So I don\'t need to make that particular contribution, my contribution is to unlock the potential of HP. And also to unlock the potential of people with technology. So knowing what you and knowing what you don\'t know are very important. And I think as well, successful people, GREat leaders, just like successful companies -- they know their strengths, they leverage their strengths, but also know how to balance what they don\'t know, what they are not strong at with other people and other partners.
Q: Good afternoon Carly, its my great honor and privilege to attend you speech. I would like to ask you a question which many girls would be interested in. My question is, as a successful female CEO how do you balance your family life? Thank you very much.
A: The truth is, since I have become the CEO of HP, balance is very hard. And my family would tell you that. I have the great fortune to have a family that is very supportive. The truth is my life today is work and family, I have nothing else. People ask me do I have hobbies? No. Do I play golf? No. I work, and I spend time with my family. Over the years I have learned that you have different needs at different times in your life. You have different balance points at different in different times of your life. Different people have different balance requirements. The goal of a company, I think, is to accommodate all kinds of people with all kinds of work-life balance requirements. All of which is to say there is no easy answer to your question. There is no silver bullet, you will have to find your own balance point for yourself. You will have to make your choices about what your balance should be. But you should also know, that only you can make those choices. No one else can tell you how to make them. Only you can make those choices. And whatever choice you make there will be consequences. So, some of the consequence will be very good, some of the consequences will be frustrating. But you can make your own choices.
Q: Mrs. Fiorina. Its my honor to the . How did you get started? I mean, what\'s your first step to sail in the ocean of business? I want to know what\'s your first step.
A: The first step is to start, even if you are afraid. The first step is to start, even if you are afraid. Do not believe that your whole life must be mapped out. Do not believe that every job must be the greatest ever. I have learned from everything I have ever done. I said that I had a job as a secretary. I typed. I answered the phones. I learned a lot from that job. And I remember to this day, lessons I learned in that job. For example, one of the lessons I learned in that job was how much difference someone low in the organization can make. I think that it is also true that everybody is afraid at some time. I have been afraid in my career, I have been afraid in in my life. Sometimes people call me brave, I heard some newspapers call me fearless. You know, courage is not the absence of fear, courage is acting in spite of fear. You will be afraid at times in you life. Maybe you are afraid now - what does the future hold? Where will I go? How will I contribute? Just take the first step, in spite of the fear. See opportunity when it approaches you. I said I obviously have not had a clear road map for my life, or my career. I went to jobs that were difficult purposefully. Every job I ever took in my career was a job someone told me I shouldn\'t do. It was a job someone told me I couldn\'t do. It was a job someone told me it was not wise to try. I took hard jobs because they were challenging. I took hard jobs because I could prove something. Not because I know the end point but because I wanted to be challenged and I wanted to make a difference in the here and now. But always I could see opportunity. So being flexible, acting even if you are afraid, taking the first step, even if we do not know the step that will come later. Those are the most important things you can do. Now, and 20 years from now.
Q: Good afternoon Mrs. Carly Fiorina. I have a dream to be a CEO like you, that\'s why I came here today. Now, I have two questions. First, it is said said that the IT industry is a world for men. As a woman in the industry, whats your feeling with working with so many men? We have the same problems here in Tsing Hua University. You can find more boys than girls. HP now is a very success company in the world. You made it more successful that ever before. Do you have a plan to start your own company? If so, would it be in the IT industry or will it produce something else?
A: In answer to your question to what will I do next? Consist with to my answer with the young man just a moment ago... I don\'t know. And it doesn\'t worry me that I don\'t know. What I know right now is that I have a wonderful privilege to lead this great company. And I know as well that I have a lot of work left to do here. What comes next will revel itself in time. I don\'t need to worry about that right now. We\'re not done by a long shot, we have a lot left to do. I have no idea if I would start my own company, or if it would be in IT.
With regards to your questions, being in a man\'s world. That isn\'t how you asked it, but that is how you meant it. Actually I am very delighted to see so many young women here today. It is true that there are still mostly meetings that I go to where I am the only one. So I learned to love men and get along with men very well, but one thing I know. Only you know inside, what you are capable of. I said in my speech, "know your own power, know your own potential, and do not let anyone take that away from you." That is not arrogance. It is not hubris, it is not pride. But you cannot unlock the potential in other, unless you know the potential and power in yourself.
I think leadership and success take the right balance between confidence, and humility. The confidence to know you can make a difference, the confidence to know you can make a contribution, the confidence to know that you have capability an power can and the humility to know that you can\'t do it all by yourself, you don\'t know every answer and you do need help. Don\'t let anyone tell you you cannot do something. Anyone can do something if they really want to do it. And so if someone says you can\'t do it, because you\'re a woman, because you don\'t have the right something. If someone says you can\'t do it - let that be their problem, not yours. Don\'t take it inside, you know what you can do. Do what you want to do.
Q: Thank you. My question is about my problem. I am not very interested in my major. I will have more problems if I stay in my major. But to make a change is very difficult. It is very difficult to give up what we have now, I have studied in my major for more than two years. And my parents don\'t want me to quit. So what I learned from your speech that you have changed your major 2 twice and you have studied 3 majors. So would you give me the suggestion that I should quit? I want to listen to your opinion.
A: Do you mean that so when you go home and tell your mother and father you changed majors you can say that Carly Fiorina told me to?
My father wanted me to go to law school. You know what I would really say to you, and I would say it to all of you. I would say it to any one. Find what you love. Find what you love. If you do not have interest and excitement and passion for what you are doing, you cannot be successful. Success takes commitment, commitment takes devotion, devotion takes passion.
And how terrible, I thought, for me, it would be to lead a life as a lawyer when I had no passion for it. I cannot tell you what to do. I cannot advise you. All of my life tells me that you should find what you love. Even if that takes a little longer. I hope I don\'t get you into trouble.
