If you want to occupy the C-suite or the top one-tenth of 1% in any organization, you have to be obsessively devoted to your career at the expense of everything else. And women look at that, and they think, 'No.'
Interpretation
To achieve the highest positions in an organization, one must prioritize their career above all else, which may not resonate with everyone, particularly women.
This quote by Jordan Peterson highlights the intense dedication required to reach the upper echelons of organizational success, suggesting that such ambition often demands personal sacrifices. It acknowledges that this level of commitment can deter individuals, especially women, who might not align their values with the relentless pursuit of career advancement, prompting a reflection on work-life balance and societal expectations.
In practice
In a motivational speech about career aspirations at a women's leadership conference.
Part of the reason there's an injunction to the truth, for example, is that if you're in a circumstance of extreme uncertainty, your best weapon, let's say, or your best tool or your best defense is the truth, because it keeps things simpler.
I don't tell people, 'You're okay the way that you are.' That's not the right story. The right story is, 'You're way less than you could be.'
Once someone has spent enough time cultivating bad habits and biding their time, they are much diminished. Much of what they could have been has dissipated.
If you learn a martial art, you learn to be dangerous, but simultaneously, you learn to control it.
Life is tragic. You are tiny and flawed and ignorant and weak, and everything else is huge, complex, and overwhelming.
Music has an intrinsic meaning, which has always been mysterious to me.
Scoring goals is a great feeling, but the most important thing to me is that the team is successful - it doesn't matter who scores the goals as long as we're winning.
Our net worth is ultimately defined not by dollars but rather by how well we serve others.
The number one idea is to view a stock as an ownership of the business and to judge the staying quality of the business in terms of its competitive advantage. Look for more value in terms of discounted future cash-flow than you are paying for. Move only when you have an advantage.
One of the things young people always ask me about is what is the secret to success. The secret is there is no secret. It's the basics. Blocking and tackling.
The goals is to create a really high 'floor' for this organization, where the 'off' years are years where you might win in the high-80s and sneak a division or a wild card or win 90 games and get in and find a way to win in October. And the great years, you win 103 and win the whole thing.
I don't know if I believe in luck. I think I'm very fortunate.
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