emancipation proclamation sets them off on a new track. >> to view the rest of talk visit the website, booktv.org, type his name or his book into the search box at the top of the page.. the f michele sullivan is with us tonight courtesy of jim and christina got robert and eileen mcnamara. she recently retired as director of the corporate social innovation and president of the caterpillar foundation. the philanthropic arm of the 46 billion-dollar manufacturing giant, caterpillar inc.. in addition to her 30 year career (-open-paren his leadership positions at the company, she recently helped letransform the foundation into one of the world

post-influential corporate foundations for the launch of its platform known as together, stronger for shared prosperity that unites businesses, nonprofits, government and citizens to combine their strengths to alleviate poverty for millions of people aworldwide. please give a festival people. you put on a fabulous event and also to savanna. my first time here and i absolutely love it. i also love the weather. when i returned home yesterday it was minus eight so i really appreciate the 60s some degree weather today. i also thank you for your time today.

take her home and treat her like everybody else. that is advice to doctor gave my parents over five decades ago on the day that i was born. this is after he took an x-ray because i ha i had a bit of a ct lifoot and he discovered that i had a type of work i.org is -- type of drawfism. i like to think that my parentse would have taken you treated me like everyone else, but the information is nice. you may not think b that is a bg deal, but back in the 60s, people born with a disability were not treated like everybody else and to some extent it is true today unfortunately. things have definitely improved. until i went to kindergarten my brother had gone to school and r was ready. my mom dropped me off, i went

down the hall like i owned the d the place, stuck my chest out, went in the classroom and the teacher told me to go in a circle and play until class started so i did that. i plopped myself down and got right into it. and it didn't take but a few minutes the boy next to me, i remember it like itre was yesterday he said in a loud voice why are you so little flecks what is wrong with you. was talking tohe me so i kept playing. i had other things to do. didn't take very long to the girl on the other side of the said yeah, why are you so little. and then i looked up and i could see all of the kids staring at me and could feel the confidence goes right out of me, and i didn't understand why. have you ever had that feeling of being underestimated or not

being included? most people have at some time in their life, but my first time was when i was five in kindergarten. i have no idea what happened. as the day went on, i was outside of the circle both literally and figuratively. i wasn't included. i certainly wasn't fitting inside of the circle. when i got in the car my mom said so how was it? i looked at her and said is there something wrongi with the. she paused. i've never had my mom has a page, so it kind of scared me. she goes we are all born different. that's the way god made us, and you will be smaller than most people, but you're still going to 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 if it

didn't make me feel any better at the time. but as i went into first grade and then into second grade, the kids -- i was in the same classroom, so they kind of got over it and got to know me and it didn't become an issue. but when i go out into the public, the staring was always there. there came a point i didn't want to go out at all and when i did, i hid behind my parents. i wanted to hide. i didn't understand what was happening. happening. it was all because i w was shorter. and as we got older, the gap increased. so it came into second grade into the teacher introduced us to the game called around the world. she's used flashcards and somebody stood next tody somebody's desk and whoever got the answer first got to move the desk. whoever one is to keep moving. and i've come to realize i was good at math but.

i was great at math, and i always wanted around the world. and when you want and you've got to take your animal out of the cave on the bulletin board and put it outside of the cage. and of course i picked giraffe. it's tall, it had a knack, both of which i am not. so i put him on the outside. it was the first time i started to realize what my parents were trying to tony. there's two kinds of girls and this is one of the first chapters in my book, looking up. we spent the first 18 to 20 years growing on the outside. for me, it was ten years. then we spent three quarters of our life growing on the inside. because these kids started to say you know, the one that's smart in math, it wasn't you

know michele, that little girl. it was the first time i noticed i was known for something other than my size and there was a great feeling. keep in mind i only had the feeling of school. in public that wasn't fair that i started to realize i'm still growing on thehe inside. think about your emotional stability, emotions, relationships, psychology, all theset things that make you are continue to evil of your life. so then came the third grade and it was a a rainy day. the teacher taught us chess and then we would've played a lot. guess what. i was great.

