“There are all kinds of reasons why people fail to fulfill their
potential. Perhaps they lack opportunity, perhaps they lack support,
perhaps they lack tools or training or education. But everyone has
potential. This I know. Our Founders knew it too. They had the
radical insight that the right to fulfill your potential— to use your
God-given gifts—is a right that comes from God and cannot be
taken away by government.”
Since the 2006 publication of her New York Times bestseller, Tough
Choices, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has faced a new
round of challenges. She ran for the Senate as a Republican in deep-blue
California but was unable to unseat the entrenched incumbent. She
battled breast cancer, wondering if she’d even survive. Worst of all, she
suffered the devastating loss of a beloved daughter. Yet despite these
setbacks and tragedies, she remains undaunted: “I’ve come to see lessons
and blessings in these passages. I know now that life is not measured in
time. Life is measured in love and positive contributions and moments of
grace.”
Now, Fiorina shares the lessons she’s learned from both her difficulties
and triumphs. Drawing on her experience as a pioneering business and
nonprofit leader, a politically active citizen, and a parent, she diagnoses
the largest problem facing our country today: untapped potential. Too
often, American men and women are held back by systems that prevent
them from working and flourishing. Too many people lose hope for
themselves. Too many lack the opportunity to use their gifts and live lives
of meaning, dignity, and purpose.
In 2014, Fiorina launched the Unlocking Potential Project, a new
grassroots organization, to share a message with those who worry about
America’s future: we have all the resources we need to prosper, but we
don’t tap into them. By ignoring conservative principles—or failing to
articulate those principles in ways that connect with regular people—
politicians have failed their constituents, abandoning them to the
crushing burden of our bloated government.
Fiorina believes that politics, like business, is primarily about people. With
warmth and compassion, she provides a vision that reaches across the
usual barriers of gender, race, income, and party affiliation to craft a
message that appeals to a wide range of Americans: a message of hope. As
she learned facing life’s challenges, “Hope is a curiously strong thing.” Her
story—and her ideas—will restore hope to those discouraged about the
future.