I have learned it's not how you fall but how you get up that truly matters.
Optimism is the ultimate definition of a leader. A leader has to look optimistically at what is ahead while not ignoring the challenges that must be overcome. Those challenges are in government, politics, world leadership, and even in community life.
I think it's high time that we had a woman president. But I don't want to elect someone just because she's a woman; I want the best candidate to be elected. I think that any woman who is elected to the highest office in the land would clearly have positive role model effects for other young women.
More entrepreneurs are looking to come back to start businesses, and that is where SBA is perfectly positioned to be helping more people to realize their dreams.
I've made a payroll. I know what it's like to execute a business plan. I know what it's like to expect the proper return on investment... and I know you can't spend your way out of debt.
You have to have a work ethic. It is always 24/7. It is a lot of sweat equity, and it is a little bit of Lady Luck.
Without truth, trust is lost. The ACA could not have been passed were it not for the repeated assertions, which proved to be false, that Americans who liked their health plans and their doctors could keep them.
Even entrepreneurs with the best ideas sometimes need a little wind beneath their wings.
It was acting, and WWE is the longest-running weekly episodic program in television. Sure, there are story lines that are better than others.
It is past time for Democrats and Republicans to join together to create a bipartisan coalition for courage and common sense.
As a CEO, I want to show women that there are no limits to what they can achieve, whether through entrepreneurship, government, science or any path they choose, and there is plenty of room for women at the top.
I have said from the beginning, I would spend what it would take for the people of Connecticut to know who I am and what I stand for.
I think women are not as hung up on the testosterone thing. They're more collaborative. They multitask better, and I think they're more results-oriented. They just want to cut to the chase and get it done.
We went bankrupt one time and lost everything. When I tell that story at my Women's Leadership LIVE conferences, people are shocked. I mean, our house was auctioned off and the car repossessed in the driveway. We had to start over again.
Someone asked me recently if marriage is 50-50 - it averages out to be 50-50, but sometimes it's 75-25, sometimes it's 90-10. In the end, it has to average out to be 50-50; that's how you support each other.
When I was asked if I supported merging SBA into Commerce, I really wasn't focused on SBA or Commerce; I was focused on the concept of merging agencies, or reducing duplicative programs, so that we could reduce those costs. I am a firm believer that SBA needs to be a stand-alone agency.
Being under the political spotlight is far different than anything I'd experienced before. Every word is a critical word. Sometimes you really aren't allowed to get your full thought out. A lot of it is about having a 30-second sound bite.
Small business people are people with goals and values that can't be calculated on a profit and loss statement.
My number one philosophy for leadership is leadership by example. If you are not willing to do it yourself, how can you show others how to do it?
I wasn't looking for a hobby. If I were looking for a hobby, it wouldn't be the United States Senate. That's one of the toughest jobs I'd probably ever do. I just felt there wasn't enough compromise going on: People were too far to the left, too far to the right, with no one trying to build a compromise.
