Eight inspirational quotes by five female business hardliners

Most of you must have read or heard somewhere or another that the business world is a male-dominated arena. In the name of man-made inequality (even though when we don't fully understand the real causes of its global presence), we consume this bit of information as self-evident. Such a conclusion, however, is misleading because it's incomplete.

The whole truth is that the business world is an arena of left-brain dominance. This means that the history and future of business is written and its course directed, by individuals (both men and women) who are psychologically lead by traits that are predominant in the left hemisphere of the brain.

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To know more about the two brain hemispheres and their predominant traits, and how their unification is your ultimate goal, read this.

If you are someone who is driven by objective reason-based observation, you’ve probably noticed that most successful business people are indeed logical, analytical, scientific, and control-seeking (principal traits of the left-brain hemisphere) in their attitude. They have honed, what has been termed, 'master-think' skills in their personal and professional life.

Needless to say, the world of business has countless names that have mastered 'master-think'. Here are five women worth a mention. If you know what you are seeking, you'll find inspiration in the words of the women mentioned, and countless others.

Sheryl Sandberg

COO, Facebook | Best-selling author

On diversity as told to Inc.com

''Making the case that diversity is good for business results is really important, and I think that's getting through. What I don't talk about and other people don't talk about is, it's not that we want equality just for equality's sake, even though we do, and it's the right thing to do. It's that we also want diversity and equality because it will make our organisation and other organisations perform better.''

On seeking help as authored for stylist.co.uk

''lf you’re thinking about starting something but you don’t know where to begin; if you have an idea but you’re worried it might not work out; if you’re ready to go but need practical advice on what to do first, there are people and things that can help.''

Marissa Meyer

President, Yahoo

On knowledge sharing as seen on fastcompany.com

''People are blown away by the information you can get on MOMA, our intranet. Because there is so much information shared across the company, employees have insight into what’s happening with the business and what’s important. We also have people do things like Snippets. Every Monday, all the employees write an email that has five to seven bullet points on what you did the previous week. Being a search company, we take all the emails and make a giant Web page and index them. If you’re wondering, ‘Who’s working on maps?’ you can find out. It allows us to share what we know across the whole company, and it reduces duplication.''

Chanda Kochhar

MD and CEO, ICICI Bank

On being a leader as seen on knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

''As a leader, I think you need to be, first of all, adaptable, so you can quickly understand and move forward in new business situations. Second, you need to treat each challenge as an opportunity. I treated this challenge as an opportunity, not just to learn for my own development but also to create something new for the organisation.''

Indra Nooyi

Chairperson and CEO, Pepsi

'On performance with purpose' as seen on fastcompany.com

“Performance with purpose is not how we spend the money we make, it’s how we make the money. That’s a fundamental difference from corporate social responsibility. It’s not something we do after hours. So in our case, performance and purpose are intimately linked and you can’t do one without the other. I think that’s where all companies need to go into the future. You can’t treat CSR as an evening programme and then you run the company differently. You can’t do it that way.”

'On being a CEO'

''If you want to be CEO of a large company or any company, it’s got to be a passion, it’s gotta be your calling.'' She further adds, ''You’ve just gotta love what you’re doing, and you’ve gotta believe in what you’re doing, and you’ve gotta say to yourself, when I feel like I’ve done enough with this company, I want to leave feeling great about my contributions and the legacy I’m leaving behind.''

Oprah Winfrey

Talk-show host | Actress

'On knowing our true origins as a species' as appeared on washingtonpost.com

''You cannot continue to move forward in your life as a person and as a people unless you understand the value and power from which you have come. My generation failed – capital F – for not passing on to the children a sense of knowing from whence we’ve come. They only pay lip service to it, and it’s not honored and valued and treasured.''

On responsibility as appeared on kimmdlett.weebly.com

''You are responsible for your own life, and if you're sitting around waiting on somebody to save you, to fix you or to even help you, you are wasting your time. Because only you have the power to take responsibility to move your life forward and the sooner you get that, the sooner your life gets into gear.''

Leaders lead by example. And examples are set in accordance to one's moral rectitude, level of knowledge, depth of understanding and awareness of one's responsibility as a CEO at work and as a being, in life. What we bring to work is an extension of who we are. If we begin to define our work in terms of the person we are, instead of the other way round, we'll succeed, both on an individual and collective level.