When leaders are asked how they were called to greatness, they always answer in the same way: feeling the greatness in other human beings is what called upon them to step up themselves.

I have just had this experience, both humbling and exhilarating, on my recent trip to NYC. I spoke at the United Nations, and I also attended the Third Annual Women in the World Summit, courtesy of The Daily Beast. These are the kinds of experiences which make you feel two things at the same time: small, yet part of something huge, expansive, inspiring, and so important.

I was very excited to participate in the Third International Women’s Day Forum, hosted by the UN Office for Partnership and the US Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center. The forum focused on the need for policy innovation, leadership and collaboration across all sectors of business and government, especially in the developing world, in order to engage the potential of women everywhere. I presented our update on joinFITE, and the fact that Dermalogica’s friends and tribe now have micro-financed over 11,000 women in small business: 1100 of them in the USA alone. And, we’ve only just begun!

Then, there was The Daily Beast event, which of course is the brainchild of the indescribably brilliant Tina Brown. Read more about it here.

On the one hand, the place was swarming with names and faces we all recognize instantly: Meryl! Oprah! Angelina! Hillary! Chelsea! Gloria!

And then there were the names and faces I did not know, but now will never forget.

Like Suma Tharu, a young girl who was a former slave in Nepal. Zin Mar Aung, who went to prison for 11 years in Burma because she distributed pro-democracy leaflets (shades of Sophie Scholl, and The White Rose…). And, there was the feisty Kah Walla, a recent Presidential candidate in Cameroon, who almost won. And Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, whose book is called “Mighty Be Our Powers.”

Gbowee in particular electrified the crowd when she demanded to know why American women aren’t fuming-furious-angry at the prospect of our reproductive freedom being usurped by conservative politics. She demanded to know why we as American women aren’t on our feet and reclaiming what is most fundamentally ours — our bodies.

Nobody in the house had an answer for her.

Now, to render THAT crowd speechless — truly, that is to be in the presence of greatness.

…as in, give back. Young people who are in their teens right now are right on. Latest case in point is the “Cover the Night” movement, part of the KONY 2012 project, dedicated to bringing monster Joseph Kony to justice.

Old hippies like to say that they were the last activists, and that anyone born after Woodstock is self-centered and consumerist. They are wrong. I spend a great deal of time around young people of this generation – including Lucy, my younger daughter, and her peer group – and I have to say, they are awake, aware, conscious, mindful and most of all, connected in ways that the original tie-dyed flower-children never dreamed possible. Lucy, in fact, is an ambassador for the Invisible Children’s Foundation, representing our Brentwood neighborhood as part of the worldwide cyber-rally to “Make Kony Famous!” next Friday, April 20.

The sad truth is that the story of the atrocities led by Joseph Kony and his grisly Lord’s Resistance Army is far from breaking news. This story was revealed and covered thoroughly and repeatedly, in print media, on television and on radio, a decade ago. When Generation G – for Give, Give Back, Give More – were barely more than toddlers.

Their parents, however, were old enough to read the story in the newspaper, and in major magazines, and to watch the coverage on television. Yet nothing happened. The nightmare went on, uninterrupted, even though NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, the BBC, The New York Times and all the rest reported on the brutal Kony and his reign of sickening horror.

Generation G resonates to this cause in particular, because Kony’s child soldiers are primarily tweens, many younger, as young as 7 or 8 years old. The current estimate is that the Lord’s Resistance Army has abducted 30,000 children from their homes and forced them into armed combat on the front lines. Their initiation is generally to witness their parents killed before their eyes. They then are programmed to kill others. Approximately 30% of these child-soldiers are girls, who are also forced to “marry” the men who kidnap and enslave them.

It’s both outrageous and inspiring that “Cover the Night” is happening now, because of the wireless generation who truly are wired in to the whole world. FB and Twitter have brought more than one totalitarian regime to its knees in the past few months, powered by the connectivity and social activism of young people, some of them very young, around the world. This is more than a trend: it is our world.

It’s easy to dismiss teens as twitchy, spoiled slackers who spend their days and nights on “Pinterest,” tirelessly texting, and idly “Instagram”-ing photos of what they’re about to eat for lunch. It’s true that they don’t take to the streets the way activists did in the 60s – but that’s only because the cyberworld has no streets. Just tweets.

Digital media in the hands of young people is a much-needed ray of hope in the darkness of world apathy. In fact, our teenaged daughters and sons have a lot to teach us – the grown-ups – about what it takes in terms of vision and commitment to energize a movement and actualize change in 2012 and beyond.

“Bully” – it’s hard to believe that it once was a term of endearment, or that a great American President (Teddy Roosevelt) used the word as his feel-good campaign mantra.

Today, especially in the USA and the UK, there is new awareness and concern around the damage that bullying does. And it affects business, as well as individuals.

