The way we deliver our message is as important as the message itself. Our goal is to deliver our message in a way that is full of warmth, empathy and appreciation for the other person because, everything else being equal, we'd rather be nice than not. Here are four tips to help you say "no."

I was in Australia last week with our Springboard team to launch our inaugural accelerator program for women entrepreneurs raising equity capital. This is a historic moment.

Why does business get tagged as a combination of auto racing, sports, war and cowboys and Indians? Because business is a eight-year-old boy's fantasy playground. It was built on a male model.

More women on corporate boards? The question is not why but, why not? Women in the boardroom provide a competitive advantage for businesses' bottom lines by providing input from diverse backgrounds.

Women are not only outnumbering men in social media usage, but they are spending more time on the social sites that they visit. Why are we not among the founders and the leaders of the companies that serve us?

Ladies: You hold the economy in your hands. We need a diversity of experiences and perspectives in order to find solutions to our national and global energy challenges. We cannot afford to have half the population Missing in Action.

"I'd heard the banking experience would be 'challenging,' but I didn't expect it'd be so hard to break into a conversation of men in their late 40's sharing their rowing memories from their East Coast summer camps."

Research has shown that in both the board room and politics, women are more likely to be put forth for precarious positions -- the situations where success is unattainable.

There is a lot of discussion of why there is a dearth of high growth women-run companies but the more important question is how to make a change.