I have learned it's not how you fall but how you get up that truly matters.
— Linda McMahon
We want to create more jobs. We want to qualify more lenders and expand lending markets. But also, I want a very different SBA - it's not your father's SBA. I want to modernize it and reposition it so when people think about jobs, they think about how the Small Business Administration would really be helpful.
I have kids in high school that don't know how to balance a checkbook. We need to have that fundamental understanding of economics as we move forward to develop the next generation of young people.
Let me just go on record and say this: I am not for decreasing the minimum wage.
I wasn't looking for a hobby. If I were looking for a hobby, it wouldn't be the United States Senate. That's one of the toughest jobs I'd probably ever do. I just felt there wasn't enough compromise going on: People were too far to the left, too far to the right, with no one trying to build a compromise.
WWE is a company that produces fiction. It's a soap opera that runs 52 weeks a year without reruns.
Without truth, trust is lost. The ACA could not have been passed were it not for the repeated assertions, which proved to be false, that Americans who liked their health plans and their doctors could keep them.
When I was asked if I supported merging SBA into Commerce, I really wasn't focused on SBA or Commerce; I was focused on the concept of merging agencies, or reducing duplicative programs, so that we could reduce those costs. I am a firm believer that SBA needs to be a stand-alone agency.
You have to have a work ethic. It is always 24/7. It is a lot of sweat equity, and it is a little bit of Lady Luck.
I was a tomboy. And one of my first recollections of great success was playing baseball with the boys.
My parents' greatest wish was that I graduated from college. Neither of my parents had a college education, and they really wanted me to have one.
I was my father's son and my mother's daughter. There was never any time when I felt I wasn't equally capable - whether it was being the only girl in the county who could hit a jump shot in basketball or playing first base in the baseball with the boys. I was always encouraged to do whatever I wanted to do.
It was acting, and WWE is the longest-running weekly episodic program in television. Sure, there are story lines that are better than others.
I have said from the beginning, I would spend what it would take for the people of Connecticut to know who I am and what I stand for.
You know, the state of Connecticut is... sometimes it's a provincial state. And I've been working very hard to get the endorsement of the people within our state, and ultimately, the ultimate endorsement is from the voters in the state of Connecticut.
It's unfortunate, you know, that you can't change people's - habits, their personal habits.
Even entrepreneurs with the best ideas sometimes need a little wind beneath their wings.
I like to tell small business owners and entrepreneurs, 'I get it. I have your back on this. I understand about regulation. I understand how taxes are taxing. I understand what it is like not to be able to borrow money when you need it.'
I remember the early days when every month I had to decide whether I should continue to lease a typewriter or if I could finally afford to buy it. Yes, that $12 a month really made a difference in our budget.
The small businesses that I've talked to have consistently said that the cost of health care is one of the things that they need the most help with.
Being under the political spotlight is far different than anything I'd experienced before. Every word is a critical word. Sometimes you really aren't allowed to get your full thought out. A lot of it is about having a 30-second sound bite.
I've made a payroll. I know what it's like to execute a business plan. I know what it's like to expect the proper return on investment... and I know you can't spend your way out of debt.
Truly landmark pieces of legislation - including the Social Security Act, Medicare, and the Kennedy and Reagan tax reductions - historically have garnered strong support from both parties. The ACA did not.
Optimism is the ultimate definition of a leader. A leader has to look optimistically at what is ahead while not ignoring the challenges that must be overcome. Those challenges are in government, politics, world leadership, and even in community life.
My number one philosophy for leadership is leadership by example. If you are not willing to do it yourself, how can you show others how to do it?
I found when talking with many other women that they sometimes are more reluctant to toot their own horn, to talk about their success. They have to be more confident in doing that. That is not always the case, but there is that element that women don't put forth who they are.
Someone asked me recently if marriage is 50-50 - it averages out to be 50-50, but sometimes it's 75-25, sometimes it's 90-10. In the end, it has to average out to be 50-50; that's how you support each other.
The minimum wage now in our country, I think we've set that, so there are a lot of people have benefited from it in our country, but I think we ought to review how much it ought to be, and whether or not we ought to have increases in the minimum wage.
You have to think about the WWE as soap operas.
I'm going to continue to talk about what is important to the people of Connecticut which is jobs, getting people back to work, the economy.
I don't know Gov. Palin. I've certainly seen her, since she came on the scene, you know, running with John McCain.
More entrepreneurs are looking to come back to start businesses, and that is where SBA is perfectly positioned to be helping more people to realize their dreams.
Small business people are people with goals and values that can't be calculated on a profit and loss statement.
Like all small-business owners, I know what it's like to take a risk on an idea, manage cash flow, navigate regulations and tax laws, and create jobs.
I think women are not as hung up on the testosterone thing. They're more collaborative. They multitask better, and I think they're more results-oriented. They just want to cut to the chase and get it done.
It always is a battle for a Republican in Connecticut, even one who's a moderate like I am, and one who's an independent thinker.
As a CEO, I want to show women that there are no limits to what they can achieve, whether through entrepreneurship, government, science or any path they choose, and there is plenty of room for women at the top.
It is past time for Democrats and Republicans to join together to create a bipartisan coalition for courage and common sense.
We went bankrupt one time and lost everything. When I tell that story at my Women's Leadership LIVE conferences, people are shocked. I mean, our house was auctioned off and the car repossessed in the driveway. We had to start over again.
You cant be afraid to take a risk. You can't be afraid to take a risk because you think you might fail.
I think it's high time that we had a woman president. But I don't want to elect someone just because she's a woman; I want the best candidate to be elected. I think that any woman who is elected to the highest office in the land would clearly have positive role model effects for other young women.
I never really thought about the fact that there weren't female role models, because I had them in my life. The women I knew in my life were so strong.
I thought I was answering a question that I had heard that was about increasing the minimum wage - would I consider that. So let me just go on record and say this: I am not for decreasing the minimum wage. I did not say that and that is not something I would consider.
I certainly think you could look at the business side of how WWE was run, which was as a conservative company with little debt and strong cash balance.
I'm not going to take any special interest money or any PAC money... when I get to Washington I want to be the voice for the people of Connecticut and not owe special favors.
While they're in WWE, we absolutely have a health and wellness policy. I'll probably always say 'we,' even though I've resigned as the CEO. It's kind of hard to break a 30-year habit.
