Increasing female leadership isn't just about evening out the numbers or equal rights. Layar co-founder Claire Boonstra argues competitive companies and sustainable governments today demand it. She writes:

To my (and Layar’s) opinion, modern leadership has a lot of feminine elements. It is not so much about power, control, top-down thinking and ego, but much more about inclusiveness, intuition, the will to move ahead, looking for win-win (for both parties) rather than ‘I win, you lose’. Today’s society is changing and moving so quickly – top-down thinking and leadership based purely on ratio is not sustainable. Organizations sticking to old principles and old styles of leadership will simply be bypassed by fast movers and disruptors.

Finally, on a lighter, Mad Men style note, This Recording's hilarious essay written for women trying to make it in a boys' club rang all sorts of bells for me. There are so many quotes worth pulling here, but let's go with this one, which dovetails nicely with Sandberg's "Sit at the table" bit:

Drive It Like You Stole It. Be the best. That is, assuming that you are the best. Be the best you can possibly be, whatever that means to you. Absolutely do not step down in order to not threaten people. Don't apologize. If you genuinely f*cked up fine, you are allowed to apologize once but then stop apologizing. Think about how much you hear women apologizing for themselves for no reason, or being self-deprecating or self-abnegating out of habit. What the f*ck are you apologizing for? For being too good?

(Thanks, Amy.)

I don't often discuss being a woman in technology; I'd rather just do something good and let that speak for itself. But when successful women have great advice for other women, it's criminal not to share it.

2010 was a great year for me and my family, and there are a few things I will take away from the last 12 months as we all start in on 2011. In no particular order:

Doing the right thing now pays back later. In 2010 I got to reap the benefits of decisions made years ago, financially, professionally, and personally. Grandpa is the best example I have for this one.

Five years ago when we moved to San Diego, where my wife's 90-year-old grandfather lived, she said to me, "I feel bad that I haven't had a close relationship with Grandpa, so I'd like to spend more time with him and help him out." After that, every Sunday when his regular caregiver was off, we went to his home to visit, eat a meal, watch 60 Minutes, and help him take care of his wife who was suffering stage 7 Alzheimer's. Sometimes the visits involved serious unpleasantries, like changing adult diapers and cleaning up after Grandpa's dogs. (His sense of smell was pretty dull at that point, so the dogs would have left all sorts of "gifts" around the house by the time we arrived.) I'll admit it: there were a LOT of Sundays I dreaded the visit. I would have much rather stayed home than sit with a 90-year-old for hours.

Grandpa passed away this past January at 95 years old. It was terrible losing him. But in retrospect, that time we decided to make for him each Sunday was so precious and important. When he died we were at peace knowing that we got to know him and support him during his last and most difficult years on this earth.

That's probably the biggest "I'm so glad we did that" lesson learned in 2010, but all year there were unexpected people, projects, and revelations that grew out of earlier work and interactions. Doing the right thing matters, more than you realize in the moment when you'd really rather not. I'm going to remember that every time I grumble about doing the right thing when it feels like an inconvenience in 2011.

Don't waste your time on stuff that doesn't matter. I learn and re-learn this lesson every single year, and I swear the universe will continue to flog me about the head and shoulders with it till I get it right. In 2010 I spent time on more than a few things for the wrong reasons: because I thought I "should," because of the money, because I was being polite, because I was worried about what other people thought of me. In 2011 I will not spend time on meaningless projects, email, meetings, contracts, speaking gigs, chats, or, dare I say it, reality television.

Surround yourself with people who are more skilled than you are. My racquetball coach always told me the only way to get better at the game was to "play up", or play opponents who are better than you. It's humiliating getting your ass handed to you by someone who is more skilled both on the racquetball court and off, but it's also the easiest way to see shots you didn't imagine were possible and expect more of yourself. This year I did a LOT of playing up. Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, Anil Dash, Andy Baio, and Mark Wilkie are all co-workers of mine who are way more skilled than I am at their craft, not to mention my wife, who shows me every day how to be a better human. I never want to be the "star" in my group of associates; I always want to be surrounded by stars who outshine me, humble me, and help me aspire to be better than I am.

Set yourself up for unexpected success. Sometimes things just don't turn out the way you expect. In 2010, I wrote a book about a product which essentially got killed. That really sucked. In the process I got to try a whole new method of book publishing, and that platform helped someone else publish another book about a product which is thriving. That's really fantastic.

