The most important sentences in Marie C. Wilson's Closing the Leadership Gap (2004 Viking, 2006 paperback) are these:
    “Everyone knows at least one woman who should be urged to follow her dream, a woman who is utterly capable of being more than she is if only she were given encouragement. We need to find her and feed her ambition. Don‚t wait for the culture to change. Change it yourself by helping others to step forward.”
   Step up. Encourage others. It's just that easy.  
   Wilson draws on more than 30 years of experience as an advocate of women’s issues to create a virtual road map for women who aspire to be leaders, no matter where they live, no matter what they do or who they are. She believes any woman can be a leader, if she is determined enough to overcome myriad cultural obstacles.
   Founder and president of The White House Project and co-creator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, Wilson pours buckets full of passion into this insightful, yet easy read. In examining the role of gender in today’s leadership paradigm, she peels away layers of research and data, pointing out deeply rooted cultural expectations and a surprising reticence among Americans to admit personal gender biases, even as they identify sexism in neighbors.
    Wilson founded The White House Project in 1998 to address one of the biggest impediments to women's leadership - the lack of a real pipeline. Women must encourage and support one another, rather than taking the "mean girls" route. The world is tough enough on women leaders. Wilson's recap of studies that show stunning bias in media coverage of women in politics is nothing short of infuriating.
    And women need a little moral outrage to fuel our passion for leadership in a world that needs us more than ever.
    Some of the book’s most interesting stories belong to Wilson. The first woman elected to the Des Moines City Council as a member-at-large, co-author of the critically acclaimed Mother Daughter Revolution and official government delegate to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, she serves as President of the Ms. Foundation and launched the Women’s Collaborative Fund for Economic Development.
    Her level of accomplishment shows in polished conversational prose; she writes with a seemingly effortless enthusiasm for her life’s work. You will learn from her words.
    And you will be inspired by them as well.