while i am flying. it is a good way to pass the time. >> thank you so much. >> we want to hear what you are reading. send us your list on facebook, twitter or instagram on book tv. >> michelle sullivan is with us today courtesy of jim and christina and robert and eileen. she recently retired as director of corporate social innovation and president of the caterpillar foundation. the philanthropic arm of the $46 billion manufacturing giant caterpillar inc. in addition to her 30 year career holding various leadership positions at the company, she recently helped transform the foundation into one off the world's most influential corporate foundations. through the launch of its collaborative impact platform known as together stronger.

a catalyst for shared prosperity unite businesses, nonprofits, government and citizens to combine their strength for poverty of millions of people worldwide. please give a warm savannah welcome to michelle sullivan. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you to the savannah people feared also to savannah. my first time here i absolutely love it. i will definitely return. i also love the weather. when i left home yesterday in illinois it was minus eight. i greatly appreciate the 60s some degree weather today. [laughter] i also thank you for your time today. take her home and treat her like everybody else.

that is advice the doctor gave my parents over five decades ago. on the day i was born. this is after he took an x-ray because i had a bit of a clubfoot and he discovered that i had a type of dwarfism. i like to think that my parents would have done that anyway. take me home and treat me like everybody else, but the affirmation is always nice. you may not think that was a big deal, but i back in the 60s, people born with a disability were not treated like everybody else. to some extent, that is true today,ev unfortunately. things have definitely improved. i did not know i was in a different until i went to inkindergarten. my big brother had gone to school and i was ready. my mom dropped me off. i walked down the hall like i

owned the place. stuck my chest out. when in the classroom in the teacher told me to go in the circle andan play with the kids until class started. so i did that. i went over and plop myself down and got right into it. it did not take but a few minutes and the boy next to me, i rememberr it like it was yesterday, he said in a very loud voice, hey, why are you so little? what is wrong with you? i did not think he was talking to me so i just kept playing. i had other things to do. it did not take very long and the girlhe on the other side ofe said, yeah. why are you so little? and then i looked up and i could see all the other kids staring at me. i could feel the confidence go right out of me. i did not understand why. have you ever had that feeling of f being overlooked or underestimated or not being

included? most people have some time in their life. my first time when i was five in kindergarten. i had no idea what had just happened. the day went on, i was outside the circle. both literally and figuratively. i was not included. i certainly was not fitting inside the circle. when i l got into the car, my mm said, so how was it? i looked at her and i asked if there was something wrong with me. she paused. i never had my mom pause or hesitate. it kind of scared me. she goes, well, we are all born different. the way god made us. you will be smaller than most people, but you will still be able to do whatever you want to do. maybe in a little different way, no pun intended, but you will be able to do whatever you want. of course i had no idea what she was talking about and it did not omake me feel any better at the

time. as i went into first grade and then into second grade, i was in the same classroom, so they kind over it. they got to know me and it did not become an issue. when i would go out in public, the stairs were always there. there came a point where he did not want to go at all. when i b did, i got behind my parents. i wanted too hide. i did not understand what was happening. it was all because i was shorter. as we got older, the gap increased. it came into second grade and the teacher introduced us to this game called around the world. she used flashcards in somebody stood neck to somebody's desk and whoever got the answer got to move on to the next desk. you got to keep on moving. i got to realize i was good at math.

i was great at math. i always won around the world. when you want, you got to take your animal out of the cage on the bulletin board and put it outside the cage. of course i picked the giraffe, right, it is tall, had a neck, both of which i am not. i would pull my little animal out, put it on the outside because i one for the game. you know, it was the first time that i started to realize what my parents were trying to tell me. they are really two kinds of growth. this is one of the first chapters in my book looking up. we spend about the first 18-20 years growing on the outside. for me, it was 10 years. and then we spend the three quarters of our life growing on the inside. because these kids started to say, you know michelle, the one that is smart and math.

it wasn't, you know michelle, that little girl. it was the first time that i noticed i was known for something other than my size. it was a great feeling. i never had that before. keep in mind, i only had that feeling in school. when i went out in public, it was not there. i started to realize i am still growing on the inside. you grow all of your life. think about your emotional stability, your emotions,s, your relationships, your psychology, all of these things that make who you are continues to evolve the rest of your life. so then came third grade. it was a rainy day. the teacher taught us chest. and then we would play a lot. guess what. i was great at chess.

