If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons From Bold Women

Nikki Haley's sharply intimate and inspirational book celebrates the world's most iconic women leaders.

“If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.”—Margaret Thatcher

In the spirit of Thatcher’s quote, Ambassador Nikki R. Haley offers inspiring examples of women who worked against obstacles and opposition to get things done—including Haley herself. As a brown girl growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina, no one would have predicted she would become the first minority female governor in America, the first female and the first minority governor in South Carolina, or the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Her journey wasn’t an easy one. She faced many people who thought she didn’t belong—and who told her so. She was too brown. Too female. Too young. Too conservative. Too principled. Too idealistic. As far as Nikki was concerned, those were not reasons to hold her back. Those were all reasons to forge ahead.

She drew inspiration from other trailblazing women throughout history who summoned the courage to be different and lead. This personal and compelling book celebrates ten remarkable women who dared to be bold, from household names like Margaret Thatcher and Israel’s former prime minister Golda Meir, to Jeane Kirkpatrick, the first female U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to lesser-known leaders like human rights activist Cindy Warmbier, education advocate Virginia Walden Ford, civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, and more. Woven with stories from Haley’s own childhood and political career, If You Want Something Done will inspire the next generation of leaders.