to the point i would win tournaments. there i was again. i hated walking into the holes. it was a huge room, so many tables. when i would walk in, everybody was staring and i just was like please just give me to my table. i had to set up on menus or i couldn't see. and most of the time they were mostly boys and they would be staring at me, forget we were playing a game and i would beat thebespending ten minutes becaue they were busy looking. i wanted to win. [laughter] and so i then get the trophy at the end and the first time it happened i would say what is he going to say. i have my guard up and he would say this is the girl i told you about. a

she won the whole thing. so once again, i was looked up to. as life goes on, they learned the lesson and it still didn't help a lot when i would go out in public and they still need other tools and resources. and my mom always told me start where you are, use what you have and do what you can and that is what people do in life and we go at a different pace and sot forth. i like to say that i was born with my check engine light on.

the first thing the you started talking to me about was my personal self. there was a person like me that hahave that tight and they tread me like a specimen. he asked about school and my personal life, was i going to college, all these things. i hadn't even thought of that yet, butho his point was you are more than just your skeletal dysplasia. so i had the surgery and the

first time i went was 1979. my first was june 12. i remember it very well. after the surgery, i had a nurse who was about seven years older than me. and she was there the whole time i was there and we had a connection. i don't know what it is, but she was so open and caring. we had a lot of fun because it she made it enjoyable, and i thought it was so cool she was going to college and became a nurse. and it was time to go home and she saidid give me a call when u come backon in three months for physical therapy. so it's time to come back and we thought should we call worship and the call an they called and

they want to. we didn't even get a word in and she came back and i stayed for therapy and my parents had to go back home it was kathy that took me out. she took me to her house, put me on the kitchen counter, no kidding, she would do her homework and we with chad and i thought she was just the coolest person. she was my mentor. she really told me you have to let your guard down and let people get to know you.

i did that through school and people started to know who i am and what i was about more than my size. but it have to be more than that. the only time you walk in the room, do you ever scanned the room and think who can i talk to, who will be receptive to be and this was more like something i might be interested whether it is for a particular reason, who do you want to go talk to. sometimes people will look over me like i'm not even there and i understand that. so i learned to make the first move and my parents joke with me that i was born with the gift to talk. i can't imagine why they say that, but i was. so i used that to make the first group tot talk to people and thn they get comfortable and you

start talking. that goes along with that is a bitng of humor. if i need to go to floor ten, i can only reach three and if there's somebody in there you say you know what, i would like to see the view on ten, wha woud you hit the button and when that came in handy i traveled quite a bit for my job, so i was on an airplane and nature calls once in a while. so, i get up and wobble walk oue restroom and asked the flight attendant would you mind watching the doorr for me, sure. think about how high it is. i am 4 feet tall by the baseline in their just waiting and the door flies open and it's a man.

i said hello. i didn't know what to say. these are chapters in the book looking up, things about the two types of growth within your guard down, making the first move in for me asking for help is a strength not a weakness. i had to ask the flight attendant to help me. if you were here earlier i needed help on this stage. the centerpiece of the story was also important whenever someone steps in it i will say, it's always important that you try to have them stay safe. he felt a lot worse than i did. i sat there a little longer than

normal and i thought what am i going to do. i've got to get out of here. it's a plane, 250 people what's the odds he's sitting by me. i probably won't even see him again so i come out, i'm looking for my seat, i was on the isle and there he was on the other side of the aisle. and i think he was put there on purpose because it gave me the opportunity to walk up to him from his face was red, so was mine. i leaned in and i said are you going to remember this as much as i am. [laughter] and he laughed at and said probably. however, i'm sure he probably isn't talking about it publicly likeho i am. [laughter]

that anytime somebody does something like that or says something and i go into detail in one of the chapters about this because looking up is about elevating the viewpoint and the value of others. we all have value. i've looked up to people my whole life, literally. but it taught me the most important foster which is to look up to people figuratively because we all have value and we are all dealing with challenges every day. you can see one of my, but it's not my only one so when you see people and they may not be in the best mood smiling or making a gesture that gives them a positive feeling because you don't know what they are doing. are they dealing with financial

