“I learned everything I needed to know to be a CEO when I was little,” TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, said last year at the commencement speech of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's MBA program. During childhood, Duckett built the skill that she claims to be central to her success: her character.
"My purpose is fueled by my ownable asset—my character. Character is what drives it all,” she said, adding that she emphatically believes her purpose in life is to “inspire and make impact.” Duckett is currently one of only two Black women serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
