By 2020, Alexander Hamilton’s solemn mug will be replaced on the $10 bill with the face of, yes, a woman. Will it be a woman from the world of business? There’s no word yet on who it will be but we’re sure she will be awesome.
Regardless of whose face ends up on the bill, enjoy 10 of the most inspirational quotes from women who not only played the leadership game -- they reinvented it.
“Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.”
Listen to one
of America’s richest self-made woman, Sara Blakely, who at the age of 44, sits
on a fortune of approximately $1 billion thanks to the success of her popular
undergarments. Her Spanx line has expanded to jeans and yoga wear, and -- to
date -- her company remains privately owned.
“Aerodynamically
the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that so
it goes on flying anyway.”
Mary Kay Ash
founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963. Her entrepreneurial talents emerged long
before, when she joined the direct sales force of Stanley Home products in the
1930s as a side gig, which became her full-time job in 1939 -- after her
husband ran off and left her to support three children. Success in spite of
tragedies, including her second husband’s death shortly before her first
cosmetics store was poised to open, set a high bar of grit and fortitude.
“If
you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life
or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are
indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were
helped.”
Melinda Gates
-- also known as the wife of the richest man in the world, Bill Gates -- is
formidable in her own right. Before marrying Gates, she was a general manager
of information products at Microsoft. Since quitting her job there in 1996,
she’s been both a powerful figurehead and hands on in the Gates Foundation
mission to fund projects that will impact global health.
"Dear
optimist, pessimist, and realist -- while you guys were busy arguing about the
glass of wine, I drank it! Sincerely, the opportunist!"
The “Queen of
QVC,” Lori Greiner, who joined the ABC show Shark Tank in 2012 alongside
Barbara Corcoran. Greiner has hosted a QVC show called The Clever & Unique
Creations Show since 1998 and hawks her popular products, such as jewelry
organizers, on the channel. She also runs a product development and marketing
company in Chicago.
“If
we can learn to deal with our discomfort and just relax into it we'll have a
better life.”
As a standout
African-American female leader in the finance sector, Mellody Hobson, president
of Ariel Investments and chairwoman on several boards, including Disney
Animation, can speak from experience about being accustomed to discomfort.
Hobson also is a vocal advocate for diversity, saying, “Invite people into your
life that don’t look or think like you.”
“Option
A is not available. So let’s kick the sh** out of option B."
Facebook COO
Sheryl Sandberg continues to inspire with her frank words of courage following
her husband, David Goldberg’s, death. In a tribute post to her husband on
Facebook last month, Sandberg wrote about her struggle with acceptance and
related a situation where she had to step in for a father-child activity. “I
want Dave,” she wrote. “I want option A.” However, she wrote of her resolve to
honor his memory and kick the sh** out of option B.”
“Life-fulfilling
work is never about the money -- when you feel true passion for something, you
instinctively find ways to nurture it.”
Eileen Fisher
founded her line of eco-friendly, organic women’s loungewear in 1984 and
currently employs more than 1,100 employees with over 60 stores across the U.S.
She’s described her business as “an obsession” -- one of her son’s first
phrases was “crinkle rayon.” While her obsession is flourishing, Fisher said
her divorce and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, gave her
perspective to make sure her most important relationships remain at the
forefront -- including taking care of herself.
“We
need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw
up royally sometimes -- understanding that failure is not the opposite of
success, it’s part of success.”
Arianna
Huffington, who recently signed on to remain editor-in-chief of AOL/Huffington
Post until 2019, shared her #fails with graduates at Sarah Lawrence College in
2011: her failed epic romance with the late-London Times columnist Bernard
Levin and her original plans for The Huffington Post to be a highbrow literary
site that nobody was going to read, “but everyone was going to pretend to have
read it.” Turns out, she did all right.
“My
parents ingrained in me early on that the perfect score is always something to
strive for. I want to win and I want to succeed no matter what.”
The former
CEO of AVON who resigned from her post in 2012 following the company’s poor
financial performance and investor furor, Andrea Jung now runs Grameen America,
a microfinance organization, which was created by Nobel Peace Prize-winning
microlender Muhammad Yunus -- the nonprofit lends microloans to America’s poor.
And yes, some of those micro-borrowers are probably Avon sales people.
"The
difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time
feeling sorry for themselves."
Barbara
Corcoran, who got straight Ds in high school and college, founded one of New
York City’s premiere real-estate firms, The Corcoran Group, in 1973 for $1,000
in seed money. She turned it into an empire and sold it for $60 million. In
2009, she joined the cast of ABC’s Shark Tank, and later co-founded Barbara
Corcoran Venture Partners, an angel investment company.
All the best!
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