to the point where i would win tournaments. there was again. i hated walking into the hall. it was a huge room. so many tables. please, god, just get me to my table. i would climb up the table and i would have to sit on my knees or i could not see. most of the time, mostly boys and they would be staring at me forgetting we were playing a game. a lot off times i beat them in 0 minutes because they were busy looking, gawking. but you know what, a win is a win. and, so, i then get the trophy at the end. the first time it happened, this boy brought his mother over when the parents came in to pick us all up. i go, oh, what is he going to say? i had my guard up. he goes, mom, this is that girl i told you about. she won. she won the whole thing.

a girl. this girl. so once again, i was looked up to. and, so, as life goes on, we learn the lessons. it still did not help a lot when i go out in public, i still needed other tools and resources. my mom always told me, start where you are, use what you have and do what you can. that is what we all do in life. we go out a different pace and so forth. and then it came about time to deal with my orthopedic problems my type of dwarfism has a lot of hip and knee problems. i like to say i was born with my check engine light on. that is how it is. my parents took me around the country to try and find someone that could help with my skeletal dysplasia and we were introduced by someone who happened to be the first little person i ever met. i had never met another little

person until i was 12. i thought i was the only one. keep in mind this was before he had cable tv and 300 channels. right? we wenti out to baltimore to jon hopkins to meet the doctor who specializes in skeletal dysplasia. along the way, he called us and in the first thing you started talking to s me was about my personal self. all the other doctors i'd met, because i do have a very type of dwarfism, i am sure they never saw another person like me who has that type of dwarfism. treated me more like a specimen. not this doctor. he asked about school and my personalal life. was i going to college. all of these things. i was 12. i had not even thought about that myself yet. you are more than just your skeletal dysplasia. and, so, i had a series of surgeries at johns hopkins.

the first time i went was in 1979. my first surgery was june 12. i remember it very well. after the surgery, i had this nurse named kathy who was a student nurse. she has about seven years older than me. she was there the whole 10 daves that i was there. she always came in and we really had a connection. i don't know what it was, but she was so open and so caring. she teased me a lot, which i loved. we had ae lot of fun. it was not the most enjoyable environment. kathy made it enjoyable. i thought it was so cool that she was going to college and being a nurse. it was time to go home. she goes, give me a call when you come back in three months for physical therapy. so it was time to come back and mom and i thought, should we call? should we call? my dad goes, call if you want.

what do you have to loose. we call that we did not get a word in edge wise and she said cayou are back in town. she came back. when i stayed there for therapy and my parents had to go back home, it was kathy that took me out. she took me to her house. she would lay me on her kitchen counter, no kidding, and she would do her homework and we would chat. i just thought she was the coolest person. she was my mentor. i looked up to her so much. and it was also kathy that taught me, my parents had tried for years, but it always takes other people, you finally realize you have to let your guard down for people to come in i always had my guard up. even today, you never know what someone is going to come up and say. you are always ready for anything. you have to let your guard down and let people get to know you. and, so, i do that, i did that

through school and people really started to know who i am and what i was about, more than my size. but, it had to be more than that. any time you into a room, do you ever scan the room and you think who can i talk to. feel will be receptive to me and who looks more like something i might be interested in whether you are therefore particular reason you'd who do you want to go talk to? people sometimes will look right over me like i am not even there. i understand that. it is a little awkward. i have learned to make the first move. my parents joke with me that i was born with a gift to gab. i cannot imagine why they say that, but i was. i use that to make the first move and talk to people. and then they get comfortable. you just start chitchatting.

klug goes along with that is a bit of humor. if i needed, i can only reach three. there is somebody in there. you say, you know what, i would really like to see how the view isno on 10, would you mind hittg the button. they are laughing. when that really came in handy, i travel quite a bit for my job. i was on an airplane, you know, nature calls once in a while, so ipl get up and i waddled to the restroom and i asked the flight attendant, would you mind watching the door for me. >> sure. i can't reach the latch. think about how tall it is. i am 4-foot tall, by the way. i am in there doing my duty. just waiting. the door flies open. and it is a man. [laughter] what do you say? i said hello.

