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Search every verified Lea Goldman interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. At a 2018 SheBelieves Summit, Lea Goldman, then editor-in-chief of Lifetime Television, spoke about self-esteem, confidence, and motivation. She cited survey findings that men apply for jobs when meeting 60% of qualifications while women apply only when meeting 100%, and that 46% of men always negotiate salary after a job offer compared to 30% of women. Goldman stated that the gender pay gap begins with a first job and that men account for 75% of conversation in conference rooms. She advised attendees to put away phones during meetings, ask for informal reviews, attend conferences, and network by following up with speakers. Goldman encouraged young women to negotiate for small salary increases on first job offers to build the habit, and said mistakes should be owned and leveraged as opportunities.
“Men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications; women apply only when they meet a hundred percent of them. Understand what that means: if there are ten criteria, men hit six and they say I'm good enough for that job. Women feel the need to hit all of those criteria. The net result is that men have ac...”
“Forty-six percent of men always negotiate a salary after a job offer; only thirty percent of women do. Now I am finally at the stage in my career where I actually offer jobs to people somewhat regularly and I find this true out of the gate. I don't think there's ever been a single time in my career where a woman negoti...”
“You all know that there's a gender pay gap in this country, right? You all know that it begins with that first job. It doesn't happen that you hit your stride mid-career and suddenly you see a pay gap. It happens with your very first job dollar-for-dollar: the man is gonna get a dollar and you're gonna get about 80 cen...”
“Men account for 75% of the conversation in conference rooms and business meetings. This happens all the time. I go into a conference room, and I watch very closely: women might show up late or just hang out by the doors waiting to see what happens, and then the men take all the seats and participate.”
“It's okay to put your hat in the ring for things that might be a reach. That's what pursuing your goals looks like. You have to be reaching. It's too easy to go after the things where you hit all five of these so I'm certain that I'm qualified for that. The goal is to challenge yourself; the goal is to learn.”
“You need to strengthen your knowledge? Would you like me to go to more conferences? Would you like me to take extra courses? Do you think I'm not prepared enough with my homework? What does that mean? You need to work on your leadership skills? Again, what does that mean? Sometimes it just means I want to see you raise...”
“Your mistakes are opportunities. Are you leveraging them? You screwed up, you missed a deadline, you made a huge mistake, you blew it. Now what? You might have learned from it, but how do you leverage that mistake? You have to start telling people about it. You have to own it.”
“Contacts are priceless. At least once in your career, you will be able to ascribe a job lead and opportunity to a friend, a family friend, a contact. That's the way it works. When you make one, keep that person in your rolodex, keep that person in your contacts, tuck the phone number in, write a line or two in the note...”
“How you carry yourself telegraphs something, and I can tell you that's a fact because I worked in the business of making sure that impressions were carefully calculated and that they were telegraphed a certain way. How you carry yourself sends a message.”
“I always encourage young women on their first job offers to ask for something negligible, a couple thousand even, just to get in the habit of asking and just to know what it feels like to get the yes. Because very rarely have I found when I have encouraged people to do this, do they get turned down on a couple of grand...”
Finding and tapping into your internal motivation is critical as you begin a successful career. Learn tactics that will help maintain ...
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