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"Most of us remember the girl on the playground: she created games at recess; she enforced the rules; she handed out the parts to the plays (which she wrote and directed). She was confident, decisive, in control. But no one called her that. It just got shortened to bossy. Boys snickered at her. Teachers told her to \"let others have a turn.\"It didn't happen all at once, but as she got older, the bossy girl got less bossy. She shrank into the background in group projects and raised her hand less. She played down her accomplishments, not wanting to sound conceited, and she avoided leadership positions out of fear she'd have to live down the label all over again. When she got to the workplace, her goal was simply to blend in.\n\tAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\n\t\n\nTo some extent, we're all that girl.\n\nWhen was the last time you heard an assertive little boy referred to as bossy? How often do we call a male leader too aggressive? The reality is that when men lead boldly, we are not surprised. Yet when a woman or girl asserts her power, it is viewed as a negative. Bossy is just the beginning, a precursor to words like aggressive, shrill, or bitchy. Sadly, all these words are used to describe even our most accomplished women leaders.Ambitious, hard-charging women still hold a complex place in our culture. They violate unwritten rules about what's acceptable social conduct. And this is holding women back. We can't level the playing field if we punish women for exhibiting leadership traits.At LeanIn.org, the nonprofit I started to empower all women to achieve their ambitions, we have an idea of where to start. We are partnering with the Girl Scouts to kick off a public service campaign on March 10 called Ban Bossy \u2014 to encourage female leadership from a young age. As part of this launch, we've worked with Cosmo editor-in-chief Joanna Coles to bring you a special report on the ways we can work together to encourage and support women to lead.Oh, and next time somebody uses that word to describe you? Simply smile and tell them, as my friend Norah O'Donnell taught me, \"I'm not bossy. I have executive leadership skills.\"Sheryl Sandberg is the editor of April 2014's Cosmo Careers section and is the COO of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.org.RELATED: Why We Need to Stop Calling Powerful Women \"Bitches\" Why Are We So Hard on Women Bosses? Are Women Hiding Their Career Achievements From Potential Partners? 14 Quotes To Get You Through AnythingWant a crash course in living fun and fearlessly? Then join us for Cosmo's Fun Fearless Life weekends this fall \u2014 two days packed with inspiring speakers, incredible networking opportunities, tips from celebrities like Cameron Diaz, and electrifying performances, plus meet &amp;amp; greets with Cosmo editors. Get your tickets before they sell out at funfearlesslife.com!This article was originally published as \"Like a Boss\" in the April 2014 issue of Cosmopolitan. Click here to get the issue in the iTunes store!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/career/advice/a5891/sheryl-sandberg-ban-bossy/>