Great Throughts Treasury

"Give us a world where half our homes are run by men, and half our institutions are run by women. I'm pretty sure that would be a better world."

"Gloria Steinem said it best: ?You can?t do it all. No one can have two full-time jobs, have perfect children and cook three meals and be multi-orgasmic ?til dawn ? Superwoman is the adversary of the women?s movement.?"

"I absolutely loved Tina Fey's 'Bossypants' and didn't want it to end. It's hilarious as well as important. Not only did I laugh on every page, but I was nodding along, highlighting and dog-earing like crazy."

"I am fine applying the word powerful to other women - the more the better - but I still shake my head in denial when it is applied to me. The nagging voice in the back of my head reminds me, as it did in business school, ?Don't flaunt your success, or even let people know about your success. If you do, people won't like you.?"

"Hard work and results should be recognized by others, but when they aren't, advocating for oneself becomes necessary. As discussed earlier, this must be done with great care. But it must be done."

"Hold ourselves back in ways both big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in. We internalize the negative messages we get throughout our lives?the messages that say it?s wrong to be outspoken, aggressive, more powerful than men."

"He said that when you want to change things, you can?t please everyone. If you do please everyone, you aren?t making enough progress."

"I believe women can lead more in the workplace. I believe men can contribute more in the home. And I believe that this will create a better world, one where half our institutions are run by women and half our homes are run by men."

"I believe if we had half our companies and half our countries run by women, and half our homes run by men, things would be better. We know our companies would be more productive. If you use the full talents of the population, you're more productive. We know our homes would be happier."

"I don't believe that everyone should make the same choices ? that everyone has to want to be a CEO or everyone should want to be a work-at-home mother. I want everyone to be able to choose, but I want us to be able to choose unencumbered by gender choosing for us. I have a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. Success for me is that if my son chooses to be a stay-at-home parent, he is cheered on for that decision. And if my daughter chooses to work outside the home and is successful, she is cheered on and supported."

"I don't believe we have a professional self from Mondays through Fridays and a real self for the rest of the time."

"I could challenge the notion that I was constantly headed for failure."

"I don?t believe we have a professional self from Mondays through Fridays and a real self for the rest of the time. We love the message of authenticity here as it brings joy to all areas of life when you are free to be you!"

"I don't pretend there aren't biological differences, but I don't believe the desire for leadership is hardwired biology, not the desire to win or excel. I believe that it's socialization, that we're socializing our daughters to nurture and our boys to lead."

"I feel really grateful to the people who encouraged me and helped me develop. Nobody can succeed on their own. We?re actually a little skeptical of this one (see number 1 above) but there?s humility in thanking your supporters so we appreciate that she takes a moment to thank those who were there for her."

"I go around the room and ask people, 'What do you think?'"

"I don't hold myself out as a role model. I don't believe that everyone should make the same choices; that everyone has to want to be a CEO, or everyone should want to be a work-at-home mother. I want everyone to be able to choose. But I want us to be able to choose unencumbered by gender choosing for us."

"I have a five year-old son and a three year-old daughter. I want my son to have a choice to contribute fully in the workforce or at home. And I want my daughter to have the choice to not just succeed, but to be liked for her accomplishments."

"I have never met a woman, or man, who stated emphatically, Yes, I have it all.' Because no matter what any of us has?and how grateful we are for what we have?no one has it all."

"I have never worked for a woman, and I have never worked with a lot of women."

"I just believed. I believed that the technology would change people's lives. I believed putting real identity online ? putting technology behind real identity ? was the missing link. I'd worked on leprosy and malaria in India [at the World Bank] and asked myself the question: Why do we let 2 million children die every year around the world for not having clean water? Because they're faceless and nameless. So, for me, Facebook looked like it was going to solve the problem of the invisible victim."

"I have written this book to encourage women to dream big, forge a path through the obstacles, and achieve their full potential. I am hoping that each woman will set her own goals and reach for them with gusto. And I am hoping that each man will do his part to support women in the workplace and in the home, also with gusto. As we start using the talents of the entire population, our institutions will be more productive, our homes will be happier, and the children growing up in those homes will no longer be held back by narrow stereotypes."

"I learned that effective communication starts with the understanding that there is MY point of view, (my truth), and someone else's point of view (his truth). Rarely is there one absolute truth, so people who believe that they speak THE truth are very silencing of others. When we realize and recognize that we can see things only from our own perspective, we can share our views in a nonthreatening way. Statements of opinion are always more constructive in the first person I form. The ability to listen is as important as the ability to speak. Miscommunication is always a two way street."

