I had never spoken about being a woman in public before. Not once. 我从来没有公开地做过关于女性问题的演讲，一次也没有。

I had no talking points or notes to turn to. 没有演讲思路，也没有什么可以参考的资料，

Then I realized how striking this was ... and that I actually had quite a lot to say. 我绞尽脑汁，终于想到了第二天要说的内容。

I began my talk the next day by explaining that in business we are taught to fit in, 第二天演讲一开始，我就说道，我们常常被要求融入公司环境和商业背景中，

but that I was starting to think this might not be the right approach. 但我觉得这也许并不是正确的方式。

I said out loud that there are differences between men and women both in their behavior and in the way their behavior is perceived by others. 男性和女性在行为上有很多差异，给别人造成的印象和感觉也多有不同。

I admitted that I could see these dynamics playing out in the workforce, and that, in order to fix the problems, 为了解决问题，女性必须谈论性别问题，同时还要注意方式方法，

we needed to be able to talk about gender without people thinking we were crying for help, asking for special treatment, or about to sue. 不能让大家认为我们是在哭喊着索取帮助、要求特殊待遇甚至是要打官司。

A lot poured out of me that day. 那天我说了很多。

Then I returned to Northern California and put the conversation on hold. 演讲结束后我回到北加州，没再多想。

In the following four years, I gave two talks on women in the workplace, 此后4年里，我针对女性专业群体做了两次关于职场女性的演讲，

both behind closed doors to professional women's groups at nearby Stanford. 地点都在斯坦福大学。

Then one day, Pat Mitchell called to tell me that she was launching TEDWomen and invited me to speak on social media. 之后有一天，帕特·米切尔打电话告诉我，她要发起TED女性峰会，邀请我就社交媒体的主题做演讲。

I told her I had another subject in mind and started pulling together a talk on how women can succeed in the workforce 我告诉她我脑子里已经有另一个主题了，然后我们合作组织了一次演讲，主题是关于女性怎样才能在职场上取得成功

(a talk that TED later named "Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders"). （这次TED演讲后来被命名为“为什么我们的女性领导者那么少”）。

Very quickly, I became excited. And just as quickly, I learned that no one else shared my excitement. 我因此变得心情激动，但也很快意识到无人能分享这种激动：