February 21, 2020

3 Life Lessons from Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Caroline Dowd-Higgins Career Wisdom, Featured 3 Life Lessons from Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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I subscribe to a Fast Forward briefing online written by Melanne Verveer, Kim Azzarelli and Sharon Bowen, whom I first heard speak at a TEDWomen event. They also host a wonderful podcast: Seneca Women: Conversations on Power and Purpose, which I highly recommend.

Seneca Women is a global leadership platform centered on the principle that advancing women and girls will fast forward us to a more equitable and prosperous world. Seneca Women focuses on driving impactful media and thought leadership, including at institutions such as the World Economic Forum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the World Bank, the U.S. State Department and the United Nations, among others. Seneca is led by co-founders Ambassador Melanne Verveer and Kim Azzarelli, co-authors of the best-selling book Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose, and Commissioner Sharon Bowen, former Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

In the spirit of sharing great content, I have excerpted a segment of the most recent Fast Forward briefing and encourage you to subscribe for this free and powerful resource.

We’ve made it through most of Awards Season, watched the red carpet promenades and the tearful speeches at the Golden Globes, Grammys and Oscars. But one of our favorite ceremonies took place Wednesday night, when the DVF Awards, created by Diane von Furstenberg to recognize “extraordinary women who’ve shown the strength to fight, the courage to survive and the leadership to inspire,” honored Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her “unwavering commitment and trailblazing support of gender equality.” Her fellow honoree, Iman, referred to her as “a true rockstar.”

The soon-to-be 87-year-old Justice (happy birthday is March 15) has always been a font of quotable wisdom. Here, in celebration, we cite three especially resonant pieces of advice:

“Waste no time on anger, regret, resentment. Just do it. Just get the job done,” she said in 2015, echoing the words of Sandra Day O’Connor while delivering a tribute to Justice O’Connor at a ceremony hosted by Seneca Women.
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made,” RBG told CNN. “It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”

“If you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside yourself. Something to repair tears in your community. Something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you,” she said while giving the Rathbun Lecture at Stanford. “That’s what I think a meaningful life is—living not for oneself, but for one’s community.”