Frances Hesselbein Quotes

I live to inspire girls, volunteers, Girl Scout staff and alumni

I am involved in a lot of nonprofits. And when I reached the ripe old age of 60, I wanted to provide leadership to some I had been involved in.

Service is an opportunity for young women to really empower themselves.

JROTC students make a commitment to serve their communities at an early age, and they learn the discipline and habits to be future leaders.

Girls on the Run is an organization that believes every girl can embrace who she is. It's all about girl empowerment. I've volunteered for different things before, but I didn't get to work hands-on. I thought this program sounded wonderful because I could go in and work with girls face-to-face.

Frequent worshippers are also significantly more active citizens. They are more likely to belong to community organizations, especially those concerned with young people, health, arts and leisure, neighborhood and civic groups and professional associations.

My mission in life is to assist women in social and political empowerment through business and education.

As a little girl in Arizona, none of the women in my family had a cultural connection with Girl Scouts, but the opportunity resonated with my mother as a platform that would allow me to excel in school.

Girl Scouts is a girl-serving organization, so our members are girls.

Years ago, as I was beginning my professional career on Wall Street, I volunteered as a Big Brother in New York City.

I love traveling around and talking to women in groups like the Girl Scouts, and being able to work with them is such an honor. For me, it's always about working really hard and being able to help other people, which is what I've done with both of my books.

Sometimes when I speak to groups or I'm interviewed by a journalist, I ask them to imagine their communities without Girl Scouts - to imagine the thousands of food drives and clothing and toy collections that would never take place if not for Girl Scouts.

I was a Brownie Scout mother.

When I grew up, and I think about City Council, I look at the men and women then - these were people who just wanted to be a part of the community and give something back. They weren't necessarily trying to use it as a steppingstone to something else. I looked up to those people.

There are a lot of ways to serve and only one is being president.

I've been really fortunate that I've worked with a lot of strong women who are also mothers.

I like being a Girl Scout.

I've been so fortunate to work with so many successful women who are moms as well.

When I was a young man, I worked at the Boys and Girls Club in St. Louis, Missouri, and another boys club called Matthews-Dickey.

I'm always entrenched in the community. I'm always working with the high schoolers, no matter what school they're at. I'm always in my community.

To young professionals - and particularly women - looking to advance, it is imperative to keep your life in balance.

I have received so many letters, messages, emails, testimonies of women whom I meet in international conferences, wherever it may be, who tell me, 'It's great that you have balanced life and work so successfully.' I now think I have underestimated that, the 'role model' aspect of my life, I must say.

Reading has helped motivate me to become a spokesperson for programs like the WrestleMania Reading Challenge. It has motivated me to become more involved in my community and to keep learning new things.

To me I think leadership is activism. It's giving back to your community, it's investing in oneself, and you know women and children.

What I tell women who want to get on corporate boards is to get connected! Do volunteer work, network in business, join community organization where you can demonstrate your leadership capabilities and other people can see your skills being applied.