i did not know what to say. and why these points are important, these chapters in the book looking up, things about the two types of growth, letting your guard down, making the first move, and for me, asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. i had to ask a flight attendant to help me. i need help all the time. if you are here earlier, i needed help on the stage. it really is a strength, it is not a weakness. the other piece of the story, an one of the chapters, what is also important, whenever someone steps in it, i will say, it is always important that you -- that man felt a lot worse than i did. i sat in there a little longer thanan normal, and i thought, wt

am i going to do? i have got to get out of here. it is a plane. 250 people. what are the odds he is sitting by me. i probably won't even see him again. so, i come out. i am walking to my seat. i was on the aisle. and there he was on the other side of the aisle. and i think he was put there on purpose because it gave me an opportunity to walk up to him. his face was all red. so was mine. i walked up to him, i leaned in and i said, are you going to remember this is much as i am? [laughter] and he goes, he laughs, probably however, i am sure he is not talking about it publicly like i am. [laughter] but, any time somebody does

something like that or says something, and i go into detail on one of the chapters about this because, looking up is about elevating the viewpoint and the value of others. we all have value. i look up to people my whole life. literally. but it taught me the most important posture which is to look uphi to people figurativel. because we all have value. and we are all dealing with challenges every day. you can see one of mine, but it is not my only one. when you see people, and they may not be in the best of moves hundred moods or whatever, think about smiling or making a gesture that gives them a positive feeling. you do not know what they are dealingng with. are they dealing with financial problems?

are they dealing with mental illness? are theyea dealing with infertility #any type of issue. you just do not know. the book is about while you cannot walk in my shoes, minor size one, by the way, we can walk side-by-side which is important. when we get to know each other, just like this gentleman on the plane, we talked the rest of the flight. he has a sport person, so my. we really got to know each other. it started to break the i.c.e. the most important thing for me for that plane ride was to make sure thatt he would talk to someone that was different the next time. that he would not shy away and never look at them and always look downk or look right past them. nobody likes to be overlooked, for whatever reason. it was so important for me that

day to leave him with a positive moment. when the plane landed, he got up and he said, michelle, i know when you sat down somebody lifted their suitcase up. i said, yeah, i have that effect on people. i'm not going to catapult that thing in there. >> he said, well, can i get it down for you. yes, thank you so much. that would not have happened had i not started to talk with him and we start getting to know each other. and, so, when you try to influence people, intimacy always works better than influence. when you start to break that i.c.e. and you start to get to know people and let your guard down, you really come together with someone and move. you start to look up to them. this is important because all my life people said, michelle, you need tofe write a book. what about?

>> about your life. we all have a life. we all have a story. i did not think it was ready yet to write a book. as my life went on, particularly as i started at caterpillar, i started to notice a few things. i may have something to contribute, but i am not ready yet. when i graduated college i interviewed at caterpillar, for instance. i got the job. athis was 31 years ago. there really were not handicap people, are not very many. hiring theirir smallest employe. on top of that, a woman. i had a variety of jobs. it. i worked in marketing, parts, product support, et cetera. when i first went into marketing, it was in the north american commercial division which was the most important division, in terms of sales to the company at the time, in the

80s. i remember walking down the aisle on each side, all glass windows, the managers, half way up there was a wall and then glass. when i walked by, they saw from here. they saw the top of my head. that was it. like my kindergarten day, i remembered the first day walking in there. all they saw was the top of my head. i could hear people drop things. what is that? going right by the window. itw. happens. every office. they didt not know me. like i said, getting to know people, intimacy works better than influence. here i went along the offices and i should not have giggled, but i thought it was funny. they had no idea. the more i went, the more i giggled. and then it was my turn to show my value.

