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4 Savvy Quotes From Carly Fiorina

by Jo Yurcaba

Former Hewlett Packard CEO and current 2016 GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina isn't perfect. She staunchly opposes abortion, said "black lives have been diminished under Democratic policies," and backs corporations' rights to deny paid maternity leave, according to Fox News. But Fiorina is an accomplished former CEO, and someone who is obviously well-tuned into politics, which should speak to her work ethic and determination. Yes, Fiorina holds some questionable political views, but she has also had her quotable moments. Fiorina's best quotes on business, life, and leadership are actually pretty inspiring.

Fiorina worked her way through a male-dominated business world to become Hewlett Packard's CEO, and before that, she was an executive at AT&T. Now, she is the chair of a nonprofit organization called Good360. So, regardless of her policy views, she knows how to get what she wants. In 2010, she even won a three-person race for the Republican nomination for a California Senate seat, but lost in the general election to an incumbent. Fiorina isn't afraid to push the boundaries — in politics or in business — and she has spoken about overcoming obstacles and becoming a good leader. Her four best quotes show that she isn't afraid to stand up for what she believes.

On Donald Trump's "Blood" Comment About Megyn Kelly

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Fiorina said that, as a woman in a male-dominated business world, she has had lots of men "imply that, um — I was unfit for decision-making because maybe I was having my period." She said that it was obvious to women what Trump was implying about Kelly in his interview after the GOP debate, during which Kelly had questioned him about past misogynistic comments he's made. Fiorina called his comments "totally offensive":

When I started this campaign, I was asked on a national television show whether a woman's hormones prevented her from serving in the Oval Office. My response was, can we think of a single instance in which a man's hormones might have clouded his judgment?

On Combating Prejudice

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During a 2005 commencement speech, Fiorina talked about being treated poorly because she was the only woman executive at a lot of the companies she worked for. She said that one coworker at HP made her feel like the "token bimbo," and that combating those prejudices in huge corporate offices wasn't easy:

When you challenge other people's ideas of who or how you should be, they may try to diminish and disgrace you. It can happen in small ways in hidden places, or in big ways on a world stage. You can spend a lifetime resenting the tests, angry about the slights and the injustices. Or, you can rise above it. People's ideas and fears can make them small but they cannot make you small. People's prejudices can diminish them but they cannot diminish you. Small-minded people can think they determine your worth. But only you can determine your worth.

On Sexism And Respect Between Men And Women

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Fiorina told 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl that the all-male boards at the companies she worked for were "heartless in some ways and disrespectful in others." She said that — for whatever weird reason — men didn't treat women with the same kind of respect in the business world:

I think somehow men understand other men's need for respect differently than they understand it for a woman. I'm disappointed to have to say that, but I think it's undeniably true.

On Washington's Approach To Government

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Fiorina got really frank when it came to what people think about Washington and the people who create policy. Often, policy language is dense and not easy for the average person to understand without a dictionary nearby. In a 2010 interview during her 2010 run for California's Senate seat, Fiorina kept things direct:

Of course people think Washington is arrogant. It is.