In 2009, I started to build an open-source webapp for my own use, with zero plans for it. In 2010, that project became my full-time dream job. Sometimes success doesn't happen the way you expect it to, but if you just do stuff you feel inspired to do, you set yourself up for good things to happen.

One thing that I often feel inspired to do but don't make the time to do it is write more from the heart on this site. I resolve to do more of that in 2011.

Happy New Year, and thanks for reading. What are you taking away from your 2010?

First, know that I fundamentally agree with Alex and Mark: the closed nature of the iPad turns me off, and I wouldn't give one to my kid if I were encouraging her to learn about how computers work. But, Apple's rightly betting that most people don't want to know about the inner workings of a computer,* and regardless of the fact that Apple runs the App Store with an iron fist, dedicated hackers have still figured out ways to run whatever software they want on the iPhone/iPod touch. They'll do the same with the iPad, and this led me to muse that the open versus closed debate, which has geeks like me in a tizzy, may be 99% a philosophical discussion. Because while we're all ranting about how closed the iPad will be, the jailbreak community is planning competitions to see who can crack it first. The sun isn't setting on tinkerers; their desire to crack things open intensifies when faced with something that's closed by design. The challenge is part of the appeal.

I wrote Mark an email about all this earlier and realized I should have just posted it publicly. Here's a quick copy and paste job, with a few edits for readability.

Doesn't tinkering, by definition, connote cracking something open, voiding the warranty, and twiddling regardless of consequences? Taking the risk that you brick it with no recourse? When you jailbreak your iPhone, is there a *practical* difference between that experience and rooting Android, or flashing your Linksys with open source firmware, or installing XBMC on your Xbox? Is the legality the difference? Which of those activities is legal and which is illegal? (I'm not even sure, which is pretty ignorant on my part, since I've done all of those. I just didn't care.) Is there really a tinkerer's sunset if unlocking the iWhatever in some manner remains an option? If it's not an option, won't the act of tinkering involve MAKING it one? I'm of the mind that if someone wants to tinker, they will tinker, period. Because it's in their DNA, not because it's easy, and because by nature, tinkerers don't play by the rules.

I think that's where I'm least comfortable with the doom-and-gloom tinkerer's sunset vision of the future. I have a LOT of faith that our future tinkerers won't give a crap about the law and crack stuff they find interesting open, regardless, and they'll figure out how to do it, even if it takes more than typing Ctrl+Reset. Most of the stuff we all hack on is closed in some way, isn't it? Not that this is an excuse for Apple's stupidity... more of an observation.

So, I asked about the open v. closed thing being mostly philosophical because the jailbreak community is alive and well. Even though on one hand I'm chagrined they're spending time and energy developing for a platform that shuns them, on the other, the fact that they exist supports my optimistic outlook about the unflagging dedication of the tinkerer, especially to doing things they're told not to do. (For better or for worse, optimism is my default setting.)

Even though I am critical of the iPad's closed nature and agree with Mark and Alex, I won't go as far as Alex did and say that it represents a dystopian future. I have more faith in our future tinkerers than that.

That all said, I personally will spend my time developing for open systems.

* Regarding Apple's goal of abstracting away the inner workings of a computer into a device that "just works" by "magic," Gruber's automatic versus manual transmission metaphor is a particularly good one. I don't know how to drive a stick, but it's literally been on my "things I want to learn" list since I got my license. I'm not a car enthusiast. I just love driving, and a stick shift seems like it would be something I'd really enjoy. Take from that what you will.

In both offline and online life, women are more visible, respected, and accomplished than they've ever been before. At the risk of sounding like a Pollyanna, I believe now is a golden time for women in technology, a time when an awareness of the need for diversity in our field is at its highest. Conference organizers, editors, journalists, and CTOs are desperate to get knowledgeable women onto their speaker rosters, mastheads, source lists, and staff. (I know, because they ask me!) There are many opportunities for those of us who don't look like Bill Gates, but it's up to us to make ourselves visible, eligible, and take them.

Ladies, now is not the time for timidity. Step up, take chances, push yourself beyond your comfort zone, use your powers and influence for good, and let your expertise shine. There's plenty of room for improvement, but we'll only get there if you do your work, do it well, and do it where others can see and appreciate your example.

That is all. Now, speaking of work: back to it.