my job was to figure out what their requirements were so that they could do their job better. what information did o they need and then feed that into it and work to get that information to them. it was mead who had to make the first move, as i talk about in my book, to go into these white all-american looking males, which they were back then, introduce myself and they are going, what do you want. i said i'm here to help you. and they said really. i said, yeah, really. we started talking. i went to all the managers and started realizing they all needed for similar type of reporting. so i worked on that. and not long after that, all the reporting came online and they started using it. i would go back and ask how it

was going. as a got familiar with it, it was going really well. and then, funny enough, i remember the day i started walking back down. instead of all the hustle and bustle trying to figure out who just walked by, it was michelle. comell in. come in. i come in and they go this is what i need now. this is great. i go, oh, okay. i could not go down the aisle anymore without getting called into every office. because they saw value in what i was doing. but they had to get to know me and let my -- what my value was. in my book i talk about don't we all have that role to play. you have to show your value to people.e they have to be open to see it. at the end of the day, we all have three choices to make every day. one is we all have challenges and differences. am i going to live on the fringe

and kind of hide in the world and just let it be there or am i going to try and fit into the world as it is today or embrace your differences or your challenges, treat them as assets and realize that they can be used to impact other people. we make that choice every day about whatever your challenges. i have to do it, too. my parentst kicked me in the but when i needed it. we all have pity parties, but they cannot last long. nobody likes a pity party. but you do get down once in a while. i completely understand that. to this day, kathy and i are best friends. shend has impacted so many people's lives. it all started in 1979 in june when i met her. and when you think about someone like that in a friendship that

long, there is something special there. kathy has looked up to so many people because she is now a hospice nurse. a job that i could not do, god bless her. when you think about the type of impact that we all have on each other and that we can make, that is very important. in the book i go on to highlight people who i have looked up if eomy life like kathy. we all need people to hang around with and lean on when something really good happens. when something not so good happens. i call it my kitchen table. you're probably good if something bad happens, don't you call a few people and it's like your kitchen table. we used to have dinner every night. mymy dad would go, how is your day. when you are a kid, the most

exciting thing was johnny puked today. he really did. it went all over the floor. he went into detail. right. other than that, how was your day. they were trying to get out, what did you learn today and so forth. and, so, my kitchen table was very importantas in my life because there were days when i would get teased or got knocked down because i always wanted to be in the middle of everything. when i would get knocked down flat,e be in the emergency room, my parents would say, you know, michelle, you don't always have to be right in the middle of the action and sometimes you have to go to the side and not walk straight through a crowd because people cannot see you. i did not understand that. i kept walking in the middle. it was like a weibel wobble. those things that you hit and it bounces back up. that would be me.

so, when you think about it, who was your kitchen table. and then, once you get your head around whatever your opportunity or challenges, don't you expand out a little bit and you tell more people. i call that my village. i have a tremendous village. just to come here today. i have people who help me get here, help me get on the stage, he'll help me around yesterday. your village changes and your kitchen table changes as your life changes. come and go with friends. you may be have not talked to them for a decade. lo and behold, something happens and you reach out or they read each out to you. it's like no time has passed. that is another piece that you have to ask for help. it is a strength, not a weakness here is one where i had to talk

to my village on a great opportunity. i have been involved in non-for profit since i was a teenager. it is a passion of mine. caterpillar is a passion of mine because my dad worked and retired from cad. my sister still works at cad. the headquarters was in peoria, illinois. i knew i would have a great global career working there. i had the first 23 years and then i met a product manager's office out of the city and my boss sends me an e-mail, all it said was it happened. i'm like, oh crap. now what happened. how often does your boss say either it happened or we have an opportunity for you. i waited a little while to call. i finally call it break. hey what's up. she goes, michelle, it happened. i said what happened? she said that caterpillar foundation job came open.

i write in detail about this because one, i could not believe it. the job really came open. once somebody got it, they kept it for a decade or two, literally. it was started in 1952 and it is a philosophic caterpillar and you make investments all around the world with the partners where we have facilities. it was my dream job. i would always find myself down on the first floor talking to those folks finding out what they are doing. i always wanted that job. it was a highly visible job. it was so impactful which was the most important thing. and she goes, do you want to put in for it. but i knew i could not do it by myself. i went home and i talked to my kitchen table. my sister and my mom. i knew it would impact them if i

got this job. i needed their help to make this work. they said, go for it. we've got you. we've got your back. my mom said, but i want to see the work first. i get first dibs on all your trips. [laughter] i think you got it. so, a bunch of people put in, as you can imagine. my friend leslie, on my behalf, as i write in the book, wrote a note to the hiring manager and gave why she thought i would be great for the job. and so i was one of three people that got interviewed in the hiring manager had to get it okayed by the ceo because they do represent caterpillar, the caterpillar foundation, the brand, everything. .... .... ceo, given a choice. they knew my work.

