Quotes

[advice to women] Do not leave before you leave. Do not lean back; lean in. Put your foot on that gas pedal and keep it there until the day you have to make a decision, and then make a decision. That's the only way, when that day comes, you'll even have a decision to make.

We 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 through our lives, the messages that say it's wrong to be outspoken, aggressive, more powerful than men. We lower our own expectations of what we can achieve.

[on Mark Zuckerberg] Mark is one of the best listeners I've ever met. When you talk to Mark, he just doesn't listen to what you say. He listens to what you didn't say, what you emphasized. He digests the information, comes back to you and asks five follow-up questions. He's incredibly inquisitive.

[on Melinda Gates] Her vision for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has helped lift the lives of millions of people. Its work reflects her impatient optimism. Her ability to think big and move fast. Her love of numbers. (Bill's not the only data geek in the family.) Her passionate commitment to empowering women and girls, seen in the Foundation's support for increasing access to contraceptives in developing countries. Her fundamental belief in human dignity. It's all there, woven into the DNA of one of the most ambitious and generous philanthropies in history.

In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.