The word “bully” meant something very different for this American President.

I felt such compassion for my colleague Jill Kohler, who founded the Kohler Academy – now called the Penrose Academy – in Scottsdale, Arizona. Simply, her school was recently forced to change its name as the result of trademark bullying – see the link to her letter for the particulars. As we all know, having to change a brand name can have a devastating effect on a company – as it nearly did on my own.

Early in Dermalogica’s history, we ourselves tangled with a major corporation on the subject of our name. They objected to the “Logic” part of our brand name, because they had trademarked something similar for a hair care line. We refused to change our name. It was ours. We thought of it, it belonged to us, and it was already an essential part of our brand identity.

The hassle went on for over one year. We were a small, young company with no legal firepower. They were huge and powerful. Their letters to us became increasingly hostile.

Finally, I got someone on the phone and explained that I was making arrangements to fly out to their headquarters in Ohio, and wait in the parking lot until I could speak directly to the CEO. The threatening letters stopped, and we never heard from them again.

For inspiration, read THE WALL STREET JOURNAL article, Small Business Section, February 23, 2012, called “New Tool in Trademark Fights” by Angus Loten. He reports that, “As the economy recovers and competition heats up, trademark disputes are on the rise. Claims rose 5% to 3,692 in the year ended March 2011, according to US district court records.”

Individually and collectively, we have to stick up for ourselves in the face of bullying. Most of the time, these battles are of the David and Goliath nature – huge corporations putting pressure on small business. One current technique which is gaining momentum: what’s being called online “shaming,” meaning creating a Facebook campaign, online petition and other social media protests to throw light onto your cause.

I don’t like the word “shame.” But I like the word “bully” even less.

Penrose Academy Letter

If you’ve ever heard me speak or read anything I’ve written, you know that I am a champion of the entrepreneur, especially if the entrepreneur is a woman. This being Women’s History Month – in fact, as you read this, I am in New York City right now to speak at the UN on behalf of joinFITE – I am more fired up than usual on the subject.

So I am taking this opportunity to sound off on the way the media treats women, including woman entrepreneurs. A company which purports to help entrepreneurs, Volusion.com, really epitomizes what’s wrong.

The current campaign for this online DIY e-commerce company features a quirky little video about “Julie.” Paraphrasing, Julie got sick of the 9 to 5 grind, and she’s up for freedom and fun – she’s ready to be her own boss!

So she decided to start her own online store. And I quote: “It’s seriously never been easier to start your own business and start living the dream. And no headaches.” After all – “All you need is a great product and a little elbow grease. Imagine – you can ditch the grind – call your own shots – and get the freedom to make your work fit into your life, instead of the other way around.”

Oh, please. This campaign really trivializes what it takes. It trivializes the huge investment – of energy, self, faith, time, sweat AND a bit of capital – which entrepreneurial efforts require. It trivializes women, too. Julie’s just a quirky little surf-chick who can’t stand to be cooped up in the office all day! Those glassy peaks are callin’! So she quit! Just like that.

I’d love to know who pays Julie’s rent, medical insurance and car insurance, for instance.

Since we launched joinFITE in January 2011, our initiative which globally empowers women entrepreneurs through microloans, I have an even greater respect for “what it takes.” I should know – I did it myself when I launched Dermalogica 25 years ago. I’ve been continually reminded of what hard work entrepreneurism really is, through the thousands of enterprising women who support our brand. And now through the women who receive and repay microloans via joinFITE, who truly take the entrepreneurial ideal to a new level.

The Volusion ads remind me of a great SNL parody called “Chess for Girls.” It was a parody of a television ad for children’s toys, and featured lots of excited, bubbly tween girls who were thrilled that chess had been made more “girly.” The tagline in the ad went “Chess for girls – not too hard, just pretty and fun.”

That’s the way entrepreneurism is now being marketing to women, especially young women. So in honor of Women’s History Month, let me set you straight. It is indeed hard. It is not pretty. But yes, it is fun.

During Girl Scout cookie season (in January 2012, the first Girl Scout Cookie Locator smartphone app was launched!), it’s all about decisions – coconutty-butter Samoas, Tagalongs, best-selling Thin Mints?

But in some circles, buying Girl Scout cookies may bring your patriotism into question. Who knew that Girl Scouts were under fire as radical feminists, nearly a century ago? In 1924, James E. West, the leader of the Boy Scouts of America, threatened to file suit against the Girl Scouts of America for patent violations over the word “scout.” (Be sure to check out the space, soon, by the way, for more conversation about trademark and patent bullying.)

But back to the Scouts. West believed that girls could only “guide” – not “scout.” To “scout” as a verb suggests fearless, proactive pioneering. “Guiding” is considerably more passive and supportive – more suitable, one supposes, for girls than blazing new trails.