problems, are they dealing with mental illness, are they dealing with infertility? any type of issue you just don't know. and the book is about, you can't walk in my shoes -- mine rsi is won by the way -- they can walk side by side which is vitally important. to get to know people, just like this gentle man on the plane, we talked the rest of the flight. he was a sports person, so am i.. we got to know each other and started to break the ice. the most important thing for me that plane ride was to make sure that he would talk to someone who was different the next time, that he wouldn'txt shy away and never look at them or look down into the past and because nobody likes to be overlooked for whatever reason and it is so

important for me that they to leave him with a positive moment so when the plane landed, he got up ande said i noticed when you sat down somebody lifted your suitcase up. i said i have that affect on people, i can look up i'm not going to catapult the thing in their. he said well, can i get it down for you and i said yes, thank you so much. that wouldn't have happened had i not started to talk to him and we started getting to know each other. so, when you try to influence people, intimacy always works better than influence. when you start to break the ice and start to get to know people and let your guard down, you start to look up to them and this is important because all my life people said you need to write a book and i'm like what

about. we all have a life, we all have a a story. as my life went on i started to notice a few things. i may have something to contribute, but i'm not ready yet so when i graduated college and interviewed at caterpillar and got the job this was 31 years ago there really were not very many handicapped people and she hired the smallest employee and on top of that, a woman. i had a variety of jobs, it, marketing, product p support, etc.. when i first went into marketing it wasas in the the most importt in terms of sales.

i remember walking down the aisle and all glass windows half way up there was a wall and then glass. when i walked by the slow from here up, the top of my head. that's it. and like in my kindergarten days, i remember the first day walking in and all they saw was and i could hear people like dropping things and i'm like what is that, like just going right by the window and it happened at every office. they didn't know me. so here i went along the offices and i shouldn't have giggled but i thought it was funny. they had no idea. the more offices i went to the more i giggled and then it.

my job is to figure out what their requirements were so they could do their and then give that to it work to get that information to them. so it was me that had to go into these white all-american looking males which they were back then i introduce myself and they are going what do you want. i am here to help you. and we would i start talking. i went to all the managers and started realizing they all needed a similar type of reporting so i worked on that and after that all of the reporting team online and they started singing. i'd go back and ask how it's going and has the.

i remember i started walking back down and instead of all of the hustle and bustle figuring out who just walked by, they would say the show,w, come in. this is what i need now. this is great. i couldn't go down the isle anymore without getting called into every office because they saw value in what i wasas doing. but they have to get to know me and what my value wise and in the book i talk about what they all have a role to play. you have to show your value is andho they we have three choices to make everyday. one is we all have challenges and differences. am i going to kind of hide in

the world and just letet it be worth am i going to try to get into the world as it is today or increase your differences were challenges, treats them as assets and realize they can be used to infect other people and we make that choice every day about whatever your challenge is and i have to do that, too. my parents kicked me whenever we needed. they all have pitwe all have pit they can't last long. nobody likes the pity party but you do get down once in a while and i understand that. and to this day, kathy and i are best friends. she said in gym class and.

she has looked up to so many people. when you think about the impact we have on each other that is very important. in the buck, i go on to highlight the people at the eiffel to and we all need to lean on them when something really good and when something is good happens. and i call it my kitchen table. when something -- you probably go when something bad happens, don't just a call it you people, like your kitchen table we would have dinner every night and mom and dad would say how was your day and of course when you are treated to most exciting thing

is johnny puked today. it went all over. he went into detail. other than that, how was your day. get at whatying to did you learn and so forth. so, my kitchen table was very important because there were days i would get teased or get knocked down because i always wanted to be in the you know you don't always have to be right in the middle of the action and secondly, sometimes you have to go to the side and thoughtful. i was like a weeble wobble, one of those things you hate and it

bounces back up. when you think about it, is your kitchen table. once you get your head around whatever your opportunity or challenge is, you expand and tell more people and i called my village and i have a tremendous village just to come here today i have people help me get on a stage in your village changes and is your life changes. maybe you have a friend and then some and it's like no time has passed. asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. here's one i talked about my

great opportunity. i've been involved in the process since i was a teacher and it was a passion of mine. and caterpillar is a passion of mine because my dad retired in ainu i would have a great global career working there and i had the first 23 years in. my boss sent me an e-mail and all he said was it's happened. how often does your boss say it happened or we have an opportunity for you? so i waited a while to call. i say what's up, and she goes to show, it happened. i said what happened? she's job came open.

