- But I know when I started out
trying to build my success,
I used to wonder, what's the it factor?
(inspirational music)
And do I have the it factor?
Three things, three things.
Courage, confidence, choices.
The three C's.
Write 'em down.
How many times have you
heard the word confidence?
Confidence, confidence,
but you don't get to the confidence
until you push through the courage.
Courage is required,
and then we're gonna build the confidence,
the confidence that comes from that.
You have to have courage,
confidence, and therefore,
you're gonna have choices.
I'm a person who grew up
and I'm still dyslexic.
I grew up in a fabulous house.
My parents were 62 years married.
I'm the third of four girls.
Amazing readers.
I mean, they can read like this.
(imitating whooshing)
I mean, they can read,
and then there's me.
There are three pigs.
Whoo, child, that's enough for tonight.
(audience laughing)
Oh my God,
and so I worked really hard.
My mother was one of those mothers
that stayed up night
after night after night.
Every night, she would be like,
come on, Gloria, you can get this.
Come on.
Read.
Oh my God.
It didn't happen like that.
I truly had to do the extra.
I had to go out and get the tutoring
and everybody was teasing me.
I'm just telling you,
I had to push through.
Why?
Because I valued education.
What happened because of that?
Courage became the confidence,
and because of the confidence that came,
came the choices of the education,
and because of choices of the education,
when I called my mom, and I said,
"Mom, I got into Harvard.
"Harvard!"
She said, "You did?"
(audience laughing)
She was so shocked.
Because of it,
here's what I wanna tell you, though.
I'm the product of domestic violence.
10 years in domestic violence.
When I was dealing with domestic violence,
I was also a Harvard
Business School graduate.
I was also a superstar in my career.
I was also blowing it out of the water.
10 years.
When you look at me,
you see a smart,
successful, powerful woman
who stayed in domestic
violence for a long time.
Here's what I wanna
tell you about my path.
I didn't have the courage
to leave for myself,
and then when I had the children,
I valued their life so much so
that when the word came to me
that if you don't get out of there,
it's gonna happen for them,
but it was a hard decision,
and once I made the decision,
everything became easy for me after that,
the confidence that came up.
Because of that confidence,
I had choices.
I am telling you, it shows
over and over and over again.
Confidence is the it factor.
Your it will grow with your courage,
because you have to have the choices
to create your best self.
Think about it every time you hear
somebody use the word fear.
Think about every time
you used the word fear,
and think about the examples
that are all around you.
What decision have you
been unwilling to make?
(inspirational music)
What conversation have you
been unwilling to make?
What phone call have you
been unwilling to make?
What goal have you been unwilling to set?
Where are you unwilling
to find the courage
to jump up there, to
drive your confidence,
to yet another level?
When I run my race,
I have to have the courage to tell people,
I'm not gonna stand next to you,
because you're moving too slow.
You're going too slow, and
you want me to wait for you.
Eagles will fly alone,
but it doesn't have to be lonely.
Are you feeling me?
I'm telling you something.
That's why when I told you, you know,
when you choose to be loud about it,
you have a lot of courage.
Ask yourself, where are you willing to go?
(inspirational music)