West had been waging a campaign against just the IDEA of Girl Scouts for years. Now the Girl Scouts are under attack from Indiana State Rep. Bob Morris (R-Fort Wayne), who was the only member of the Indiana legislature who refused to sign a resolution celebrating the Girl Scouts centennial, which is being commemorated in state-chapters nationwide. Morris accused the organization of promoting homosexuality, and serving as a “tactical arm of Planned Parenthood.”

Ms. Magazine says this: “Like West before him, Morris is among a long line of Girl Scouts attackers who hurl misinformation and empty accusations at the legions of Scouts and their many troop leaders – male and female – whose only crime is fulfilling the Scouts’ most recent mission of building girls of courage, confidence and character.”

So now a cookie is a political liability? Does this make Jennifer Sharpe, who holds the current record for the most boxes sold (17, 328), an enemy of the state?

According to the Girl Scouts website, 71.5% of women in the US Senate and 67.1% of the women in the House of Representatives are Girl Scouts alumnae.

You don’t have to buy the cookies. But please don’t drink the crazy anti-Girl Scout Kool-Aid either.

A highlight of National Women’s History Month – the launch of ClaudiaChan.com, created by the enterprising woman who launched Shecky’s. She’s a zeitgeist, a phenomenon, and a leader. We were honored to welcome Claudia, who lives in NYC, as a Guest Columnist in this space last summer. And now we are eagerly following her new venture, which is dedicated to “women helping women.”

A specific remark which Claudia made in her Q & A in the summer of 2011 really sticks with me: “Thoughts become things.” We discussed how intentions, as well as what we actually write into our “To Do” list, affect our lives and our universe, ever day.

Claudia’s intentions – to make conscious, proactive choices – are clear. She also used the term “curate” as in “curating your relationships,” and designing your life. Claudia advises, “Surround yourself with people who truly inspire you and nurture you.”

Doing these things opened doors for Claudia. And now she is opening doors for other women. We’ve never needed her more.

She graciously expressed surprise when her name was called, but was Meryl Streep really surprised to get her Oscar?

Maybe she was – she’s been nominated many, many times during the past 30 years. And even though she has not won the Oscar for the majority of those nominations, we always feel like she has won each time.

In this way, Meryl Streep is like another of my favorite Americans, Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin never held the office of President of the United States. Few Americans know or believe this. As someone said to me just the other day, “His picture is on money, so he must have been President.”

Well, Franklin was Presidential, as the White House spin-doctors say. And in the same way, Streep always feels like we have chosen her as our winner, even when someone else takes home the gold.

For this reason, I think Meryl Streep needs her own categories for the Academy Awards. New categories, even, like “Best Moment of Candid Panic by A Person Who Has Misplaced Her Reading Glasses.” Or, “Best Bad Accents,” or, whatever she wants.

Having grown up in the UK and speaking as a British person who is now proudly a US citizen, I do think that Streep’s portrayal of Maggie Thatcher in IRON LADY was deep. Maybe you have to be a Brit to frankly understand how deep.

But that’s hardly the point. What I love about Meryl Streep is that she has made herself into a powerful American brand. She is generous and gracious in spite of herself, as was evidenced when she gifted fellow nominee Viola Davis $10,000 for her Upward Bound scholarship fund this past Oscars’ season. She is lightly self-deprecating. But most of all, she is ours, she belongs to us, and she owns us – as all of our favorite brands (fill in the name of your favorite here) do.

By the time you read this, the rigor of New Year’s resolutions will have worn off. If you were already someone with good habits, you still have them. If you were someone who tried to make radical lifestyle changes as of January 1, I salute you and say, “Hang in there.” And, sometimes our resolve just gets tossed out with the dried Christmas trees on the curb!

Most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We all have our strengths, and most of us have areas where we’d like to be more perfect.

Regardless of what your mission is, I’ve recently encountered an idea which is universally helpful. It’s known in motivational circles as “eating the frog.”

This has nothing to do with actual cuisine. People eat all sorts of things, and, perhaps thanks to Kermit, frogs seem less scary than lots of other menu choices (like lobster — ouch!).

It’s a metaphor for human nature. If a frog scares you, and your To-Do List requires that the frog be eaten, I’ve learned that it’s exceptionally good advice to eat the frog, first thing. Otherwise, it will be croaking at you all day while you try to avoid the inevitable.

This amphibian metaphor is the basis of several successful motivational books. A simpler, more vegan way to put it is: “Worst, first.” A key to success at anything is to develop enough discipline to do the worst tasks of your day, first. Then the rest of the list seems like cake and ice cream (or at least less painful).

