Kristin Hull is Founder, CEO, and CIO of Nia Impact Capita

If you look 208 years into the futureaccording to the worlds top economistsyoull see a far more healthy, secure, and productive world fueled by gender equality. Though its not very encouraging to those of us living in a culture of entrenched bias, we owe it to future generations to move toward fairness and inclusiveness anyway. The fact is, harnessing the talent we need to compete in the 21st and 22nd century means elevating women and girls today. International Day of The Girl (Friday, October 11th) is a reminder that we need to play the long game. We all have to do our part to accelerate progress for our girls, their girls, and their girls even if the benefits of a more fair and open society will not be our own to enjoy.

These trailblazing female CEOs are humble about their formative years, frank about the daunting challenges they encountered, and relentlessly encouraging.

We need girls to believe that they belong at the table, says Diana Kapp, that they deserve to make money and have power. Kapps new book, Girls Who Run the World: 31 CEOs Who Mean Business, tells the origin stories of female leaders who are disrupting an array of industries from construction to personal genetics, biotech to green energy. Consider that the unstoppable Jessica Matthews of Uncharted Power, Tina Sharkey of Brandless, Kara Goldin of Hint, and Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe were all once just ordinary girls who set out on stratospheric climbs with no guides, no manuals, and no maps. Like a World Book Encyclopedia of feminine role models, Kapp's trailblazing CEOs are humble about their formative years, frank about the daunting challenges they encountered, and relentlessly encouraging.

After tracking these womens trajectories from childhood dreamers to game-changing leaders, Kapp noticed they all shared a similar characteristic. These women have cajones, she says. They embrace imperfection and experimentation, are determined to figure things out on their own, and are willing to move forward without knowing many of the answers.

Female CEOs featured in Girls Who Run The World by Diana Kapp

The book connects the reader to the girl inside each of these innovators, granting a friendly and intimate access meant to inspire and ignite the ambitions of young women. Each story illustrates how passion and conviction for new ideas drive purpose, why a tough skin is critical, how to withstand the inevitable doubters, and how to be nimble and pivot when necessary. Most important is the willingness to "fail and flail" because inevitably, things go wrong, often. The message for the next generation is that these girls did it, and you can too. And that even in the face of failure, its still worth it to strike out boldly on your own.

In the spirit of International Day of The Girl, lets send our girls a message of inspiration and support. Attitudes are only going to change when this generation, the next generation, and every generation of girls after refuse to believe they deserve anything less.So what would you say to yourself as a young girl? and share your message with girls everywhere tomorrow, October 11th.

Here's a gallery of women CEOs who have plenty of great ideas for young women.

See the original post:
Notes To Myself As A Girl: Female CEOs Tell Girls What They Need To Hear Most - Forbes

Comments are closed.