i write in detail about this because i couldn't believe it. the job came open when somebody got a. and you make investments all around the world with the partners we have a facility. it was my dream job. it was my dream job. i would find myself talking with folks finding out what they are doing a teary-eyed always wanted that job. it was the highly visible job and so impactful, which was the most important thing. i knew i couldn't do it by myself. i went home and i talked to my sister and my mom because i knew it would impact them if i got

this job. i needed their help to make this work and they said go for it, we've got your back. my mom said that i want to see the work first, i get first dibs on all of your trips. i was like you've got it. so a bunch of people put in as you could imagine, my friend leslie on my behalf as i write in the book wrote a note to the person hiring manager indicates why she thought i would be great for the job. i was one of three people that got interviewed and they had to get it okayed. they have the caterpillar foundation, the brand and everything. so, the hiring manager shared with the ceo this choice.

back then he had always seen my work because i worked in a lot of the same areas and he gave his blessing. i couldn't believe it. so, i called my mom and my sister like i can't believe it. then it dawned on me. i knew what i was going to do because i was prepared and people have always said we all have a way to make an impact. here's yours. so i got the job and it was one of the best things to happen to me because it opened my eyes to those living in poverty especially i extreme poverty. as i visited around the world obviously for instance in africa they normally don't see someone

like me not only a little person, but blond hair, or with a scooter so they would stand and pause. vwhen i would go visit schools, the kids came running thinking another person to play with. in the book i talk about how some people don't care. i would look up to them so muchi because they are going to get it, too. they know what they want but it's all internal to them and they are growing on the inside as i talked about. and i met betty and she needed

money to help farm her land and it's all manual. we got a small business loan and as i met with her she said i'm doing this because i want my children to go to school. education is key to. they have the same aspirations for themselves and their family as weatat have here. i look up to her 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 struck me because it

doesn't matter what you have. it's how you think and what your perspective is. if you get the mothers and the girls educated in a way that they then support their families and they get out of poverty and it became a key focus for us. the collaborative platforms to work for a not-for-profit. it was altogether stronger and when we focus it was all to get her stronger. so people are like you worked at caterpillar, you are republican.

i've been called a lot of things, but okay. i said actually i am a collaborator we should collaborate together and i think you get a bigger impact that way so it is funny how we have labeled in silos and i look up to so many people and when you think about making the first move and how do i make an impact on the world, how do i look up to other people, you have everything you need. it's all in the heart and inside of you to take the time to get to know people and they told me you lived in chicago.

i go into detail in the last chapter of the book called the real measure of impact and talks about the trip they've retired and they went on vacation and ended up finding this piece of land in the building where the deacons live instead we got this farmland because they wanted to start a school with children with disabilities but we've never had the money. they were not asking for the money so they started thinking and went back and caught the kitchen table together and it kept gnawing at them that this might be something. soey they go out to raise enough money to open a school and that

means comfort in swahili. they have about a hundred students. i visited there and at the time i can only usually spen could oa couple hours on each partnership but i spent a whole day at this school and six of the children were little people, i noticed. and another had several cerebral palsy. they would get a great education, food. i talked to everyo single studet what do you think they wanted to be? accountants, and nurses, everything we wanted. i told them i will be back to

visit a school. what's interesting is they totally impacted the country because that school is one of the highest performing schools in tanzania. tell me they don't look up to those children. children do not get the time of day there at all. they've taken notice and now they make it so businesses should hire people with a disability because the school is inhighlighting how success they are in the school and in t the education. so, think about the drop a pebble with the school and how the ripples have gone out and utmade a generational impact because they went on vacation in tanzania.