from the years before that, hanoi see my work because i work a lot of the areas that he did as he moved up. and he gave his blessing. i couldn't believe it. i could not believe it. so i called my mom and my sister and i said i can't believe it. and then it dawned on me. oh, when we going to do. i knew what i would do the job because i was prepared. people have always said, michelle we all have a way to make an impact in here is yours. so i got the job and is one of the best things that ever happened to me because it opened up my eyes to those living in poverty especially extreme poverty. and as i visited around the world, obviously for instance in africa they normally don't see someone like me.

not only little person but one here. for the scooter, so they would stand and pause. so what is interesting is when i would go visit schools, kids came running because they were thinking another person to play with. and we are seeing i die. and in the book i talk about how some people don't care what you look like. so many people know karen here these children who are as happy as could be in at the same aspirations that we all have here. i look up to them so much because they're going to go get it too. they know what they want. our investments are helping. they are growing on the inside as i talk about it. i miss betty was a farmer in uganda and she wanted and needed

money to help her farm a couple of factors in land. and, i mean, with a hope. it is all manual. she went to opportunity international, one of the profits we supported, got a small business loan. one or $200. and as i met with her and her little hunt, she said, i am doing this because i want my children to go to school, education is key. the exact same the my mom told us. my siblings and myself. education. they have the same aspirations as we have here. i look up to betty so much because there she is, day after day farming manually happy as can be, knowing that her children are going to be okay. and it really struck me because

it does not matter what you have, is how you think and what you perspective is. in the same thing when i met with the people who are living in poverty in the united states. a lot of them are mothers. and if you get the mothers and the girls educated in a way that they then support their families, the family gets out of poverty a lot of the times. and some girls and women became a key focus for us. our collaborative platform is to work with although not for profits. we all should work together to help each other and look up to each other. and it was altogether stronger and with a focus on girls and women, to break up the word together, it was together stronger. some people said michelle, you work for caterpillar, your

republican. i've been called a lot of things but. okay. and then other people are saying you work for the foundation. you're a democrat. all right. i said actually i am a collaborator. i think we should all collaborate together and i think we get a bigger bigger impact in that way. so it is funny how we have labels. i get put in a lot of them believe me. and yet at the end of the day i could do anything without other people helping me. i really look up to so many people. anything about making the first move and how the why make an impact on the world, how do i look up to other people. you have everything you need. it is on the heart and inside of you and take the time to really get to know people. a couple that i met, live in

chicago and they go into detail in the last chapter of the book is called the real measure of impact. and it talks about how they made the trip, they retired and they went on vacation and they ended up finding this piece of land in the school with the deacons lived a building where they lived and when they get this apartment because they wanted to start a school. for children with disabilities. they never had the money. they weren't asking me at the time and money. so they started thinking. they went back in the got the kitchen table together, their children, and it just kept gnawing at them. this might be something. and so they go on to raise enough money to open a school. and it's called verizon school.

enemies comfort and swahili. they have about a hundred students and i visited there. and at the time i can only usually spend a couple of hours at each partnership that we had but it's been a full day at the school. in six of the children were little people i noticed. and then others had cerebral policy another disability. so exciting to be there. the children, they live there full time and they get a great education phone, three meals a day computer labs and have everything they need. and we danced and had a great time and i talked to every single student what you think they wanted to be rid they wanted to be accountants and nurses and everything we wanted area i looked up to them and i

told them that i would revisit the school. they have named it xi. in that school is one of the highest performing schools in santa anita. now tell me that they don't look up to those children. children do not get the time of day their panel. there's so well performing that the government has taken notice. and now they make it so that businesses should hire people with disability because the school is highlighting how successful they are in the school. in the education. so think about them dropped a pebble with the school and how the ripples has gone out. and made a generational impact because they went on vacation there.

i wish i could've made such an impact that they have. and so when you think about your life and hope you've looked up to and whose looked up to you, rarely in life you do anything all by yourself. think about and reflect what you've done in life and have you been there alone. or has there been people behind you the hallway. and think about who you been behind and the successes you've made for other people. because it is quite exciting. and sometimes take a step back though. all of the signs my mom and dad tell me, michelle stoco right in the middle market in the middle of everything. think about what you're doing before you get into it. i remember i left because i think about all of these lessons might rent taught me. i was in college one day and i will tell you all of the

stories. i was late for class and i need to stop at the student center to grab a sandwich and go to the building behind there. there was a semi- when i got on my car it was right in front of the door. and to me some eyes really long. and i pondered for a moment, that is a long walk around. find the right idea, i was just going to cut under it. right down the middle. so i walked under it and then the engine started. i won't tell you what i thought. it was one of those omg moments. before we knew it was. i only have one speed. i walk. that is it. i did find another speed that day.

