Christine Lagarde quotes: tips you can take to the bank.
“It’s life. And it’s an extraordinary adventure and an extraordinary challenge every day. Every day you have to just prove yourself.”
“Grit your teeth and smile. In the face of adversity, go.”
“Diversity in and of itself is a strong positive.”
“I think there are multiple studies now to demonstrate that diversity – a better balance between genders, but also between different fields as well – is actually conducive to better growth, better bottom line, better results.”
“Accelerate slowly. While walking slowly, stride confidently.”
“Don’t let the bastards get you. And I know this is not very polite. This is not very proper language. ‘Don’t let the bastards get you’ means: ‘Hang on with the work that you are doing, and just don’t give up. Stand up.'”
“I learned that you can constantly improve, and that you should not be shy about your views, and about the direction that you believe is right.”
“You have to first of all be okay with yourself, accept who you are, and not fight against yourself all the time. It’s hard, but I think being reconciled with your body and your identity is step one. The second step is about being honest and telling the truth, not covering up and pretending you are somebody that you are not deep down inside.”
“We need to steer the boat, not drift. When we sail together, we are stronger, nimbler, better able to steer the ship through rough waters and avoid the rocks of shipwreck.”
“I’m very much a believer that it’s action that matters much more so.”
“People are motivated by the pride they take in the intellectual work they produce, and that’s an important driver. A second important driver is the pride they take in serving the public good.”
“All stakeholders must participate in the gains and losses of any particular situation.”
“To me, leadership is about encouraging people. It’s about stimulating them. It’s about enabling them to achieve what they can achieve – and to do that with a purpose. Others would call it ‘a vision,’ but I’d rather use ‘purpose’ because I think that everybody has a purpose in life, and that when collectively people work together, or practice sport together, they have a joint purpose.”
“I also learn constantly about how much people can achieve; how much they can give; how much they can go beyond themselves, step out of their comfort zone and give a lot more than they ever thought they would, or that you ever expected them to do. And it’s a constant process to learn how much you should step in after having listened, and how much the team you work with can exceed your expectations.”
“We need to put our good research, our good work, our principles into actionable items whenever we can.”
“History has taught us that, if not managed carefully, infrastructure investments can lead to a problematic increase in debt. I have said before that, to be fully successful, the Belt and Road should only go where it is needed. I would add today that it should only go where it is sustainable, in all aspects.”
“Tackling climate change is a collective endeavor, it means collective accountability and it’s not too late.”
“You know, when I sit in meetings and things are very tense and people take things extremely seriously and they invest a lot of their ego, I sometimes think to myself, ‘Come on, you know, there’s life and there’s death and there is love.’ And all of that ego business is nonsense compared to that.”
“My father passed away after three years of debilitating disease, which transformed a very strong and bright man into a real wreck. And that is hard. You have to get out of that stronger, if you can, which I was lucky to be able to. I was the eldest of the family, and I had to support my mother and help my brothers.”
“I have lived with extraordinary women, whether it was my grandmother, my mother. My father passed away when I was 16… I was witness to a woman who single-handedly brought up the entire family and managed to do everything. She was an extraordinary role model for me.”
“Very often as a little girl, then as a young woman, I have suffered my lot of discrimination. I was brought up with brothers; I grew up in a boys’ world. You have to elbow your way in. When you come with that sentiment of having been in a minority for a long period of time, then you are much more attentive to minorities.”
“Women, as the minority, have to prove their worth all the time. That’s the reason we tend to over-prepare, over-study, over-anticipate. I think it’s the case with many women leaders. We tend to overdo it.”
“Think about it. Women control 70% of global consumer spending – when women do better, economies do better.”
“It’s a question of not so much pushing the boys out of the picture, but making the whole frame bigger so that both men and women access the labor market, contribute to the economy, generate growth, have jobs, and so on.”
“I have a theory that women are generally given space and appointed to jobs when the situation is tough. I’ve observed that in many instances. In times of crisis, women eventually are called upon to sort out the mess, face the difficult issues and be completely focused on restoring the situation.”
“Women can just bring so much in terms of economic growth, in terms of profit to companies, in terms of common sense, in risk-taking policies. I think it’s criminal not to rely on women more than we do and I will continue pushing that cause.”
“Our fortunes rise together, and they fall together. We have a collective responsibility to bring about a more stable and more prosperous world, a world in which every person in every country can reach their full potential.”
“It’s become my brand in a way, you know, speaking the truth even though it was not politically correct.”
“I’m not in the business of reading tea leaves. I don’t have a crystal ball.”
“I have never, never had a career plan. And maybe that was the wrong idea, but I never had a career plan. My career, which I know is successful and regarded as such, has been the result of circumstances, of meeting people, of being called, of being drafted, of taking on the job and rising to the circumstances when it was needed.”
“Thank you to the woman who hired me as a ‘baby lawyer’ at Baker McKenzie. She, too, was an incredible role model, and she taught me three things: how to ‘dress,’ ‘address’ and ‘redress.’ And I have not forgotten any of those three.”
“I’m proud that somebody like myself has made it to the very top.”
“Keep at it. Life is extraordinary. Don’t give up.”