This discipline does require practice. It seems to be our human nature to not to do this. Instead, we spend hours straightening our desks, looking for lost things, or, of course, endlessly FBing, re-tweeting, and musing over future online purchases.

My 2012 advice, whether you are an entrepreneur, an employee, or simply trying to make your life as happy as possible: stare that frog in its big, watery, green- golden eyes, grab a fork, and go to it.

Late in 2011, MORE magazine published the results of a survey of 500 women conducted in June of last year. The conclusion: 43 per cent of the surveyed women stated that they were less ambitious than they had been ten years earlier. They wanted more flexibility in their work and lives, and were willing to take pay cuts to get it.

I’ll leave the long-term implications of this to economists and others who wonder and worry why women are not significantly represented on corporate boards, and as CEOs of major companies.

But here’s my advice to you: don’t be part of that 43 per cent, most especially if you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner.

I mentor business students as part of my work with the Anderson School of Business/UCLA (where I am on the Board of The Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies). Working one-on-one with these students is informative and eye-opening to me. First, most of the students I mentor there are young men, reflecting overall program enrollment.

Second, they often see entrepreneurialism as a way to make a lot of money, very fast. They show me business plans that assume a million dollars or more in seed-money. Of course, I support their ambition, but this is not entrepreneurialism as I experienced it 30 years ago when I was launching our brand. Buying milk for my coffee was sometimes a splurge. And sometimes I skipped it and drank my coffee black.

Many of these same young people think that being an entrepreneur means working fewer hours – essentially working part-time. For this reason, the notion of calling yourself an entrepreneur appeals to women with young children.

Again, I will not sermonize. I can only tell you that my husband and I were not young parents, because we were in the fever-heat of launching our young business. We waited on the baby-making, and had our daughters when the business was successful. This was no accident.

Here’s what I know for sure: you cannot relax, cut your hours and take time off when the going gets tough. My advice to anyone at any phase of business is to know when to put your foot on the brake, and most importantly, know when to put your foot on the gas – put it flat to the floorboard. Pedal to the metal. Like the country-western song says, “Drive it like you stole it!”

Everyone today complains about stress. I do hear about small business people taking a respite, going to a yoga-retreat in the Seychelles and closing their doors for a few months so they can chill out and regroup. I wish these people luck. And I don’t recommend it.

Struggling? It’s the definition of doing business, especially in the sphere of small business. It does require sacrifice, not to mention a sense of timing. If you already have children, you will be faced with hard choices. You may not be able to accompany Muffy on her first day of surf-camp. You may have to skip your 5:30 pm spinning class. I remember vividly the first years of my career when I lived with Tylenol in one uniform pocket, a Kit Kat bar in the other. Up at dawn, doing the skin treatment center laundry at midnight. It was not a balanced life. I made that choice for a while.

There is no shortcut. Most importantly, there really is no secret. You must meet opposition with resistance. If you choose to relax under pressure, then your entrepreneurial venture has shifted into the realm of what used to be called a “cottage industry.” Sounds cute, doesn’t it?

If you’re serious about making your business a success, whether you work for yourself or for someone else, engage productive discomfort. Push it. Drive it like you stole it.

Even though Meryl Streep couldn’t find her glasses at the Golden Globes, I’m convinced that she can find great acting roles by any means necessary, including echolocation and clairvoyance.
She’s great in “THE IRON LADY,” and we have to give her props since Maggie was, to put it mildly, not universally popular as Britain’s first, and so far only, woman Prime Minister. Streep herself has said that it took some effort to find the sympathetic elements in the subject’s character.

Margaret Thatcher indeed ruled with an iron fist, but rule she did. She engaged, she participated, she seized power, and she used it. And more women need to do this, in terms of global politics and business. Why? Because women in power are good for everyone in general, even when we differ with their specific policies.

As Oscars night fast approaches, Streep’s eight Golden Globe nominations are important for a couple of reasons. First, it’s no secret that roles for women in Hollywood are scarce. Perhaps you’ve read the statistics that, when a woman does appear in a film, it’s likely that her character has no name. It is also likely that she will take her clothes off, and serve primarily as a sexual sub-plot to the “real” story.

Could it be that women, too often, display these characteristics in real time, in real life?

As Women’s History Month approaches in March, it seems to me that women are shockingly absent. Art imitates life in most instances, and the fact that women are by and large missing from film roles says to me that we are missing from influential roles off-camera, as well.

Does this mean that you have to run for office? Not necessarily, although I would ask, why not, if you can? I’m defining the term “office” here as any position of community influence, including at your child’s school, public library branch, food co-op, or local animal shelter. But here’s what it means, for sure: each of us—every woman, every person – has to engage and participate in order to create positive social change.

Anne Frank said it succinctly: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

And you don’t have to be Prime Minister – or an Oscar-winning actress – to do it.