pick, and then ranked their preference. The final book selection will be announced through E-blast in the coming weeks so stay tuned. We encourage even those who don’t have time to read the book to come and join the conversation.  I am looking forward to another engaging discussion!