luckily, when you start a semi, it doesn't just take off like a car. the kind of lunges a little bit. and i hurried across, when i got through, the drivers hanging out the window. it is like, is looking at me. and i said thanks. and he's just looking. i can't imagine what he thought. so they go through life, i still remember those lessons that my parents taught me. i still ponder them because i want to make sure that i can be all i can be. but at the end of the day, the real impact is we all want to be seen for who we are and what we can be. the greatest gift i feel that you can give anybody is to not only see them for all they can be but you also let them see in

themselves but maybe they haven't seen there. and to me that is exciting. so many people done that for me. in a about that in the book and the people that i met with the foundation and the people i've met throughout my life but it helped. then i get to help them back now. what is interesting is in 2018, we saved the point of light reward. award. present hw bush started as about an award the first service of volunteering. no so well deserving because they totally change the attitude of the country. because of the school. not to mention impact they are having on those children and families. when i think about the main points of life, and also looking up, to me it is like a

lighthouse, overlooking the ocean. and it's like his moving. and it's not shining on itself, it is there to sign for others. it doesn't choose who is going to shine on. it sits and waits for whoever to cross its light or it's been right. it is there to protect, serve and to eliminate the path for others. and it sits and waits for something to pass through that beam of light. so for me, all of the people who have illuminated the path for me and how i've done my small part takes a lot of people, the foundation another people it partnered with, that we have a little bit of impact to illuminate the path for others. so think about as you read the book, who has illuminated your

path in his path can you eliminate and look up to them. keep looking up because of you is great. thank you. [applause]. you have any questions. thank you >> how did the book come about. did you start writing or did you are approached. thank you for that. especially after the foundation work, i started to figure out all of the people is a said left illuminated my path. how i see are so uplifting. then i thought i had a story. i didn't want it to be just about me.

it is important, the majority of the book is about others. and the impact that they have made and how they made that impact. and how you can make an impact in the world because the world is very divisive. or divided today. we need to come together. stop using labels for whatever the labels people give us. i truly believe that if we come together more, you have more of an impact on everybody. instead of being so divided. he used to be when i was a kid, we didn't always agree but we respected each other. today that is not the case if you don't approve me, utterly wrong in the subway to be. i think we need to be much more collaborative and compromising. the title looking up, obviously i look up but it also taught me

the greatest thing. to have an elevated view of others. i think we should all have that. we all have value. as you leave today, the new people around you. the view is great. keep looking up. thank you. [applause]. >> you don't know you're different until you took somebody tells you. [laughter]. experiences, she is in her 30s now, and she also experiences the time in public where the stairs, and i experienced them with her. the stairs and they are just

there in adults as well. it's just so intense. just one cringe for her as well. she is very vocal. she has worked up an outside of the home, she's the first of four through the school system and things like that. she has a huge group of friends. i have noticed when we are in public, i can see her kind of melt into the wheelchair. >> i feel the same sometimes. i will say it doesn't bother me near as much as it used to. but i will say that there are days where it gets to you a lot. and what you gonna do. you have a choice. he has tried to move past it. i will someone is making it known that they are looking for

making fun or something that i will go over and turn this myself. i will introduce myself. it is hard to think poorly of someone and they know a little bit about you. sign do tend to lean and more. but there are days where i will just walk away. during the days a few days i say words to myself. i don't reciprocate back to them because that will not do anything. my family feels the same way as you do for her. luckily, there's more people who are open to you, and remember you can see our differences. we all have challenges. the same people are challenged every day where we don't know exactly what it is or what is wrong, what is bothering them or what they are dealing with. so we need to be patient and

open. and help them if we can. maybe of knowledge them that they may be having a bad day but don't think poorly of them. and don't judge them. because we don't know what happened. yet to recognize that in other people as well. it is difficult. i agree. thank you for your time today.