Adam Grant
Adam Grant

If we want girls to receive positive reinforcement for early acts of leadership, let's discourage bossy behavior along with banning bossy labels. That means teaching girls to engage in behaviors that earn admiration before they assert their authority.

Adam Grant
Adam Grant

When young women get called bossy, it's often because they're trying to exercise power without status. It's not a problem that they're being dominant; the backlash arises because they're overstepping their status.

Alesha Dixon
Alesha Dixon

My friends say that at school I was quite bossy. I still am a bit bossy, but a nice bossy. I've always been very strong-minded, even as a little girl. But I'm a great friend, and I've never been in a fight in my life. I think it's nice to be nice, especially because I've never been scared to stick up for myself. I'm not a shrinking violet.

Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler

I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody's passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn't mind leading.

Ana Kasparian
Ana Kasparian

Words like 'bossy,' 'shrill,' and 'moody' are used to describe women who speak up at work and give voice to their passion - but I believe this negative commentary is meant to keep critical thinkers quiet.

Bobbie Ann Mason
Bobbie Ann Mason

My father had all these great names for our cows. Bossy and Daisy and Petunia and Turnip. One of my jobs was to round up the cows before milking. I'd go out back with the dog and bring them in.

Bryce Dallas Howard
Bryce Dallas Howard

Using the word 'bossy' for girls can be quite harmful. What is that saying - that being focused, being assertive, being the boss has a negative attribute? And I have heard that term associated more with women than with men. 'He's so bossy' - you don't hear that. It's a very subtle thing.

Camille Paglia
Camille Paglia

My generation of bossy, confident, baby-boom women were something brand new in history. Our energy and assertiveness weren't created by Betty Friedan, unknown before her 1963 book, or by Gloria Steinem, whose political activism, as even the Lifetime profile admitted, did not begin until 1969.

Carrie Coon
Carrie Coon

I have this idea of myself as this quiet, observant, thoughtful child, which my parents roundly contradict. They claim that I was loud and bossy and dancing all the time.

Casey Nicholaw
Casey Nicholaw

I was always bossy as a kid. I made my friends do shows that I wrote and would take them on tour from house to house.