Dear Madam President Quotes

“People take their cue from you.” That’s it. If you act like you belong in the room, people will believe you do. If you act like your opinion matters, others will, too. Simple, true, empowering, and life-changing advice. It is applicable for all women in every endeavor we undertake.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“When it comes to pleasing the masses in a patriarchal society, women seeking power can’t win playing by the old man-centric rules. This is why we should stop expecting to find ourselves reflected in our country’s history and models of power, and write our own story.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“A woman can be both strong and emotional.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“have always thought that I could do any job a man can do just as well as him. Only recently have I come to realize that I don’t want to. I want to do the job the best way I can do it, not the way he would.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“TSAHIJDL. Get to know it. Whether you are running for president or any woman who challenges the status quo. “There’s something about her I just don’t like.” And its sister complaint: “There’s something about her I just don’t trust.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Feeling the pain is part of standing in the storm. You shouldn’t try to escape it or suppress the grief the pain causes. The pain isn’t what will defeat you. What matters is what you choose to do once the storm passes.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Predictably, there were a lot of people who lamented that “if only we could have seen this Hillary during the campaign, things would have turned out different.” That’s all bullshit. She was always the same person. We are the ones who perceive her differently in different situations.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Think of all the times you have heard someone say they passed on sharing something that was particularly moving because they didn’t think they could get it out without crying. That’s a shame. Think of all the incredible things we didn’t get to hear because someone was scared we would see them cry. In”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Madam President, I have a suggestion for two new guidelines all women can adopt in the workplace to make it better suited to our qualities. Let’s nod less and cry more.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Could it be that women are meant to go only so far in the world? No, that can’t be it. Women haven’t plateaued; it is the rules we were playing by that are outdated.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Whether or not you are defeated is your choice. Defeated is when you fail to look your opponent in the face and call them out on their hate or lies. Defeated is when you cower when attacked. Defeated is when you give up the fight. Worse, defeated is when you give up hope.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“In one memo a person would argue that she needed to project strength but couldn't be shrill, couldn't ever shout but needed to show passion, couldn't ever look weak but should show more vulnerability. The main advice in each memo was for her to be 'authentic.' I complained to Hillary one day about how frustrating all of it was. She came up with the best response to this kind of advice. 'Tell them,' she said, 'that you really appreciate the advice but what would really help Hillary is if they could tell you the name of a woman on the world stage who does it exactly right.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Women of the baby boomer generation faced these same constraints in all professions. There was no other blueprint to work from other than to show that a woman could do the job as it had always been done, by a man. Follow our model, be tough, prove yourself by the standards we set. You weren’t even supposed to look like a woman. Dress like a man’s version of a woman. Our eyes can handle that. Think of how Patti Smith, Joan Jett, and Pat Benatar, women pioneers in rock music, presented themselves to the world: leather, black blazers, denim. Our eyes accepted them as women tough enough to take on a role meant for a man. Woman with a guitar. Woman with a gavel. Woman with a podium. Woman with an oval-shaped office. Women with objects of power. It has taken time for our eyes to adjust to them.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Show us what you have been through. It tells us what we can survive.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“We have no idea what beneficial qualities we might be stifling in ourselves as long as we continue to follow an outdated set of behavioral rules that were designed to permit women to play a niche role in a workplace built for men.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“The hurdle she never quite surmounted was having us all accept that it’s okay for a woman to have the ambition to want to be in charge.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“We think a woman shines brightest when she is selflessly putting others’ interests above her own. It is more flattering than seeking her own spotlight.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“I have always thought that I could do any job a man can do just as well as him. Only recently have I come to realize that I don’t want to. I want to do the job the best way I can do it, not the way he would. That’s what this letter is about—how women can lead in a new way. How we can create a new model of leadership in our own image, not a man’s.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Think of how Patti Smith, Joan Jett, and Pat Benatar, women pioneers in rock music, presented themselves to the world: leather, black blazers, denim. Our eyes accepted them as women tough enough to take on a role meant for a man.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Her-story. Don't search for your role is his-tory, write your own. The future is female. The past was too it's just that no one thought it important enough to bother writing it all down.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Tell them,” she said, “that you really appreciate the advice but what would really help Hillary is if they could tell you the name of a woman on the world stage who does it exactly right.” No one could ever produce a name, of course. When it comes to pleasing the masses in a patriarchal society, women seeking power can’t win playing by the old man-centric rules. This is why we should stop expecting to find ourselves reflected in our country’s history and models of power, and write our own story.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“The charge now is to move from understanding that we are bound together to choosing to be united. To live up to our best values so everyone feels like they are part of this country and can see the path for how they can succeed here. To build enough understanding among all of us that a gain for one isn’t seen as a loss by another.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Men spent centuries building the professional world, devising rules to make sure it was a comfortable place for them and that it was geared toward their particular qualities and skills. Like any good guest, women have looked for clues on how we are to behave in this foreign land. We have tried to understand and follow the local customs. We have intuited that in this world we are to be obliging, calm under pressure, and diligent, and to always keep our emotions in check. Our adaptive skills have served many of us well. But we aren’t in a man’s world anymore. Now it’s our world. And shame on us women if we don’t do something to change the way this game is played so that everybody is able to bring their best to the effort. Let’s embrace a new way of working that is equally geared toward our own qualities and skills.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“most Americans did think Hillary Clinton could do the job of president. A majority of voters in 2016 were ready to accept a woman in charge, and that’s important progress to be celebrated. The hurdle she never quite surmounted was having us all accept that it’s okay for a woman to have the ambition to want to be in charge. It’s”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“In a sentence, I think that’s what happened to Hillary and why so many people didn’t like her or trust her. She has been moving forward and drawing fire for forty years.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“We think a woman shines brightest when she is selflessly putting others’ interests above her own. It is more flattering than seeking her own spotlight. I have to tell you that when I first joined Hillary’s campaign, I didn’t think it was going to be that hard or even that big of a deal to elect the first woman president.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“Don’t search for your role in his story— write your own.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“TSAHIJDL. Get to know it. Whether you are running for president or any woman who challenges the status quo. “There’s something about her I just don’t like.” And its sister complaint: “There’s something about her I just don’t trust.” It’s what people said about her twenty-five years ago during her husband’s 1992 presidential campaign.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“The gratifying moment is simply the one in which your own mind decides to let you believe you have done your best and your effort has mattered.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World

“When the unimaginable happens, imagine what else may be possible.”
― Jennifer Palmieri, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World