01c. 1969 ADYou are the promise for a more equal world. So my hope for everyone here is that after you walk across this stage, after you get your diploma, after you go out tonight and celebrate hard - you then will lean way in to your career. You will find something you love doing and you will do it with gusto. Find the right career for you and go all the way to the top.As you walk off this stage today, you start your adult life. Start out by aiming high. Try - and try hard.Like everyone here, I have great hopes for the members of this graduating class. 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. Women all around the world are counting on you.So please ask yourself: What would I do if I weren't afraid? And then go do it.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
02c. 1969 ADI know that my success comes from hard work, help from others, and being at the right place at the right time. I feel a deep and enduring sense of gratitude to those who have given me opportunities and support. I recognize the sheer luck of being born into my family in the United States rather than one of the many places in the world where women are denied basic rights. I believe that all of us - men and women alike - should acknowledge good fortune and thank the people who have helped us. No one accomplishes anything all alone.But I also know that in order to continue to grow and challenge myself, I have to believe in my own abilities. I still face situations that I fear are beyond my capabilities. I still have days when I feel like a fraud. And I still sometimes find myself spoken over and discounted while men sitting next to me are not. But now I know how to take a deep breath and keep my hand up. I have learned to sit at the table.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
03c. 1969 ADMany have argued with me that ambition is not the problem. Women are not less ambitious than men, they insist, but more enlightened with different and more meaningful goals. I do not dismiss or dispute this argument. There is far more to life than climbing a career ladder, including raising children, seeking personal fulfillment, contributing to society, and improving the lives of others. And there are many people who are deeply committed to their jobs but do not - and should not have to - aspire to run their organizations. Leadership roles are not the only way to have profound impact.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
04c. 1969 ADIf 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.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
05c. 1969 ADIn November 2011, San Francisco magazine ran a story on female entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and illustrated it by superimposing the featured women's heads onto male bodies. The only body type they could imagine for successful entrepreneurship was wearing a tie or a hoodie. Our culture needs to find a robust image of female success that is first, not male, and second, not a white woman on the phone, holding a crying baby.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
06c. 1969 ADNo wonder women don't negotiate as often as men. It's like trying to cross a minefield backward in high heels.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
07c. 1969 ADWhoever has the power takes the noun while the less powerful get an adjective. No one wants her achievements modified.We all just want to be the noun.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
08c. 1969 ADPresenting leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like strategic, analytical, and performance-oriented) no longer holds. Instead, true leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed.... Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
10c. 1969 ADA feminist is someone who believes in social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
11c. 1969 ADAt a small dinner with other business executives, the guest of honor spoke the entire time without taking a breath. This meant that the only way to ask a question or make an observation was to interrupt. Three or four men jumped in, and the guest politely answered their questions before resuming his lecture. At one point, I tried to add something to the conversation and he barked, "Let me finish! You people are not good at listening!" Eventually, a few more men interjected and he allowed it. Then the only other female executive at the dinner decided to speak up--and he did it again! He chastised her for interrupting. After the meal, one of the male CEOs pulled me aside to say that he had noticed that only the women had been silenced. He told me he empathized, because as a Hispanic, he has been treated like this many times.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
12c. 1969 ADWhen my mother took her turn to sit in a gown at her graduation, she thought she only had two career options: nursing and teaching. She raised me and my sister to believe that we could do anything, and we believed her.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
13c. 1969 ADWe can each define ambition and progress for ourselves. The goal is to work toward a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents and interests.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
14c. 1969 ADI'm not pretending I can give advice to every single person or every single couple for every situation I'm making the point that we are not going to get to equality in the workforce before we get to equality in the home. Not going to happen.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
15c. 1969 ADWomen have made tons of progress. But we still have a small percentage of the top jobs in any industry, in any nation in the world. I think that's partly because from a very young age, we encourage our boys to lead and we call our girls bossy.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
16c. 1969 ADIt is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It's also a very clear path to happiness.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
17c. 1969 ADI don't believe we have a professional self Monday through Friday and a real self the rest of the time. It is all professional, and it is all personal.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
18c. 1969 ADI 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.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
19c. 1969 ADI'm not telling women to be like men. I'm telling us to evaluate what men and women do in the workforce and at home without the gender bias.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
20c. 1969 ADWomen don't take enough risks. Men are just 'foot on the gas pedal.' We're not going to close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
21c. 1969 ADThe No. 1 impediment to women succeeding in the workforce is now in the home.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
22c. 1969 ADI'm a pragmatist. I think, as a woman, you have to be more careful. You have to be more communal, you have to say yes to more things than men, you have to worry about things that men don't have to worry about. But once we get enough women into leadership, we can break stereotypes down. If you lead, you get to decide.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
23c. 1969 ADIf more women are in leadership roles, we'll stop assuming they shouldn't be.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
24c. 1969 ADI 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.Sheryl Sandberg / quote ↗
