The House Book Club: Lean Out by Marissa Orr

Girl gangs reigning terror at Facebook, narcissistic overlords at Google . . . this is the backdrop of Lean Out, which takes readers on the journey of Marissa Orr, a single mom of three trying to find success in her fifteen-year career at the world’s top tech giants. Orr delivers an ambitious attempt to answer the critical question: What have we gotten wrong about women at work? 


“This book is a must-read for insights on the impact that reversing systemic gender biases can have on creating more diverse, healthier workplaces for both women and men.”

--Joanne Harrell, Senior Director, USA Citizenship, Microsoft


 “This book will make you think differently about what it will take for women to succeed at the highest levels in American business.”

--Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Growth Officer, Publicis Groupe


Lean Out offers a new and refreshingly candid perspective on what it’s really like for today’s corporate underdogs. Based on both in-depth research and personal experiences, Orr punctures a gaping hole in today’s feminist rhetoric and sews it back up with compelling new arguments for the reasons more women don’t make it to the top and how companies can better incentivize women by actually listening to what they have to say and by rewarding the traits that make them successful.


 In Lean Out, Orr uncovers:

  • Why our pursuit to close the gender gap has come at the expense of female well-being.
  • The need to redefine success and change the way corporations choose their leaders.
  • The way most career advice books targeting professional women seek to change their behavior rather than the system.
  • Why modern feminism has failed to make any progress on its goals for equality.

More than fifty years since the passage of the Equal Pay Act, the wage gap still hovers at 80 percent, and only 5 percent of CEOs in the Fortune 500 are women. Today, rising up the ranks in many companies still often means cutthroat, win-at-all-costs tactics, where being the loudest voice in the room is more important than being the person with the best ideas for moving the company forward. Not surprisingly, most women don’t want to play this game.

 An everyday working woman with a sardonic sense of humor, Orr is an endearing antihero who captures the voice for a new generation of women at work. Lean Outpresents a revolutionary path forward, to change the life trajectories of women in the corporate world and beyond.



* ticket to event includes a copy of the book