"I look forward to the day when half our homes are run by men and half our companies and institutions are run by women. When that happens, it won't just mean happier women and families; it will mean more successful businesses and better lives for us all."

"I hope you find true meaning, contentment, and passion in your life. I hope you navigate the difficult times and come out with greater strength and resolve. I hope you find whatever balance you seek with your eyes wide open. And I hope that you - yes, you - have the ambition to lean in to your career and run the world. Because the world needs you to change it."

"I really don't have any plan to leave Facebook. I put it so many times on the record, and I just don't get what to do to say it as clear as possible: I'm staying in Facebook; I really love my job."

"I realized that searching for a mentor has become the professional equivalent of waiting for Prince Charming. We all grew up on the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, which instructs young women that if they just wait for their prince to arrive, they will be kissed and whisked away on a white horse to live happily ever after. Now young women are told that if they can just find the right mentor, they will be pushed up the ladder and whisked away to the corner office to live happily ever after. Once again, we are teaching women to be too dependent on others."

"I probably shouldn't admit this since I work in the tech industry, but I still prefer reading paper books."

"I really think we need more women to lean into their careers and to be really dedicated to staying in the work force."

"I spent most of my career in business not saying the word 'woman.' Because if you say the word 'woman' in a business context, and often in a political context, the person on the other side of the table thinks you're about to sue them or ask for special treatment, right?"

"I tell people in their careers, 'Look for growth. Look for the teams that are growing quickly. Look for the companies that are doing well. Look for a place where you feel that you can have a lot of impact.'"

"I spent most of my career, including my time at McKinsey, never acknowledging that I was a woman. And, you know, fast forward ? I?m 43 now ? fitting in is not helping us."

"I think now is our time. My mother was told by everyone that she had two choices: She could be a nurse or a teacher. The external barriers now are just so much lower. If we start acknowledging what the real issues are, we can solve them. It?s not that hard."

"I think it is too hard for men to talk about gender. We have to let men talk about this... because we need men to talk about this if it is ever going to change."

"I want to be clear: I am not saying that men are too self-confident. That's not the problem. The problem is that women aren't self-confident enough."

"I told the members of the graduating class that they should be ambitious not just in pursuing their dreams but in aspiring to become leaders in their fields."

"I want us to be able to choose unencumbered by gender choosing for us."

"I truly believe that the single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is."

"I want women to get paid more. I want to teach them to negotiate so they get paid more."

"I want to tell any young girl out there who?s a geek, I was a really serious geek in high school. It works out. Study harder. We can remember nobody wanting to sit with the geeks during lunch in high school, but now everybody wants to either be a geek or be married to one so, yeah, we agree with this one."

"I would be better at my job if I were technical."

"I wish I could just go tell all the young women I work with, all these fabulous women, ?Believe in yourself and negotiate for yourself. Own your own success.? I wish I could tell that to my daughter. But it?s not that simple. Well, technically, you could tell everyone that but there?s no promise they would actually hear you. We?re trying anyway."

"I would love to meet J.K. Rowling and tell her how much I admire her writing and am amazed by her imagination. I read every 'Harry Potter' book as it came out and looked forward to each new one. I am rereading them now with my kids and enjoying them every bit as much. She made me look at jelly beans in a whole new way."

"I'd like to see where boys and girls end up if they get equal encouragement - I think we might have some differences in how leadership is done."

"If more women are in leadership roles, we'll stop assuming they shouldn't be."

"If a woman pushes to get the job done, if she's highly competent, if she focuses on results rather than on pleasing others, she's acting like a man. And if she acts like a man, people dislike her."

"If I had to embrace a definition of success, it would be that success is making the best choices we can... and according them."

"If we want a world with greater equality, we need to acknowledge that women are less likely to keep their hands up. We need institutions and individuals to notice and correct for this behavior by encouraging, promoting, and championing more women. And women have to learn to keep their hands up, because when they lower them, even managers with the best intentions might not notice."

"If more women are in leadership roles, we?ll stop assuming they shouldn?t be. We have our fingers crossed for a female president soon!"

"If you ask men why they did a good job, they?ll say, ?I?m awesome. Obviously. Why are you even asking?? If you ask women why they did a good job, what they?ll say is someone helped them, they got lucky, they worked really hard. We?re gonna start taking all the credit. Starting? now! Yup, we?re awesome. Obviously!"