i wish i could have made such an impact as they have. rarely in life do you do everything all by your self.n about and reflect on what you've done in life and have you been there alone or have there been people behind you the whole way? think about who you've been behind and to the successes that you've paiyouth need for other e because it is quite exciting. sometimes i take a step back for instance all those times my mom and dad told me don't go right down the middle. think about what you are doing before you get into it. i think about these lists in my parents told me. i won't tel will tell you all ts

from college. i was late for class and i needed to stop at the student center to get a sandwich and go to the building behind it there. there was a semi-right in front of the door and to be semi-czar really long. i paused for a moment and thought that is a long walk around so i had the bright idea that i would cut into it right down the middle. then the engine started. i won't tell you what i thought. it was a moment before we knew what it omg was. i only have one speed. i walked. i did find another one that day.

[laughter] locally, when you start up a semi, it doesn't just take off like a car. i hurried up the cross and i got through and the driver is hanging on the window like i just popped out, he's looking at me and i go thanks. i can't imagine whathe he thoug. as i go through life i still thl remember those lessons that my parents taught me, and i still ponder them, because i want to make sure i can be all i can be because att the end of the day the impact is we want to be seen for who we are and what we can be. the greatest gift i feel you can give anybody is to not only let them know you see them for all they can be, but you also let

them see in themselves but maybe they haven't seen into me, that is exciting. and so many people have done that to me. and i talk about that in the book. and the people i met with the foundation and the people i've met throughout my life that i felt and then i get to help them back now. what's interesting is 2018 date received the points of light are award which president h. w. bush started and it's what you get for service and volunteering. and if they were so well deserving because they totally changed the attitude of the country because of their school. not to mention the impact they are having on the children and families. and when i think about the main points of life and also looking up, to me it is like a white

house overlooking the ocean and its light is beaming. and it's not shining on itself. it's there to shine for others. and it doesn't choose who is going to shine on. it waits for whoever to cross its life. it's to protect, serve and illuminate the path for others and it waits for something to hass it the beam of light. so, for me all the people that have eliminated that path for me is inum the book and i've done y small part thanks to a lot of people, the foundation and others by partner with that we have had our impact to illuminate the path for others. so think about as you read the book who has eliminate your path

and keep looking at because the view is great. [applause] >> now if you have any questio questions. i think you. >> how did the book come about? >> i should go back to that. after the foundation worked, i started to figure out all the people that have illuminated my past but who i see are so uplifting. then i thought i had a story. i didn't want it to be just about me.

it was a majority of the book and about others and be a hacked they've made and how you can make an impact because the world is very divided today. and we need to come together and stop using the labels &-and-sign lows -- labels and silos. instead of being so divided. it used to be when i was a kid you didn't always agree but you would respect each other. today that isn't the case. if you don't agree i'm going to prove you wrong. i think they need to be more collaborative and compromising and go from there. looking up, it taught me the greatest posture as i said and that is to have an

elevated view of others and i think we should all have that. we all have value and as you leave today meet the people around you. the view is great. keep looking up. thank you. [applause] we have a question. yep. [inaudible] you don't know you are different until somebody tells you. [laughter] >> my question is she still experiences though, in her 30s now and also experiences those times in public where they are

adults as well. they are j just so intense that you just want to cringe for her as well. is there anything -- she's very vocal, she's worked outside of the home and is the first to forge through the school system and things like l that. she has a huge group of friends. i've noticed we can see her melt into the wheelchair. >> i feel the same sometimes. it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. you try to move past if someone is making it known that they are

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

and help them ifan we can or acknowledge that they may be having a bad day for one reason or another but don't think poorly of them and don' you done them because we don't know what hahappens. so, you have to recognize that in other people as well, but it's difficult. i agree. thank you for your time today. [applause] >> some people say every pandemic swept around the world in this century has begun in southern china, and there's a reason they think this is sort

of a hot spot for the flu and that is a to sweep the world you have to get a flu that is so different everyone is susceptible to it. ..

>> worker michelle king author of the fixed. >> thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to have you here it is such an important book because it's not just about the problems of the workplace it is so focused on solutions and i want your insight to give advice to women how do they need to change?